Although the form of iPhones has remained virtually unchanged for years, Apple has been introducing some important new products every year in recent years. It is worth mentioning the activity island and the new cutout in the screen for the camera and FaceID facial reader introduced in iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max. A USB-C port has finally appeared in iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max instead of Lightning. This year’s models look very similar in terms of form, but there are some important new features. Some of them are only available on Pro models, others are available on all iPhones from the 16 line, and still other changes apply only to models 16 and 16 Plus. In recent weeks, I had the opportunity to test both the iPhone 16 Pro Max and the 16 and 16 Plus models. In this text I will focus on the first one.
What’s outside
As I already mentioned, the general form of iPhones has not changed for several years. Next, the iPhone has a flat metal frame (in Pro models it is made of titanium), a glass panel with a screen on the front and a glass back with an almost identical in appearance island with three cameras, a lamp and a LiDAR scanner. The most important change compared to previous models is the addition of a button for taking photos in the entire iPhone 16 line – which is, of course, a mental shortcut, because this button offers much more than just calling the camera and the digital shutter button. I write more about this button below.
iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max are available in four colors – shades of titanium: desert titanium, natural titanium, white titanium and black titanium. I tested the iPhone 16 Pro Max in black.
Screen
What is not noticeable at first glance, but becomes very clear when you compare the iPhone 16 Pro Max with the iPhone 15 Pro Max, is the size of the former. 16 Pro Max is the largest iPhone in the history of this device. iPhone 16 Pro Max is clearly larger than its predecessor. All thanks to the larger OLED screen, the diagonal of which is 6.9 inches (in the iPhone 15 Pro Max, the screen had a diagonal of 6.7 inches). The screen also has a significantly thinner black frame compared to the model from last year, and of course a higher resolution (2868 x 1320 pixels in the iPhone 16 Pro Max and 2796 x 1290 pixels in the iPhone 15 Pro Max), so it can display slightly more content. The pixel density has remained the same and is 460 dots per inch.
Out of curiosity, I compared the iPhone 16 Pro Max, the largest iPhone in history, with the first model from 2007. The impression is amazing. The screen on the iPhone 16 Pro Max is almost as wide as the height of the screen on the first iPhone, not to mention that it is more than twice as tall. In general, the first model looks like a miniature compared to the iPhone 16 Pro Max, and I remember how impressive it made with its huge screen.
Staying with the screen, it is worth mentioning that its brightness has not changed compared to last year’s model and is 2000 nits. However, the iPhone 16 Pro Max offers a minimum screen brightness of one nit, which significantly improves the use of the phone in the dark. The OLED screen performs perfectly in all lighting conditions, including bright sunlight.
Cameras and camcorder
As I mentioned above, the form of the photographic island on the back of the iPhone 16 Pro Max has not changed compared to the previous model. It is also equipped with three cameras.
This time they are:
- main camera with a resolution of 48 megapixels with an f/1.7 lens
- new camera with an ultra-wide-angle lens and a resolution of 48 megapixels
- camera with a telephoto lens with 5x optical zoom, f/2.8 aperture and 12 megapixel resolution.
It is worth mentioning that both Pro models (i.e. 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max) offer the same level of optical zoom, i.e. x5. The iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max also includes video support in 4K and 120 frames per second. Of course, such a video will take up much more space, so if you are thinking about shooting in 4K at 120 frames, it is worth purchasing a model with larger mass memory.
New in iPhone 16 Pro is a macro mode with high resolution up to 48 megapixels. High-resolution macro can be activated in Settings by selecting formats and the ProRAW and resolution tool. iPhone approximately x1 offers three focal lengths: 24 mm, 28 mm and 35 mm.
Photo button
One of the big new features, if not the biggest, in the entire iPhone 16 line is the above-mentioned photo button. It is used to bring up the camera app and then act as a shutter button when pressed again. However, his role does not end there. Pressing it lightly activates other functions, e.g. adjusting the aperture and, consequently, the depth of field. In the same way, you can adjust exposure, zoom, tone and even select cameras. Smooth adjustment with your finger while taking photos is definitely more convenient than tapping the screen and moving your finger across it.
The button is located on the right edge, within reach of the right thumb or index finger (when the iPhone is placed horizontally). All this to be able to quickly activate the camera and take a photo, as well as to conveniently change camera settings or its operating mode.
I must admit that I have somewhat mixed feelings about this button. On the one hand, you can actually quickly activate the camera without touching the screen, but on the other… I sometimes do it accidentally – often. A definite plus is the ability to adjust various parameters when taking photos or recording videos by moving your finger on this button.
