If you require an iPhone , there are multiple models to opt from , with pocket-sized options and big models likewise . We ’ve already covered the differences between theiPhone 16andiPhone 16 Pro , but if you want the big iPhone screen , should you go with theiPhone 16 Plusor theiPhone 16 Pro Max ?
Both feature the latest generation of central processor and offer exchangeable camera experience , albeit with a few key differences in both areas . Both also have the sameAction ButtonandCamera Controlfeatures .
Do you go for the bigger non - Pro iPhone or the best Apple offer in the iPhone 16 Pro Max ? have ’s dive into the differences to find out .
Apple iPhone 16 Plus vs. iPhone 16 Pro Max: specs
4 K Dolby Vision television recording at 24 fps , 25 fps , 30 Federal Protective Service , 60 fps
1080p Dolby Vision picture recording at 25 fps , 30 Federal Protective Service , 60 Federal Protective Service
ProRes TV recording at up to 4 K at 120fps
Log video recording
Studio - quality four - mic raiment
iPhone 16 Plus vs. iPhone 16 Pro Max: design
The iPhone 16 Plus and iPhone 16 Pro Max portion similar designs , but the changes are smaller than in previous year . Crucially , the iPhone 16 Plus offer most of the iPhone 16 Pro Max experience at a importantly lower damage .
The iPhone 16 Plus gained the Action Button that was exclusive to the Pro speech sound last class , and both phone now have the Camera Control button , which is young to all of the iPhone 16 series . To further differentiate the ranges , Apple opted for a redesign vertical camera array instead of the diagonal array found on the iPhone 15 Pro range .
The iPhone 16 Plus is 0.5 millimetre thinner and 2.1 mm curt than the iPhone 16 Pro Max , but both earpiece have standardised width at 77.8 and 77.6 mm , respectively . The iPhone 16 Plus weigh importantly less at 199 g than the iPhone 16 Pro Max , which weighs 28 grams more at 227 grams . We found that the most obtrusive difference between the two is say 28 grams , which you ’ll have to deal with if you opt for the Pro Max . The Plus feel much abstemious by far when used on a regular basis .
The bottom right field of both phones houses the Camera Control button . This physical button sit loaded with the housing and feature a capacitive sensor underneath that let you swipe , press , and half - pressure to enable specific photographic camera feature of speech . It will also be necessary for the Vision Intelligence feature when they set in motion near the end of the month .
The iPhone 16 Plus features a Corning Gorilla Glass back with an aluminum frame and come in five vibrant colors : Black , White , Pink , Teal , and the hero colour , Ultramarine . The iPhone 16 Pro Max retains the same atomic number 22 figure from the iPhone 15 Pro reach and comes in four colors : Black Titanium , White Titanium , Natural Titanium , and this year ’s new colour , Desert Titanium .
These two offer the same conception , but if we had to pick a achiever , the titanium progress on the iPhone 16 Pro Max is better than the aluminium build on the iPhone 16 Plus . We ’re still proceed to call this a draw .
Winner : Tie
iPhone 16 Plus vs. iPhone 16 Pro Max: display
Until this twelvemonth , the Plus and Pro Max phones shared very like display sizing ; last year , they were even selfsame . This year , Apple made the Pro phones 0.2 inches larger than their non - Pro equivalents . At 6.9 inches , the iPhone 16 Pro Max features the biggest iPhone display ever .
For some mass , this may be too big , but the iPhone 16 Pro Max feature the thinnest bezels of any iPhone , which helps increase the ergonomic friendliness of the enceinte video display . The 6.9 - column inch presentation on the iPhone 16 Pro Max is also the largest of any flagship smartphone in the U.S. , even larger than the 6.8 - column inch display on theSamsung Galaxy S24 Ultra , Google Pixel 9 Pro XL , andOnePlus 12 .
Both earpiece sport a Super Retina XDR OLED exhibit with a typical brightness of 1,000 nits , 1,600 nits for HDR depicted object , and a peak luminosity of 2,000 nits . They can both also blind down to just 1 nit in dark conditions , which helps prevent them from blinding you in a dark room or environment . Both displays are protected by Ceramic Shield , which Apple exact is the strongest trash of any iPhone . These displays can handle most bump and driblet with add up scratch protection .
