iPhone 16 Pro Max - My Initial Review!

Summary

In this review, the user shares their experience with the iPhone 16 Pro Max in Desert Titanium, comparing it to the iPhone 15 Pro Max. While impressed with its larger 6.9-inch display and smoother back texture, they encountered issues during setup and were disappointed with the new camera control button's functionality. Minor improvements include a brighter display and slightly enhanced low-light photography, but many new features, such as Apple Intelligence, are delayed. Overall, the user feels the iPhone 16 Pro Max offers marginal upgrades, leaving them underwhelmed.

Takeaways

• 📱 The user has been using the iPhone 16 Pro Max in desert titanium due to a delay in receiving the black unit.
• 🖐️ The phone feels slightly bigger than the iPhone 15 Pro Max but not uncomfortably so, with a smoother back texture.
• ⚠️ The setup process for transferring data from the 15 Pro Max was glitchy, requiring multiple attempts to complete.
• ⌨️ Typing on the wider display is easier, but the haptics feel weaker and less uniform compared to the 15 Pro Max.
• 📸 The camera control button is poorly placed and awkward to use one-handed, though it offers quick camera launch capabilities.
• 📷 Daytime photos on the iPhone 16 Pro Max show minimal improvement over the 15 Pro Max, but night shots are slightly sharper with less noise.
• 📐 The bezels are thinner on the desert titanium model, but this is mainly due to the frame's visibility and may appear thicker on the black version.
• 🔋 Battery life is noticeably better, offering around a 20% improvement over the 15 Pro Max.
• 🎥 The 4K 120 FPS video mode has limitations, such as only working with the main lens and causing flickering in some scenarios.
• 🤖 Features like Apple intelligence and visual intelligence are delayed and will not be available until 2025, making the phone feel incomplete at launch.

Q & A

What is the user's main issue with the iPhone 16 Pro Max's camera control button placement?

The user finds the camera control button placement to be too low, making it uncomfortable to reach when using the phone in portrait mode and requiring an awkward grip in landscape mode.

How does the iPhone 16 Pro Max's haptic feedback on the keyboard compare to the iPhone 15 Pro Max?

The haptic feedback on the iPhone 16 Pro Max's keyboard is weaker and softer due to the addition of an extra haptic engine for the camera control button, which the user prefers less than the haptic response on the iPhone 15 Pro Max.

What is the user's opinion on the bezels of the iPhone 16 Pro Max?

The user notices that the bezels are incredibly thin, but the appearance of their thinness is affected by the color of the phone, with the desert titanium version making them appear even thinner due to the visible frame.

How does the user feel about the iPhone 16 Pro Max's responsiveness compared to the iPhone 15 Pro Max?

The user finds the iPhone 16 Pro Max to be notably more responsive, especially when launching apps through Spotlight search.

What was the user's experience with the setup process of the iPhone 16 Pro Max?

The setup process was not great for the user, as it kept failing and freezing during the camera control setup, requiring multiple restarts and data transfer attempts.

How does the user describe the feel of the iPhone 16 Pro Max in hand compared to the iPhone 15 Pro Max?

The user feels that the iPhone 16 Pro Max is bigger but not as big and uncomfortable as expected, and it feels marginally bigger coming from the iPhone 15 Pro Max.

What is the user's view on the new photographic Styles feature on the iPhone 16 Pro Max?

The user views the new photographic Styles as a software feature that is mostly the same as on the iPhone 15 Pro, with the addition of adjustable color intensity.

What is the user's opinion on the new 4K 120 FPS video mode on the iPhone 16 Pro Max?

The user is not a fan of the new 4K 120 FPS video mode due to its limitations, such as not being able to switch lenses and the large file sizes it produces.

How does the user feel about the improvements in the iPhone 16 Pro Max's camera compared to the iPhone 15 Pro Max?

The user is disappointed with the camera improvements, noting that they are very minor and mostly related to image processing tweaks.

What is the user's take on the iPhone 16 Pro Max's battery life compared to the iPhone 15 Pro Max?

The user has noticed a rough 20% improvement in battery life on the iPhone 16 Pro Max, which they consider to be a positive aspect of the new phone.

Outlines

00:00

📱 First Impressions of the iPhone 16 Pro Max

The user discusses their initial experiences with the iPhone 16 Pro Max, specifically the desert titanium model, explaining that they had to use it due to delays with their black unit. The user notes mixed feelings—impressed in some areas but disappointed in others. They first touch on the size, which feels marginally larger than the 15 Pro Max but still manageable. The setup process was frustrating due to glitches during data transfer, which took multiple attempts. However, once setup was complete, the 16 Pro Max felt faster and more responsive than the 15 Pro Max, especially in tasks like typing and app launching. Although the typing experience is generally improved due to the wider display, the haptics feel less uniform and weaker compared to the 15 Pro Max.

