iPhone 16 Professional vs. iPhone 16 Professional Max

Not like the 2023 pair of Professional iPhones, the 16 Professionals do not differ in the rest apart from dimension (and that one different facet that comes because of it). What meaning is the seemingly arbitrary selection to suit a 3x telephoto on the 15 Professional and a 5x one on the 15 Professional Max is now not on the record of issues in selecting a Professional from the 16 technology. So Apple has made it simpler this 12 months, proper? Or is it the opposite manner round?

Let’s look into the similarities and see if we are able to discover any much less apparent variations.

Desk of Contents:

For starters, you possibly can evaluate the whole specs sheets or straight proceed with our editor’s evaluation within the following textual content.

Dimension comparability

At first – dimension. The Max does not take its title frivolously and is, certainly, an enormous smartphone. It is grown slightly in comparison with final 12 months’s mannequin, the three additional mm in peak and practically a mm of added width probably being the final drop that pushes the lineup past some clients’ tolerance of ‘massive’. That mentioned, if ‘massive’ is what you are after, the Max delivers.

The 16 Professional has gained a little bit of weight and can also be 3mm taller and a mm wider than final 12 months’s mannequin – so in a manner, it is the protection web for those who might be postpone by the brand new Max’s dimension, however do not fairly need a small cellphone. Then again, if you happen to’re searching for a compact ‘Professional’, maybe this one nonetheless qualifies – with sufficient context and rationalization.

The 2 telephones share the identical supplies, construct and coloration choices, so there’s not a lot to decide on right here. You possibly can rely on the titanium body and third-gen Ceramic Protect show glass to supply loads of safety towards drops, shattering and scratches. Each telephones are additionally IP68-rated, and, in typical Apple vogue, they exceed the usual’s 1.5m depth requirement and ought to be good to as deep as 6m (for 30 minutes, freshwater).

Show comparability

Physique dimension goes hand in hand with display screen dimension and the 16 Professional Max has the biggest show there has ever been on an iPhone. The 6.9-inch panel affords ample viewing space and possibly a few additional strains in a listing when in comparison with the iPhone 16 Professional’s 6.3-inch display screen – you may should scroll that little bit extra on the non-Max, and stuff on display screen might be considerably smaller too.

Aside from that, there’s little to separate the 2 fashions. Apple has settled on the 460ppi pixel density as the elemental property (Tremendous Retina and all that) and varies the general decision relying on the diagonal. Most brightness is identical 900nits when in handbook operation and round twice that if you happen to let the auto brightness take over. You additionally get HDR10 and Dolby Imaginative and prescient assist on each.

Each Professionals have ProMotion, Apple’s title for a excessive refresh fee show. You aren’t getting a lot management over its habits apart from with the ability to flip it off and restrict the refresh fee to 60Hz, however Apple most likely is aware of what it is doing and offers you the optimum stability between smoothness and battery life.

Battery life

With nice dimension comes nice battery – are we quoting that proper? Each fashions get a bump in battery capability – 9.4% up for the Professional, 5.5% up for the Professional Max. The 16 Professional Max, specifically, is now virtually up there with the Androids of its caliber, and with 1,100mAhs on high of the 16 Professional, you’d count on it to supply higher endurance, even when accounting for the bigger show.

Certainly, we acquired a greater Lively Use Rating on the 16 Professional Max, with meaningfully increased numbers throughout all checks. That is to not say that the 16 Professional is dangerous – fairly the other – simply that the 16 Professional Max is the higher possibility if you happen to routinely have lengthy days away from an influence supply.

Charging velocity

Apple’s charging rankings set the usual for murkiness with a common spec for all current fashions that claims ‘as much as 50% cost in half-hour with 20W adapter’. We examined with extra highly effective USB PowerDelivery adapters to present them the perfect likelihood of outperforming that ‘spec’.

The 16 Professional did cost slightly sooner than marketed, which wasn’t the case in our expertise with the 16 Professional Max, which underdelivered. Both manner, it is a race with no actual winner, and each are virtually painfully gradual to achieve a ‘full’ state, although the Professional Max once more is even slower than gradual.

The iPhone 16 Professional and 16 Professional Max each assist wi-fi charging, maxing out at 15W with generic Qi2 pads, or 25W with proprietary MagSafe pucks (plugged into 30W+ adapters).

Speaker check

Each Professional iPhones (identical to the non-Professionals) characteristic hybrid stereo speaker setups with one driver on the underside, and one other one up high that additionally doubles as an earpiece.

Each ship glorious sound general, with a pleasant low-end presence and clear vocals and treble output. The Professional Max has a little bit of an edge within the vocals and the mid-high area, which additionally permits it to attain increased for loudness. A small benefit for the Professional Max right here, however a superbly nice Professional too.

