Too Pro, too Max, unapologetically overindulgent, especially with Apple Intelligence Firstpost

Pros:
– A18 Pro is a performance beast
– Apple Intelligence looks very promising
– Feels premium to hold
– Bright and vibrant display
– Incredibly long battery life
– Great cameras, especially for videos
– Built like a tank

Cons:
– No fast charging even at this pricepoint
– Larger and heavier than before; difficult to use with one hand
– Apple Intelligence won’t come to India before 2025
– Overloaded with features that most people won’t use

Pricing: Starts at Rs 1,44,900 for the base 256GB variant
Rating: 4.75/5

Apple launched the iPhone 16 series without the much-anticipated Apple Intelligence features, which left many users feeling disappointed. However, after using the iPhone 16 Pro Max for over a month, I can confidently say it’s an incredible smartphone, even without the AI capabilities.

With the recent iOS 18.2 Beta update, the iPhone 16 Pro Max enters a whole new league. Even in beta, it’s already outperforming many competing devices, and I can only imagine how powerful it will become once the public version of Apple Intelligence is released.

During my time with the iPhone 16 Pro Max, it has become my main device for photo editing, gaming, and video recording. We get a stupidly powerful SoC, a gorgeous and bigger display, and an insane battery life to back it all up. Then there is the Camera Control. While it might seem like a gimmick to some, it’s a game-changer for content creators who shoot a lot of videos.

Even though many are choosing the iPhone 16 Pro Max, not everyone will fully utilize its extensive capabilities, considering everything that Apple has managed to fit into the most Pro iPhone of all time.

iPhone 16 Pro Max Review: Design
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it — this is the approach Apple has taken with its design choices for its Pro devices over the last few years. The 16 Pro Max sticks closely to the style Apple introduced for its Pro model iPhones about four generations ago, including all the little tweaks here and there that they have introduced in their recent models. This is what it would seem from a distance. Look closer, and you’ll see, that there are a few surprises here and there.

There’s obviously the Camera Control switch/button, but we will get to that later. One of the first things that I noticed when I picked up my iPhone 16 Pro Max for the first time, was it weight and dimensions. The 16 Pro Max is slightly larger and heavier than the iPhone 15 Pro Max.

You also get a slightly larger display. With the stunning 6.9-inch panel, the 16 Pro Max boasts the largest screen of any iPhone to date. And while the thinner bezels has sure helped Apple keep the footprint of the device in check, it is still noticeably taller, wider, and heavier to hold than the iPhone 15 Pro Max.

The thing is, I loved the way the iPhone 15 Pro Max felt in my hand. It was just perfect for me considering its display size. The new 16 Pro Max feels a smidge too big for my hands. The iPhone 16 Pro Max is not a device that I would be comfortable using with one hand. Simple tasks, like scrolling through websites or your emails is fine. But try to send a quick reply to a text, hit the back button at the top left corner of the display, or even try to pull the notification drawer or control panel down, and you will have to use two hands.

The good news is that all that heft comes from the fact that the Pro Max is designed to be more durable. With a titanium band and an upgraded Ceramic Shield display that Apple claims is 50 per cent tougher than the previous generation, it looks promising. Apple has also used grade 5 titanium for the body is packing by a graphite-coated aluminium substructure inside, which helps with heat dissipation and efficiency. Oh, and you also get an IP68 rating with the iPhone 16 Pro Max.

As for colour options, we have four choices to choose from — Titanium White, Titanium Black, Natural Titanium, and Desert Titanium. Our review unit was the Titanium Black, which has a sleek, stealthy look. However, its matte finish tends to show fingerprints if a skin or case isn’t used.

As for the buttons they are largely the same as last year with the positioning moving here and there by a few millimetres or so. The big new addition is the Camera Control. Apple refuses to call it a button, mainly because, it isn’t just a button, but more of a clickable capacitive touchpad.

This Camera Control is located on the side of the power button and is roughly the same size. It offers quick access to the camera and also gives users access to various virtual lens options and settings through different gestures, presses and swipes. Using the Camera Control was fairly intuitive for me. It recognises different types of presses — both full and lighter taps — and comes with haptic feedback to make things easier to get used to.

