The iPhone 16 has been out for a while and it was an incremental update but it focused more on creators as the new iPhone 16 and 16 Pro smartphones now come with a more powerful camera and they all feature a camera control. Some people find it “gimmicky” but some find it useful. But how does the smartphone perform overall? Well, let me share with you what I think about the smartphone in our review.

Same design, still premium

The iPhone 16 Pro Max utilizes a Grade 5 Titanium design. The Titanium material was introduced last year to the iPhones and in my experience with the 15 Pro Max, I was very happy with it as it was solid and it does feel great. Similar to the iPhone 16 Pro Max, the Grade 5 Titanium was solid to the hands and I do love the feel of it. It’s definitely both light and manage to survive some bumps without showing any dents on the frame of the 16 Pro Max.

As for the back, it’s still the same design with a glass back design but unlike the previous generation, the iPhone 16 Pro Max is a little bit taller so your old phone cases for iPhone 15 Pro Max wouldn’t fit on this smartphone. Indeed, the iPhone 16 Pro is larger and taller, yet it doesn’t seem that way when you hold it.

There’s the action button on the smartphone on top of the volume rocker and the power button is still ergonomically placed on the other side but the new button that was added in here is the camera control. I do find the camera control button a little bit hard to reach by my index finger when taking a photo in landscape mode but it’s a nice addition to the smartphone.

There’s the USB-C as well which was introduced last generation and it’s actually a big deal for me as I can finally record my videos on Blackmagic Camera app and save it directly to my external SSD.

Camera control a ”gimmick”?

The camera control of the smartphone is a convenient way to open the camera app of the smartphone. It does offer a control for navigating thru different camera functions on the camera app or you can use it for zoom control but overall, I find it finicky. It’s not perfect and sometimes, I would use the touchscreen instead as I find it a little bit hard to reach with my index finger and navigating thru it was just finicky.

But right now, I wouldn’t call it a gimmick as we still haven’t fully utilized the full features of the camera control. We still don’t have the two-stage shutter which I think will be the best feature of this. My favorite app, Blackmagic Camera, also doesn’t utilize the button but if it comes to third party apps and to the main camera app, I would find the AF/AE lock useful with the camera control button.

Largest iPhone Display

The iPhone 16 Pro Max got a bigger display at 6.9-inch and it’s currently the biggest display on an iPhone. Is it bulky? No. Is it taller? Yes. Is it bad? No. the taller display of the smartphone and its thinner bezels does really help having a better-looking display on the front and the taller and bigger display does help in having more content when playing games.

As for the quality, the colors are great and the brightness was awesome even if I was using the smartphone in direct sunlight. Even when the always-on display, the display of the smartphone doesn’t look like it’s off because of the quality that we’re getting on the display.

There’s the 120Hz Promotion display as always, it gives us a smoother display on navigation and also on gaming. As long as the apps and games that you are using support it.

Longer battery life!

The iPhone 16 Pro Max also features a larger battery inside and it’s currently the largest battery on an iPhone. The bigger battery gives me a longer battery life even compared to the iPhone 15 Pro Max. I was getting a longer screen time with the iPhone 16 Pro Max and sometimes I don’t even charge my iPhone 16 Pro Max until the morning of the next day.

Satellite messaging

There’s this unique and awesome feature as well on the iPhone 16 Pro Max which started when the iPhone 14 was released. There’s messages via satellite so you can receive and send messages wherever you are as long as there’s a satellite in your area. You can test it out with a demo with iOS 18.

This is really helpful for emergency services as you can send a message despite the lack of cellular signal. However, this is only available in selected territories.

AAA Gaming FTW

Every year Apple is introducing a brand new chip for their iPhones and with the A18 Pro, they’ve upgraded their performance even more especially for gaming. Apple promises 15% GPU and also 20% faster CPU while for ray tracing, it promises 2x faster performance. Well, those are just numbers but how about in real life?

Well, I was able to play games like Assassins Creed: Mirage demo and games like Resident Evil 4. Yes, they’re great and games like Genshin Impact runs at 120fps at max settings and the difference of the gaming performance between the iPhone 15 Pro Max and 16 Pro Max isn’t really noticeable for me. 

But with the A18 Pro, you’ll have a peace of mind when it comes to future-proofing on both gaming and also with Apple Intelligence. Honestly? ALL of the games that I’ve tried on the iPhone 15 Pro Max still runs perfectly and that’s the same case with the iPhone 16 Pro Max as both the A17 Pro and A18 Pro are still powerful. There might not be a lot of games that supports ray tracing but it’s nice to see that we have 2x better ray-tracing performance on this smartphone.

A better camera

One of the underrated upgrades that was done in here was the camera. There’s a better 48MP ultrawide camera on the smartphone this time which means that we’re getting better ultrawide shots on this smartphone. Oh, and the macro on the ultrawide is a lot better as well. The camera control does help in quick launching the camera app anytime but unfortunately, all of the features isn’t just here yet.

Now, as for the camera, I have noticed that it shoots faster and the autofocus was bit better compared to the iPhone 15 Pro Max. Unfortunately, we still have here a 5x optical zoom and it’s still not a “concert phone” like the Galaxy S24 Ultra but nonetheless, I still find the camera of the iPhone 16 Pro Max great all around.

Here are some sample photos that I took using the rear cameras of the iPhone 16 Pro Max:

While here are some selfies that I took using the smartphone:

The biggest update that was done to the camera is video — which is why I bought this smartphone. It can finally record at 4K at 120fps video which makes better slo-mo videos even at cinematic mode. The iPhone 16 Pro Max also has a lower ISO range when shooting using the Blackmagic camera app and I do find it more flexible especially with my limited lighting.

Another cool feature to love in here is Audio Mix which will give you the ability to transform the audio of your video that you just shot on the camera app to in-frame which basically just captures the audio in the frame, studio which will give you a podcast-like quality of audio and cinematic that gives a cinematic style of audio. While this feature might seem cool, the Audio Mix is limited only to videos that was shot using the camera app of the smartphone. 

My favorite new feature on the iPhone 16 Pro Max is the ability to control the undertone and mood of the colors by just swiping on a style control. This gives me a quick way to adjust the styles that I like on the smartphone even on B&W mode. This gives photos more personality and also give a better mood to the environment or object that you’re shooting.

Here are some photo samples of photos with different undertones. Obviously, it gives more personality and creativity to your photos.

Verdict

Despite the minor upgrades on the iPhone 16 Pro Max, this is still a great smartphone. As of this posting, unfortunately, the best features of the smartphone aren’t here yet. There’s no Apple Intelligence and the camera control features aren’t fully featured yet.

Indeed, the smartphone in question offers a long battery life, an exceptional camera with a focus on video quality, a large display, and a sturdy build. Apple has maintained what already works well. The iPhones remain excellent, and this excellence persists with the iPhone 16 Pro Max.

However, if you currently own an iPhone 15 Pro Max, the 16 Pro Max may not represent a significant upgrade, as it is more of an incremental improvement. On the other hand, if you’re upgrading from an older iPhone model, you’ll likely find the new features of the iPhone 16 Pro Max to be a substantial enhancement.