Both displays feature many similarities , but there is a gravid difference between them . The iPhone 16 Plus features a fixed 60Hz refresh rate and lacks an Always - On showing ( AOD ) , while the iPhone 16 Pro Max gains an AOD thanks to the ProMotion exhibit , which uses LTPO applied science to enable a varying refresh rate between 1Hz and 120Hz . However , the iPhone 16 Plus put on the Dynamic Island that was exclusive to the Pro iPhones last year .
The iPhone 16 Plus ’ 6.7 - column inch display is no slouch , but the ProMotion have on the iPhone 16 Pro Max make it best .
succeeder : Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max
iPhone 16 Plus vs. iPhone 16 Pro Max: cameras
Cameras were a big part of the iPhone 16 launching event , and for the first time , the non - Pro phones gained the same solidifying of new camera feature film as their Pro sib . Both phones feature update camera , but as in old years , the iPhone 16 Pro Max has a higher - grade photographic camera for more professional photos and videos .
The iPhone 16 Plus boast a new 48 - megapixel Fusion camera and a 12MP ultrawide tv camera in its new vertical camera array . The Fusion photographic camera utilise picture element binning — a engineering science that flux pixels to make larger ones — to capture 24MP photos with unspoilt light capture . The iPhone 16 Plus also sports a 2x telephoto lineament , but rather than a consecrate crystalline lens , Apple trim the middle 12MP of the range of a function to start the same effect . This cropped telephoto genus Lens has a faster aperture than any premature dedicated 2x telephoto lens on an iPhone and Army of the Righteous in more visible light to immensely better overall night photography . The 12MP ultrawide photographic camera has many similarities to last year ’s , but gains autofocus , enabling a fresh macro photography mode for non - Pro phone for the first time .
The iPhone 16 Pro Max features the same 48MP Fusion tv camera and has an improved 48MP ultrawide camera . This raw ultrawide improves on the 12MP ultrawide in last year ’s iPhone 15 Pro Max , although it features a much smaller 0.7 µm pixel size , which may affect lowlight ultrawide picture taking . The iPhone 16 Pro Max also has the same 5x telephoto lense found in the iPhone 15 Pro Max , with no notable class - on - yr improvements .
While the camera can take excellent photos on the Plus , it does lean to have issue with lowlight performance with dim indoor light . It instead zigzag out grainy shots , and photos with optical zoom end up miss some detail .
Both camera also have many new software - based feature of speech project to take advantage of the camera capabilities . Audio Mix countenance you to adjust the sound record during a video and interchange how the sound recording sound in the final video . Both phones can also capture spatial television and picture , which is ideal for theApple Vision Pro , while the iPhone 16 Pro Max can also capture Dolby Vision and 4 1000 recording at 120 frames per second ( fps ) .
The iPhone 16 Pro Max represent the best camera on an iPhone , but for once , the non - Pro iPhone volunteer much of the same experience . If you do n’t need a telephoto lens system or a right ultrawide camera , there ’s little reason to buy the iPhone 16 Pro Max for its camera .
The iPhone 16 Pro Max has a slightly well camera than the iPhone 16 Plus — mostly thanks to the additional telephoto lens — but they offer very similar experiences otherwise .
iPhone 16 Plus vs. iPhone 16 Pro Max: software and performance
Both the iPhone 16 Plus and iPhone 16 Pro Max are designed withApple Intelligencein mind . This means they sport the latest 3 nm processors , which offer increment in memory bandwidth , neural processing unit ( NPU ) capabilities , and gaming performance .
The iPhone 16 Plus is the first non - Pro bragging - screen iPhone to have the same latest - generation central processor as its Pro vis-a-vis . In former year , Apple opted for a yr - old CPU , but with Apple Intelligence in head , it picked the A18 CPU for the intact iPhone 16 batting order .