You can also long-press the Camera Button to launch Apple’s Visual Intelligence, provided you have the Apple Intelligence update on your iPhone 16 series.

Now, because of how low it is positioned on the phone, I did accidentally trigger the camera open when taking the 16 Pro Max in and out of my pockets. However such instances were few and far between. Interestingly, I had no such issues with the much smaller, regular iPhone 16.

Coming to the bottom edge, there are perforations for the microphone and speaker, along with a USB-C port that supports Thunderbolt 4 data transfer speeds when paired with the right cable.

There’s also a speaker slot at the very top edge of the display. Together with the bottom speaker, this phone produces impressive sound quality with surprisingly good bass, and of course, sharp highs with strong mids.

iPhone 16 Pro Max Review: Display
The display on the iPhone 16 Pro Max may not feature any significant upgrades when it comes to refresh rate or peak brightness, but they remain among some of the best OLED panels available on smartphones today. The iPhone 16 Pro Max comes with the same LTPO Super Retina XDR OLED panel that we saw in the iPhone 15 Pro Max. This is a panel that boasts a smooth 120Hz refresh rate, support for HDR10 and Dolby Vision, and a peak brightness of 2000 nits.

One notable new thing is that the screens can now dim down to a minimum brightness of just 1 nit, which is a great new feature if you have the tendency to use your phone at night while trying to go to sleep.

We again have the Dynamic Island, which continues to serve as a handy and versatile information hub at the top of the screen, based on the apps that you are using.

Dimension-wise, the iPhone 16 Pro Max sports a massive 6.9-inch display. Apple was able to push in more screen real estate without increasing the size of the panel combining a slightly larger chassis with sleek, much thinner bezels. I was genuinely surprised by just how thin the bezels are this time around.

The ProMotion display continues to deliver a fluid 120Hz refresh rate and as far as colour accuracy is concerned, it is exceptional. Sure, the displays in Samsung’s flagship seem to pop more, and more rich, but with the iPhone 16 Pro Max, we get a display that is more life-like. Furthermore, the True Tone feature automatically adjusts the screen’s colour temperature to suit your surroundings.

iPhone 16 Pro Max Review: Camera
The iPhone 16 Pro Max boasts several camera improvements, starting with a new 48MP Fusion Camera for the main lens, designed for quicker data processing. This should result in virtually no shutter lag and much improved focusing speed.

The camera setup is pretty robust, featuring a 48MP sensor with a wide lens at f/1.78 and Optical Image Stabilisation (OIS) and a 12MP sensor with a telephoto lens & 5x optical zoom. We also get a new ultrawide camera, which now comes with a 48MP sensor, with an f/2.2 lens. At the front, we get a 12MP selfie camera.

The ultrawide camera gets a notable upgrade, not only enhancing wide-angle shots but also improving macro photography, giving users a whole bunch of creative options.

While the main camera hasn’t gained a massive bump in pixels, it has received some smart upgrades. The faster shutter speeds and dual autofocus sensors mean you can expect better performance in a variety of situations.

With the iPhone 16 Pro Max, it is almost as if Apple set out to create the best compact-sized video camera in the world, and somehow managed to slap on one of the best smartphones to it.

The iPhone 16 Pro Max shoots videos at upto 4K video at 120fps, which, is simply awesome. Apple’s “cinematic slow motion” mode combines the existing Cinematic video option with this new slow-motion capability, making it super easy to capture dramatic footage. Content creators will especially love what Apple has done with audio this time, especially the features they get with Apple’s Audio Mix.

I tried shooting some video in 4K at 120fps, and the results blew me away. An awesome new addition is the Speed Control feature which lets you play with playback speeds, giving you options like 20 per cent (24fps), 25 per cent (30fps), 50 per cent (60fps), and the default 100 per cent (120fps) after you have recorded the video.

The biggest update for the camera system though, is the Camera Control. This nifty “button” is located on the right edge of the phone and makes accessing camera functions super easy. A quick press opens the camera, another press snaps a photo and a long press switches to video mode. It’s perfectly placed for your right thumb, so it feels natural to use, especially when you’re holding the phone sideways like a traditional camera.