05:00

📸 Mixed Feelings About the Camera Control Button

The user highlights both the pros and cons of the new camera control button on the iPhone 16 Pro Max. On one hand, it allows for quick camera access with a single press, making it faster than the previous action button. However, the placement of the button feels uncomfortable, especially in portrait mode, requiring awkward finger movements. While the physical click of the button is appreciated, the force-touch feature (used for zoom and other settings) is less intuitive and slower than using the touchscreen directly. The user finds that the camera control button can be gimmicky for camera settings but useful for quickly launching the camera.

10:01

📷 Disappointment with Camera Performance and Software Features

The user expresses disappointment with the camera performance of the iPhone 16 Pro Max, noting minimal improvements despite Apple's claims. Daytime photos look almost identical to the previous generation, with only minor differences in processing. Nighttime shots are slightly better, showing less noise, but these improvements are subtle. The ultra-wide camera has seen negligible changes, and in some cases, even performs worse in low-light conditions. The new 4K 120 FPS mode is also underwhelming, with issues like flickering and large file sizes. The user is frustrated that many features, such as Apple Intelligence, are delayed and won't be available until mid-2025.

Keywords

💡iPhone 16 Pro Max

The iPhone 16 Pro Max is the main subject of the video, and the speaker discusses its performance, features, and user experience compared to the iPhone 15 Pro Max. The phone is described as having a larger 6.9-inch display, smoother back texture, and enhanced responsiveness, though it also comes with disappointments like minor camera upgrades and software glitches.

💡Desert Titanium

Desert Titanium refers to the color variant of the iPhone 16 Pro Max that the speaker is using. The speaker compares it to the black version of the 15 Pro Max, noting that the lighter titanium frame makes the bezels appear thinner.

💡Camera Control Button

The camera control button is a new physical feature added to the iPhone 16 Pro Max, designed to quickly launch the camera and manage its settings. The speaker praises its quick launch capability but criticizes its placement and complicated force click functionality, which makes it cumbersome for single-handed use.

💡Display Size

The display size of the iPhone 16 Pro Max has increased to 6.9 inches, which the speaker finds only marginally larger than the 15 Pro Max. However, the speaker notes the phone still feels comfortable in hand despite the increase, although it's too large to comfortably keep in tight jeans pockets.

💡Haptic Feedback

Haptic feedback refers to the tactile response felt when interacting with the phone, such as when typing. The speaker finds that the haptics on the iPhone 16 Pro Max are weaker and less uniform compared to the 15 Pro Max due to the new placement of the Taptic Engine related to the camera control button.

💡Bezels

Bezels are the borders around the phone's display. The iPhone 16 Pro Max has thinner bezels, which the speaker notices especially with the desert titanium model, where the lighter frame makes the bezels appear even smaller. The speaker mentions this change positively as part of the device’s aesthetics.

💡PWM (Pulse Width Modulation)

PWM is a method used to adjust screen brightness by quickly turning the backlight on and off. The speaker mentions experiencing less eye strain with the iPhone 16 Pro Max's dimmer minimum brightness during night-time reading, comparing it to other devices that use high-frequency PWM, like the Honor Magic V2, which has less flicker and is easier on the eyes.

💡4K 120 FPS Video Mode

This is a new video recording mode in the iPhone 16 Pro Max, allowing for higher frame rate recording at 4K resolution. The speaker is not impressed with this feature, citing the inability to switch between lenses and the large file sizes as drawbacks, along with some flickering issues that weren’t present in the previous 4K 60 FPS mode.

💡Photographic Styles

Photographic Styles allow users to adjust the look of photos with different settings, such as contrast and color intensity. The speaker mentions that these styles are largely the same as on the iPhone 15 Pro, with the main difference being the ability to adjust the color intensity, a software feature exclusive to the iPhone 16 series.

💡Apple Intelligence

Apple Intelligence refers to AI-powered features in the iPhone 16 series that enhance user interactions, such as contextual awareness for Siri. However, the speaker expresses disappointment because many of these features, especially advanced ones like Siri’s contextual awareness, are delayed until mid-2025 and are not available at launch.

Highlights

iPhone 16 Pro Max feels bigger than the iPhone 15 Pro Max, but not as uncomfortable as expected.

The setup process for the iPhone 16 Pro Max was problematic, requiring multiple attempts to transfer data.

The 16 Pro Max is notably more responsive in launching apps compared to the 15 Pro Max.

Typing experience is improved on the 16 Pro Max due to the wider display, but haptic feedback is weaker compared to the 15 Pro Max.

Bezels on the 16 Pro Max are thinner, but appear even more so on the Desert Titanium version due to the frame visibility.

