Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max vs. iPhone 15 Pro Max: Should you upgrade?

The iPhone not too long ago went via one more improve cycle at Apple’s “It’s Glowtime” occasion. This yr, the main focus was extra on Apple Intelligence and fewer on {hardware} upgrades. However we do see sure new components on the Apple iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max, particularly the brand new multifunctional Digital camera Management button. There’s additionally a brand new and controversial Desert Titanium coloration, as an alternative of the tranquil blue from final yr.

Apple doesn’t are likely to drop radical modifications with each iPhone era, so the small-scale modifications had been already anticipated. That, nevertheless, doesn’t imply there aren’t any thrilling modifications in any respect. That’s why lots of chances are you’ll be tempted to check out the iPhone 16 Professional Max as an alternative of the older iPhone 15 Pro Max, particularly in the event you’re coming from a a lot older era.

However what about people who’ve the final yr’s mannequin? The iPhone 15 Professional Max was the bestselling iPhone till June 2024. For those who’re among the many fortunate thousands and thousands who purchased the iPhone 15 Professional Max, do you have to improve to the newer iPhone 16 Professional Max? Let’s reply that query!

Apple iPhone 16 Professional Max vs. iPhone 15 Professional Max: specs

Apple iPhone 16 Professional Max vs. iPhone 15 Professional Max: design

On the floor, chances are you’ll not have the ability to establish many variations between the iPhone 16 Professional Max and the older 15 Professional Max. However there certain are some. For starters, the iPhone 16 Professional Max is marginally taller, wider, and consequently heavier than the final yr’s Professional Max. This permits the brand new mannequin to accommodate a brand new and expansive 6.9-inch OLED show — up from the 6.7 inches of final yr.

The general design of the iPhone 16 Professional Max stays largely unchanged, aside from the addition of a brand new multipurpose Digital camera Management button. You may merely faucet the button to launch the Digital camera app, after which faucet once more to click on a photograph or tap-and-hold to start out recording video.

Like an precise digicam’s shutter button, the iPhone’s Digital camera Management button permits for two-step clicks — backed by haptic suggestions — to allow you to accomplish a variety of features comparable to mentioning handbook controls or zoom ranges. As soon as any menu is activated, you too can slide over the button to navigate the menus or zoom in or out. Within the coming months, Apple will add extra performance, comparable to a Google Lens-style visible search utilizing the Digital camera Management button straight.

Aside from the brand new button, there are few different noticeable modifications, however those who stick out embody the brand new and smoother finishes on each the glass again and the titanium body. Though three of the 4 out there colours have the identical names as final yr, there may be some visible distinction, with this yr’s fashions showing much less matte than final yr — at the very least within the photos. We may have a greater concept over the course of the subsequent few weeks as we assessment the telephone.

Along with these outward modifications, Apple has now added 4 microphones to can help you shoot extra spatially apt audio that can be utilized with AirPods, Imaginative and prescient Professional, or different sounds techniques able to encompass sound.

Apple iPhone 16 Professional Max vs. iPhone 15 Professional Max: show

The show, as famous above, is now greater than on final yr’s mannequin. At 6.9 inches, the show is even greater than that of the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, and might appear impractically massive for some folks. If that doesn’t apply to you, you’ll be happy to see Apple chisel down the encircling bezels even additional. That will permit for simpler gesture-based swiping throughout the interface and will look barely higher when each telephones are in contrast facet by facet. However in any other case, you in all probability received’t discover.

The bigger measurement additionally ends in a better decision, however that’s a lot of the benefit you get right here over final yr’s mannequin. Not like different producers cashing in on the brightness bid, Apple isn’t interested by pushing ever-higher nits values. The iPhone 16 Professional Max nonetheless gives the identical 1,600 nits of typical brightness and a pair of,000 nits within the high-brightness mode. That’s to not say the iPhone 16 Professional Max’s show will appear uninteresting compared, particularly since most different producers depend on jargon to state increased figures than what we’d expertise in actual life.

You get the purpose, although, and that’s, the iPhone 16 Professional Max show will get naked minimal enhancements during the last yr. The 120Hz dynamic refresh fee switching, due to ProMotion and LTPO tech, stays the identical, and so does the Dynamic Island up prime.