Microphones and sound (audio)
iPhone 16 Pro Max is equipped with four microphones offering – according to Apple – studio quality. Even though I work in the studio with my bands, I have never encountered a situation where iPhones were used instead of professional microphones, both for vocals and when collecting sound from guitar amplifiers or drums. You can argue whether the microphones in the iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max offer studio quality or not, but the quality of the recordings is really high. I test them several times a week during my band rehearsals and at concerts. In the case of the latter, the various sound mixing modes offered by the iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max work great, such as:
- in the frame (removing sounds from outside the frame, only what is in the frame can be heard)
- studio (removing background sounds and reverbs in such a way that the effect is closest to the studio recording)
- film (exposing voices in the frame with audible spatial voices from the surroundings).
In practice this works really well. I saw this in my band’s videos from our last concerts. In fact, you can somehow narrow down the sound to what comes out of the sound system and what is visible on stage, removing or significantly muting noise, off-stage sounds, etc.
iPhone 16 Pro Max – just like its predecessors – is equipped with stereo speakers. As usual, it is best to listen to music or watch movies on it when it is placed horizontally. I have no objections to the sound. And although of course it is difficult to talk about deep bass in its case, the sound is selective across the entire frequency range and the stage is relatively wide. iPhone 16 Pro Max definitely sounds better than many small wireless speakers.
Efficiency
The heart of the iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max is the A18 Pro processor, made similarly to last year’s processor in 3 nm technology. According to Apple, it is 15% faster than the A17 Pro and has a 20% faster GPU graphics unit. What I tested the performance of the iPhone 16 Pro Max on were primarily the latest games, especially the so-called console titles. Smoothness along with the AMOLED screen and very good speakers make a brilliant impression, and this should not be surprising. A18 Pro offers – as Apple declares – greater hardware acceleration of ray tracing, up to two times compared to the A17 Pro system. Importantly, the iPhone 16 Pro Max did not heat up very much, and the energy consumption was not very drastic either.
Battery
Apple declares that the iPhone 16 Pro Max has the most efficient battery in the history of all iPhones and, according to the company’s declaration, it provides up to 33 hours of continuous video playback (and 27 hours on the iPhone 16 Pro). In fact, the results of your work really depend on how you use this device. Personally, I don’t know anyone who would watch a video continuously (even for the sake of sleep) for more than a few hours, let alone 33 hours. It should also be remembered that video recording or console games significantly increase the demand for energy, so the results may be different – especially if you do different things on the iPhone between charging. In my case, usually when I forgot to put it on the MagSafe charger in the evening, the iPhone successfully lasted up to two days of work. It also lasted from morning to evening without any problems on the day when I spent several hours recording videos of my bands’ concerts during a small metal festival I was organizing.
What is missing… or maybe not missing?
European iPhones 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max will not receive Apple’s own AI solution, i.e. Apple Intelligence, at least for the next few months, which is the result of legal turmoil between Cupertino and the European Union. Of course, you can complain that users are suffering as a result of these turmoil, but… I must admit that I don’t feel like I’m suffering much. Moreover, I believe that, apart from certain cases, the AI bubble is being artificially inflated, and adopting these solutions is already causing losses. I definitely prefer the power of the human mind, the human voice, to artificial intelligence, even the one from Apple, and I think that in the end we will regret opening this “Pandora’s Box”. I don’t have such drastic and catastrophic visions as those presented in the film series “The Terminator”, but the vision of the relationship between people and artificial intelligence in the form of the Hal 9000 computer from “A Space Odyssey” is very real.
For whom
iPhone 16 Pro Max and iPhone 16 Pro are another great iPhone and definitely a worthy successor to the models from last year. The name Pro is not accidental here. In my opinion, due to even better cameras and extensive photographic and audio functions, these devices are definitely for people who use them in photography, video or even audio. Yes, I am aware that many people still believe that the phone cannot be used in professional productions, but both Apple and reality have been showing for years that it can and is used. In my case, the iPhone 16 Pro Max is great for recording our concerts hand-held (we have several such devices in my bands), and the audio mix allows you to bring out what is most important from such recordings. It also works great as a sound recorder, e.g. during my band rehearsals. It is also a super efficient mobile console if the player cares about entertainment with the highest possible parameters. I just hope that Apple will convince well-known game studios to transfer their productions to iPhones.
If you are looking for a super-efficient iPhone with a great set of cameras, equally good audio and a larger screen, the iPhone 16 Pro Max is certainly a very good choice, especially since its prices are significantly lower compared to the iPhone 15 Pro Max cost last year ( more precisely, until the premiere of the iPhone 16 Pro Max).
The text was published in MyApple Magazine No. 4/2024
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Source: myapple.pl