Using the Camera Control in landscape mode really makes the iPhone 16 Pro Max feel more like a serious camera. I found the Camera Control super useful in landscape mode. However, it felt a bit awkward when shooting vertically. It got me thinking about how often social media users, who typically shoot in portrait mode, will actually use this feature.

Camera Control also allows users to start recording video when you hold it down, and it defaults to whatever video quality setting you used last.

There is a lot to explore about the camera system of the new iPhone 16 Pro Max, especially when it comes to video. We will be publishing an in-depth camera review of the iPhone 16 Pro Max soon, so stay tuned for that.

iPhone 16 Pro Max Review: Performance
The iPhone 16 Pro Max packs a serious punch with its new A18 Pro SoC. There is no doubt that chip is a proper monster when it comes raw performance, It easily outperforms the A17 Pro and even Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 in most benchmarks. Apple has built something special here.

Qualcomm has unveiled the Snapdragon 8 Elite, which promises to outscore the A18 Pro in some benchmarks in demos. However, since we don’t have any devices with Qualcomm’s SoC in the market yet, we will have to wait and see how it fares in retail units, and more importantly in real-life scenarios.

Coming to the RAM, the iPhone 16 Pro Max comes with 8GB of RAM, the same as its predecessor, the iPhone 15 Pro Max. Apple usually keeps the specifics of its RAM under wraps, but 8GB is more than enough for what you need, especially to support its smart Apple Intelligence features.

Taking a deeper dive into the A18 Pro, we get 2 performance cores, 4 efficiency cores, 6 GPU cores, and an impressive 16 Neural Engine cores, delivering a whopping 35 TOPS (trillions of operations per second). To put that into perspective, that’s just shy of what you’d find in modern laptops.

When it comes to everyday performance, you can’t really ask for a faster, smoother mobile processor. Thanks to the A18 Pro, the iPhone 16 Pro Max breezes through every task you throw at it. I ran some pretty resource-intensive apps like, Capcut and Lightroom, and the device handled them without breaking a sweat.

We also played a few AAA games like Resident Evil 7 Biohazard, and we were very impressed with the graphical performance. For all intents and purposes the iPhone 16 Pro Max is like having a mini-console in your pocket. Apple Silicon has really stepped up, providing the power for everything from day-to-day tasks to hardcore gaming.

With iOS 18’s new Game Mode prioritising gaming performance, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how well it handles it all. Editing 4K videos is a breeze too—imagine that on a device that fits right in your pocket!

Because of all this grunt and power under its hood, the A18 Pro does have a tendency to warm up a bit during heavy tasks like synthetic benchmarks, gaming, or video editing. But don’t worry; it cools down quickly, once you’re done with those demanding tasks.

The iPhone 16 Pro Max also supports Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.3, and second-generation UWB. The A18 Pro chip also allows for super-fast data transfer speeds, letting you copy files at up to 10 Gbps, thanks to the USB Type-C 3.2 Gen 2 port. You can even connect it to a TV, monitor, or a speedy SSD for video recording, which is super convenient. Do note, that you’ll need a proper USB 3 cable for that high-speed data transfer.

iPhone 16 Pro Max Review: Software experience, UI & AI
While everyone has been buzzing about Apple Intelligence this year, it’s worth noting that iOS 18 has also received some pretty significant updates.

First off, iOS is much more customisable now. You can leave spaces in your app grids and arrange your icons in a way that suits your style — basically, you have a lot more freedom to set things up how you want. You can even colour your icons to match your aesthetic.

Next up is the Photos app, which has had a major facelift. It now defaults to Search and Collections. Another helpful addition is the new Passwords app, which gathers all those password features that used to be buried in Keychain and puts it in a straightforward place making it easier to secure and manage.

Now, even though Apple Intelligence was the main event at Apple’s Glow Time launch, the new iPhone 16s didn’t actually roll out with any major AI capabilities. Some of the AI features are available in the iOS 18.2 update, in a few select regions. However, most other regions, including India, won’t see these until 2025.

To get a taste of the new features, I set my Apple ID to the US market and switched my language to US English to access the Beta versions of iOS 18.2 and Apple Intelligence.

One of the first things you’ll notice is the redesigned Siri. Now, when you call on Siri, the whole display lights up at the edges, which definitely adds a nice touch. Plus, if you’re in a quiet place and don’t want to talk, you can type your requests, which is super convenient.