Efficiency

Each iPhone Professionals characteristic the Apple A18 Professional chipset, the corporate’s newest in-house design. All of them have the identical 8GB or RAM too, so there should not be any actual distinction in efficiency.

One factor that units them aside is the bottom storage, the 16 Professional beginning at a considerably unacceptable 128GB, whereas the Professional Max cannot be had with lower than 256GB. It is price preserving that in thoughts when evaluating costs as a result of if you wish to match the Professional Max’s base storage on the Professional, the beforehand significant financial savings get halved to $100/€120 and one of many Professional’s key benefits turns into much less vital.

Benchmark efficiency

As anticipated, benchmark outcomes are very comparable between the 2. You possibly can rely on industry-leading efficiency from both cellphone, and you can too make certain that both 16 Professional will really feel easy and snappy for years to come back.

Digicam comparability

We did our share of complaining final 12 months when the iPhone 15 Professional got here with a 3x zoom digital camera as an alternative of the 15 Professional Max’s 5x telephoto, and Apple has listened (as a result of, after all, they hearken to us) – the 16 Professional has the identical telephoto digital camera because the 16 Professional Max. In truth, all the cameras are the identical between the 2 – the brand new ultrawide is shared, the tried and examined sensor-shift most important digital camera is identical, and the selfie shooter is identical.

Naturally, the digital camera software program and {hardware} are additionally the identical between the 2. The brand new Digicam Management is equally helpful (or annoying, relying on the place you stand), and the brand new format capabilities (4K120 video, JPEG-XL, spatial audio) are shared between the 2.

Picture high quality

For all intents and functions, the ensuing photos from the 2 telephones are similar. They’ve the anticipated iPhone rendition, with conservative coloration, extensive dynamic vary and not less than slightly bit questionable element therapy. As we have come to count on from iPhones, the 2x zoom stage is among the many higher implementations in the marketplace and you may rely on properly detailed 50-ish mm images. The iPhone 16 Professional and the 16 Professional Max seize the identical 5x zoom pictures too.

The brand new Professional-grade ultrawide cameras did not show to be a radical enchancment over final 12 months’s module, however it’s not one thing that that you must take into consideration when selecting between these two telephones.

iPhone 16 Professional daylight photograph samples: 0.5x • 1x • 2x • 5x

iPhone 16 Professional Max daylight photograph samples: 0.5x • 1x • 2x • 5x

On to some equally similar selfies. We have a tendency to love iPhone selfies and regardless that there’s not been an entire lot of {hardware} development, the 16 Professional and 16 Professional Max nonetheless seize fairly nice images with their front-facing cameras.

Selfie samples: iPhone 16 Professional • iPhone 16 Professional Max

Variations do not magically seem at evening, so the 16 Professional and 16 Professional Max might be capturing the identical images with all of their cameras. The first ones take fairly glorious pictures and the 2x zoom stage additionally stays a viable possibility even when gentle ranges drop. The parity continues on the telephoto stage, the place this 12 months we do not have to choose between 3x and 5x – the 16 Professional can zoom so far as the 16 Professional Max.

iPhone 16 Professional low-light photograph samples: 0.5x • 1x • 2x • 5x

iPhone 16 Professional Max low-light photograph samples: 0.5x • 1x • 2x • 5x

Video high quality

With all of the speak about how the 2 telephones seize the identical images, it is solely pure that video high quality can also be similar between the 16 Professional and 16 Professional Max.

Under we now have a number of framegrabs from the movies taken by the 2 telephones at every focal size so it is simpler to match.

iPhone 16 Professional daylight video samples: 0.5x • 1x • 2x • 5x

iPhone 16 Professional Max daylight video samples: 0.5x • 1x • 2x • 5x

iPhone 16 Professional low-light video samples: 0.5x • 1x • 2x • 5x

iPhone 16 Professional Max low-light video samples: 0.5x • 1x • 2x • 5x

Verdict

We’re not totally certain why we needed to look forward to a 12 months to get true digital camera equality between the 2 sizes of iPhone Professional, however regardless of the motive for the delay, we have now waited it out – the selection this technology is much more so primarily based on dimension than it has been as of late.

With each fashions getting bigger this 12 months, the 16 Professional Max could lastly have change into an excessive amount of size-wise. However in order for you essentially the most iPhone you will get, the 16 Professional Max is exactly that – the largest show and finest endurance, with all of the options and capabilities the ecosystem can supply.

For these trying to get the identical performance and your entire iPhone Professional expertise, solely in a extra pocketable bundle, the 16 Professional is the apparent selection and the truth that it is cheaper does not damage its case both.