Apple iPhone 16 Professional Max vs. iPhone 15 Professional Max: efficiency

Regardless of minimal modifications on the floor, there are substantial upgrades below the hood, primarily as Apple seems to be to ship ample energy for on-device AI purposes. Apple’s new A18 Professional chip on the iPhone 16 Professional Max succeeds the A17 Professional from final yr. As a part of Apple’s second era of 3nm iPhone chips, the A18 Professional is fabricated on TSMC’s N3E course of, leading to higher effectivity than the earlier era.

For its CPU, the A18 Professional maintains a six-core design (two efficiency and 4 effectivity core) however the frequencies are anticipated to be bumped up. Whereas Apple doesn’t reveal the precise clock speeds, it claims a 15% efficiency enhance over the A17 Professional. The CPU additionally has two devoted sectors or Scalable Matrix Extension (SME) models for higher efficiency in AI or machine studying duties, whereas low-level duties can run off it with out participating the devoted neural engine.

Subsequent, the GPU on the A18 Professional additionally comes with the identical six-core design as final yr, however Apple claims the “desktop-class structure” allows 20% higher efficiency. The brand new chip additionally helps rendering of frames that’s twice as quick with {hardware} accelerated ray tracing.

The 16-core neural engine is able to as much as 35 tera operations per second (TOPS). Whereas Apple says it’s twice as quick because the “earlier era,” it’s referring to the A16 and never the A17 Professional — suggesting there will not be a bodily enchancment.

What may contribute to raised AI efficiency is the brand new 17% quicker reminiscence on the iPhone 16 Professional Max. Apart from AI purposes, the quicker RAM may additionally lead to an total enchancment in efficiency.

Whereas Apple Intelligence is a compelling motive to improve to the iPhone 16 Professional Max, know that the iPhone 15 Professional Max can even be able to all of the AI-related performance, and Apple hasn’t explicitly introduced plans to restrict something to the iPhone 16 Professional.

Moreover, there’s an upgraded passive cooling resolution contained in the iPhone 16 Professional Max. Contemplating the iPhone 15 Professional Max ran too hot initially — and the issue really hasn’t gone away completely — we hope the extra environment friendly structure and cooling upgrades will deliver some respite. We can be testing this side additional throughout our assessment.

When it comes to connectivity, the iPhone 16 Professional Max will get a brand new Snapdragon X75 modem, and it is best to anticipate quicker 5G speeds. It helps Wi-Fi 7, although assist for the 6GHz band remains to be lacking. The iPhone 16 Professional Max additionally will get satellite tv for pc connectivity with assist for emergency SOS, calling, messages, and Discover My by way of satellite tv for pc when a regular community isn’t out there.

Apple iPhone 16 Professional Max vs. iPhone 15 Professional Max: battery and charging

Apple claims the iPhone 16 Professional brings a “large leap” in battery life. It doesn’t precisely reveal the scale of the battery pack on the brand new telephone, however the claimed figures for video playback and video streaming are as much as 33 and 29 hours, respectively, from 29 and 25 hours on the iPhone 15 Professional Max, which had a 4,441mAh battery. We are able to’t say if the improved battery backup has to do with a extra environment friendly chip or an even bigger battery, however we’ll check this quickly.

One factor to notice is that the iPhone 15 Professional Max has proven an unreliable pattern with its battery backup. On its finest days, the telephone lasts solely as much as two days; on its worst, greater than half of the battery is depleted inside a number of hours of unplugging the charger.

The charging speeds have but to be examined as nicely. Apple doesn’t make any claims about quicker charging speeds, however has amped up the MagSafe velocity to 25 watts on the iPhone 16 Professional Max from 15W beforehand. For non-Apple or non-Apple-certified equipment, the iPhone 16 Professional Max will nonetheless be restricted to 15W charging with Qi2 chargers. That, sadly, additionally means you’ll have to purchase an entire new set of chargers to get the quickest speeds.

Apple iPhone 16 Professional Max vs. iPhone 15 Professional Max: cameras

The variations between the cameras on the iPhone 16 Professional Max and the 15 Professional Max are barely seen from the skin. However two of the three cameras have been upgraded. First, the 48MP main sensor from final yr has been swapped with a brand new “Fusion” digicam sensor. Though it nonetheless has a 48MP decision, Apple says the sensor now shoots quicker images.

Subsequent, the iPhone 16 Professional Max now comes with a 48MP ultrawide digicam as an alternative of the earlier 12MP. Apple says the sector of view is now wider, and you too can use this sensor to seize 48MP ProRAW pictures. In the meantime, the 5X periscopic telephoto and the 12MP selfie cameras stay unchanged from final yr.