Siri has also become a lot more understanding. If you fumble your words or want to change your request mid-sentence, it adapts without a hitch. You can even ask follow-up questions, and Siri gets the context, making it feel like a more natural conversation.

Siri is also getting a major boost with integrated ChatGPT, which will allow users to ask questions and receive responses powered by OpenAI’s chatbot. Apple has made this feature entirely optional, and Siri will notify users whenever ChatGPT is responding, keeping things transparent. The assistant is also becoming more forgiving and is able to handle stumbles in speech and offer quick answers from Apple’s extensive library of how-to guides.

One of my favourite new features is the range of writing tools at your disposal. The iPhone 16 Pro can proofread your writing, checking for grammar and word choice. Apple also seems to be really into summarization these days. You’ll find it in various parts of the OS, including the new Writing Tools and Safari’s hidden Highlights feature. Just look for a little hamburger menu on the left side of the address bar, and you can easily access it.

The Photos app isn’t left out, either. You can ask it to create a movie using any keyword or frame, and it’ll whip up a slideshow of your photos and videos, complete with music—all thanks to some clever machine learning. Then, there’s the Clean Up feature in Photos. With just a tap, you can remove unwanted objects or people from your images. I gave it a try to eliminate someone from a selfie, and it did a pretty good job! Just keep in mind that it works best when the background isn’t too busy.

One of the standout additions is Genmoji, Apple’s generative AI emoji tool that lets users mix and match emojis to create unique combinations. These playful new creations can be accessed directly through familiar apps like Messages, Notes, and Freeform. Alongside this, Image Playground is Apple’s take on advanced AI image generation. While not fully tested yet, it promises to be a fun addition, accessible not only within apps but also as a standalone feature on Mac, iPad, and iPhone. Developers will be able to integrate these tools into other apps using dedicated APIs, expanding creative possibilities for users.

There’s also an extra treat for iPhone 16 users with the arrival of Visual Intelligence. This new feature works with the camera to identify objects in real time. During a demo at the iPhone 16 keynote, Apple showcased Visual Intelligence by identifying a dog’s breed and pulling up the opening hours of a restaurant just by snapping a photo of the building. It’s an exciting glimpse into how Apple Intelligence could make everyday tasks easier.

This preview of Apple Intelligence offers a thrilling glimpse into what’s in store for iPhones and other Apple devices. With improvements to Siri, playful tools like Genmoji, and Visual Intelligence making the camera smarter, it seems like Apple is taking AI to the next level and users are in for a treat once these features go live.

iPhone 16 Pro Max Review: Battery
The iPhone 16 Pro Max truly shines when it comes to battery performance. In our tests, it delivered some of the best battery life I’ve seen, averaging around 17 hours. Depending on what I was doing, I noticed it lasted anywhere between 15 and 17 hours, which is pretty impressive for a smartphone.

Apple has finally jumped on board with Qi 2 wireless charging technology. They sent me a new Qi 2-compatible MagSafe charger along. It’s worth mentioning that the iPhone 16 series comes with a USB-C cable that can handle 60W, but there’s no charging adapter included in the box, so you’ll need to pick one up separately.

Using the MagSafe charger I managed to recharge the iPhone 16 Pro Max to 44% in just 30 minutes. Apple claims you can hit 50 per cent in that time, so I’d say that’s pretty close. A full charge took about two hours, which is solid for a device of this calibre.

iPhone 16 Pro Max Review: Verdict
The iPhone 16 Pro Max is an absolute powerhouse of a device. Honestly, I’d go so far as to say that many of the features it offers — especially those amazing video capabilities — might not be fully utilised by most people who buy it.

This phone is robust enough to double as a dedicated gaming console, it can render 4K videos on the fly, and it’s truly a dream come true for content creators. If money were no object, I’d confidently say the iPhone 16 Pro Max, with its stunning display and impressive battery life, is the best phone you can get right now, whether or not you have access to Apple Intelligence.

When you factor in Apple Intelligence, things get even more exciting. Sure, the AI features still need a bit of fine-tuning, especially when you stack them up against what the Pixel line and Samsung’s Galaxy AI offer. But even in its beta phase, Apple Intelligence is pretty scintillating