Even bigger titanium superphone packs very long battery life and great camera but Apple Intelligence isn’t killer feature
The iPhone 16 Pro Max is Apple’s latest superphone, with a massive screen, the fastest chip and the most advanced cameras on an iPhone, ready to be your entertainment powerhouse, if you can squeeze it into a pocket or bag.
This enormous iPhone comes at an equally huge price. Starting at £1,199 (€1,449/$1,199/A$2,149) the 16 Pro Max tops the iPhone 16 series, towering above the £999 16 Pro and £899 16 Plus, though, at least it comes with double the starting storage of the rest.
Unlike their predecessors, the 16 Pro and Pro Max have matching cameras, chips and capabilities, providing a choice of size between a relatively compact 6.3in screen and the biggest ever fitted to an Apple phone.
The 16 Pro Max’s 6.9in screen is 0.2in bigger on the diagonal than the outgoing 15 Pro Max, which makes it one of the largest on the market, outstretching Samsung and Google’s superphones. The display looks fantastic: bright, crisp and slick, with its 120Hz refresh rate to keep scrolling and animations smooth. For widescreen video the visible display is only 10% (18mm) shorter than the iPad mini, so it feels more like watching films on a small tablet than a phone.
Thinner bezels around the screen have soaked up some of the display’s increase in size but the 16 Pro Max is 6g heavier, 3.1mm longer and 1mm wider than its predecessor. That makes it a full 13.4mm taller, 6.1mm wider and 28g heavier than the regular 16 Pro.
You will need two hands to use it most of the time and likely a phone grip to avoid hand strain.SpecificationsA18 Pro chip and a big battery
The 16 Pro Max has the same rapid new A18 Pro chip as its smaller sibling and comes with a minimum of 256GB of storage, which should be plenty for most that aren’t attempting to shoot the next blockbuster film.
The battery lasts for about 55 hours of general use between charges while actively using the screen for almost eight hours on a mixture of 5G and wifi. That is 10 to 15 hours longer than its predecessor and the 16 Pro, and means charging it every third day or less with lighter usage. Playing games and other intensive tasks did dent the battery, but even so the 16 Pro Max will outlast even the heaviest of days usage.iOS 18.1 and the start of Apple Intelligence
It runs iOS 18.1, which has various new customisation options, RCS support for messaging Android users and the excellent maths notes feature from the iPad. The recent update has also enabled the first of Apple’s new AI features that are available in beta, but only in US English, with UK, Australia and other non-US English due to be enabled in December.