The iPhone 16 Professional Max — alongside different iPhone 16 fashions — can seize spatial images with a 3rd dimension of depth to them, to allow them to be later considered on the Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional. Beforehand, the iPhone 15 Professional fashions may solely report spatial movies — however not spatial images. Apple doesn’t say in the event you can view these images on different digital actuality headsets, however we’ll discover out quickly.

The brand new main digicam and the improved picture sign processors on the A18 Professional also can permit 4K video recording at 120 frames per second (fps) with Dolby Imaginative and prescient, ProRes, and Log (the latter two require exterior storage). The video clips can be slowed all the way down to 24 fps for a cinematic slow-motion impact. Apple dietary supplements 120 fps video with 4 microphones. Along with capturing spatial audio, the mics additionally can help you seize sounds or voices from completely different distances, and machine studying algorithms on the telephone assist eradicate any undesirable background sounds, which will be particularly helpful whereas in postproduction.

Lastly, Apple has rebooted its Photographic Kinds, that are subtle lux filters. The kinds have been optimized to match colours to topics and offer you a two-axis slider to alter the depth of various dominant colours within the filters. You may apply the filters in preview earlier than capturing the photograph or tweak it at a later stage. It seems to be actually cool primarily based on the demo, and we are able to’t wait to attempt it.

Apple iPhone 16 Professional Max vs. iPhone 15 Professional Max: software program and updates

The iPhone 16 Professional Max comes with iOS 18 preinstalled. The most recent model of the OS, which we’ve skilled via Apple’s demo at its Worldwide Builders Convention (WWDC) earlier this yr after which by making an attempt the beta variations ourselves, has loads of promising new modifications. These embody, however usually are not restricted to, customization choices for app icons and components within the Management Middle, new Images and Digital camera apps, and a bevy of intelligence options. Our devoted iOS 18 article covers these modifications in rather more depth.

The iPhone 15 Professional Max is eligible to get iOS 18 when it releases later this month, in addition to all of the Apple Intelligence options — besides those who depend upon the Digital camera Management button. We wouldn’t essentially anticipate any distinction in expertise on each the gadgets. The one profit with the iPhone 16 Professional Max could be an additional yr of software program assist. However with Apple’s wonderful observe report of pushing software program updates out for over 5 years, with day one entry to all gadgets directly, we wouldn’t essentially fear in regards to the iPhone 15 Professional being omitted.

Apple iPhone 16 Professional Max vs. iPhone 15 Professional Max: value and availability

The iPhone 16 Professional Max has a beginning value of $1,199 for the 256GB unlocked variant. It is going to be up for preorder beginning September 13 and can be out there beginning September 20.

With the introduction of the brand new mannequin, the iPhone 15 Professional Max is not listed by Apple, although chances are you’ll discover it being supplied by third-party sellers like Amazon, Finest Purchase, Walmart, or sure carriers.

Apple iPhone 16 Professional Max vs. iPhone 15 Professional Max: Do you have to improve?

For years, Apple has progressively improved the Professional iPhone fashions little by little as an alternative of adjusting them drastically. This doesn’t instantly make the older iPhones redundant or give homeowners FOMO over the newest tech options. On the similar time, the sluggish progressions additionally make the newer iPhones simpler to improve to, even in the event you’re doing it only a era later. The iPhone 16 Professional Max, subsequently, lacks any swooping modifications.

So the largest query is, do you must improve from the iPhone 15 Professional Max to the brand new iPhone 16 Professional Max? The quick, easy, and apparent reply is “no.” The iPhone 15 Professional Max is sort of as succesful as the brand new mannequin and can proceed to serve you nicely for a number of years.

Nonetheless, there are many explanation why it is best to improve. First is the brand new Digital camera Management button, which helps you grasp varied facets of images and allows you to take the reins of handbook controls comparable to publicity, ISO, or shutter velocity. This might set off the return of horizontally shot photos, one thing we’ve been dropping with the appearance of vertical feeds on social media. The video controls equip you with talents which will assist enhance your filmmaking or encourage you to ditch your video cameras for a extra useful iPhone 16 Professional Max. The brand new A18 Professional chip gives top-notch efficiency and may endure the evolving processing wants of on-device AI.

The final bit that might make the iPhone 16 Professional Max a beautiful improve over the iPhone 15 Professional Max are the hefty trade-in advantages and preorder offers from Apple, which may knock a number of hundred {dollars} off the worth and make the brand new Professional Max far inexpensive than its daunting $1,200 price ticket.