The A18 processor in the iPhone 16 Plus features a six - core C.P.U. with two performance cores and four efficiency core . This latest - contemporaries processor is up to double as fast as the iPhone 15 series for machine scholarship labor and up to 30 % faster in cosmopolitan undertaking . It also features a desktop - class five - gist CPU that is up to 40 % faster than the iPhone 15 ’s . The iPhone 16 Pro Max features the A18 Pro chipset , which has the same feature jell and one extra magnetic core in its GPU . Ultimately , this means there should be little difference between the performance of both devices .
The iPhone 16 Plus and iPhone 16 Pro Max run Io 18 out of the box , andApple Intelligencehas now launch too . Apple does n’t guarantee a specific bit of update for its machine , but ground on its racecourse record , it ’s probable that both phone will pick up between six and eight years of update and living .
This is an easy one : they ’re in effect the same earpiece .
iPhone 16 Plus vs. iPhone 16 Pro Max: battery life and charging
Apple does n’t reveal single battery capacities for its phones , but the Pro Max reach is wide pick out as have the best battery living of any iPhone . With a virtually identical stamp battery capacity , the iPhone 16 Plus is rat low by Apple , but still do well on its own .
In our review , we found the Plus lasted about six hours with on - screen use from a single commission . Meanwhile , the iPhone 16 Pro Max provide excellent battery life , lasting two days between boot during our review period .
This class ’s biggest improvements are in accuse , with Apple vastly bolster up the bill experience across the entire iPhone 16 lineup . Regardless of which iPhone 16 model you buy , you ’ll get enhanced rouse speed , whether using a cable , Qi - radio set charging , or a MagSafe charger .
MagSafe wireless charging has been boost to 25 watts with Apple ’s new MagSafe overseas telegram and a 30W charging puck . chi - receiving set charging has been increase to 15W using a first - generation or second - generation Qi charger . If you plug in to accuse , both phones tolerate up to 45W charging via USB - C.
They ’re very similar , so this is a tie . It ’s possible the iPhone 16 Pro Max has a longer long-lived - stamp battery , but we wo n’t have a go at it for certain until we ’ve had more clip with the iPhone 16 Plus . It ’s a tie , for now .
iPhone 16 Plus vs. iPhone 16 Pro Max: availability and price
The iPhone 16 Plus starts at $ 899 and is available in five colors : inglorious , White , Pink , Ultramarine , and the one in photograph in this usher , Teal . It comes with 128 GB of groundwork storage , with other options available : 256 GB costs an additional $ 100 , while the version with the maximum 512 GB costs $ 1,199 .
The iPhone 16 Pro Max is significantly more expensive at $ 1,199 , but this is n’t the full narration . This base model for the Pro Max come with 256 GB of storage , and if you desire more storage , 512 GB will cost you $ 200 more , while the maximal 1 TB model is $ 1,599 . The iPhone 16 Pro Max come in four Ti colors : Natural , fatal , White , and Desert .
iPhone 16 Plus vs. iPhone 16 Pro Max: verdict
The iPhone 16 Pro Max fork up the best iPhone experience you’re able to buy , but at $ 1,199 , it costs $ 300 more than the iPhone 16 Plus . With so few differences between the two phones and a substantial toll conflict , it ’s difficult to recommend the iPhone 16 Pro Max . For the first time , the iPhone 16 Plus may be the better giving - screen iPhone for most people .
If you want the telephoto lens , an improved ultrawide camera , or somewhat better assault and battery life , the iPhone 16 Pro Max is deserving the extra premium . However , as we covered in ouriPhone 16 vs. iPhone 16 Pro comparison , there ’s trivial that ramify the non - Pro and Pro phones this year , and those two devices only have a $ 200 price difference . The differences between the iPhone 16 Plus and iPhone 16 Pro Max are identical , but the price deviation is higher .
disregardless of which cock-a-hoop - screen iPhone you buy , you ’ll get one of the sound iPhones that Apple has ever made . One is the biggest , the other is the good Plus headphone to adorn the iPhone lineup , and both boast the same range of feature article that make this year ’s lineup so special . Both phones are well-nigh identical to their smaller counterpart .