The 16 Pro Max has a dimmer display in low-light conditions, making it easier on the eyes when reading at night.

Camera control button placement is problematic, especially in one-handed use and landscape mode.

Camera control button allows for quick camera access, but its additional functionality, such as force clicks, is awkward to use.

Despite hardware improvements, the iPhone 16 Pro Max camera produces similar results to the 15 Pro Max in daylight shots.

Night shots show some improvements with sharper images and less noise, though changes are minor.

4K 120 FPS video mode disables lens switching and results in large file sizes, making it less practical for regular use.

New photographic styles allow post-capture adjustments, but are mostly a software feature locked to the iPhone 16.

Audio mixing in video recording offers improved background noise management in public settings.

Apple Intelligence, a key feature promoted for the iPhone 16, is missing at launch and will be available in mid-2025.

Battery life on the 16 Pro Max shows a 20% improvement over the 15 Pro Max, making it a notable enhancement.

Transcripts

okay so I've been using the iPhone 16

Pro Max in desert titanium since last

week hold on why not black well it's

simply because my black unit is delayed

but yeah to be honest in some cases I'm

pretty impressed however in other cases

I am quite disappointed and I'll tell

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in the video okay so I'm someone who's

coming from a 15 Pro Max and literally

the first thing that I've noticed was

how the 16 Pro Max felt in my hands like

it feels bigger for sure but not as big

and uncomfortable as I thought it would

like don't get me wrong this is a pretty

big phone as you can probably see and

now it's even bigger with its larger 6.9

in display to the point where just like

the 15 Pro Max whenever I sit down I

have to take it out of my jeans pocket

otherwise it just ends up pressing on my

leg especially when I'm wearing jeans

with shorter Pockets but coming from the

15 Pro Max the 16 Pro Max is obably

marginally bigger so I do think that

most 15 Pro Max users will still be fine

here now something else that I've

noticed immediately was that I think

Apple changed the texture on the back at

least the 16 Pro Max feels a bit

smoother which I personally do prefer

compared to the 15 Pro Max it kind of

reminds me of that super smooth glass

back of the pixel 4 XL from back in the

day so that's the feel in the hand but

what's it like using it well my

experience setting it up was not great

the setup process actually kept failing

it essentially got stuck during the

camera control setup and literally froze

the phone entirely requiring me to

restart it and whenever I did restart it

it would start the whole data transfer

process from scratch which also kept

getting stuck so it literally took me

five attempts before I was able to

transfer my data from my 15 Pro Max to

the 16 Pro Max something that I don't

remember ever being an issue before yeah

I feel like Apple's software is becoming

more and more glitch recently but anyway

once I did get it to work the 16 Pro Max

did feel notably more responsive than my

15 Pro Max did I've got a tendency to

launch my apps through SPO fight search

and just doing that filed way faster on

the 16 Pro Max compared to the 15 Pro

Max and everything else did as well

typing oh and speaking of typing I did

find the typing experience to be both

better and worse on the 16 Pro Max since

the display is a bit wider I actually

find it easier to type on the 16 Pro Max

like my fingers are just less crammed

than on the 15 Pro Max so I was able to

type even faster on the 16 Pro Max

compared to the 15 Pro Max the part

where the typing experience is worse has

to do with haptics because of the camera

control button Apple added an extratic

engine on the right hand side and

because of that they did tweak the

heptic response of the keyboard so I

have found the haptics on the keyboard

to be more un uniform than on the 15 Pro

Max they are for some reason

considerably weaker and softer so I

actually much prefer the hatic respawns

on the 15 Pro Max from before now aside

from the keyboard something else that I

immedately noticed when using it were

the bezels the bezels are indeed

incredibly thin you can see it here with

my groovy gradients wallpaper from our

app wallpapers link down below however

since my 15 Pro Max was the Black

Version and now I'm using the this

titanium they appear to be even thinner

because the frame is partially visible

when you view the phone from the top

therefore a black frame does actually

make the bezels look even thicker than

they are so when I get my actual 16 Pro

Max that I'll be using longterm the

Black Version the bezels won't be as

thin as they do appear on this desert

titanium 16 Pro Max that being said

reading and watching content on the 16

Pro Max is a very similar experience to

how it felt on the 15 Pro Max I noticed

one or maybe two extra lines of text but

basically just that so not huge

difference what I have noticed though

was that minimum one knit of brightness

I actually did some reading at night in

bed in Pitch Black and the 16 Pro Max

was Far dimmer which I did find easier

on my eyes I didn't really test it

extensively to say if the pwm dimming

caused me any I strain or not the 15 Pro

Max did slightly but the Oto magic V2

did not which did have 3,840 HZ pwm

which made it flicker less and hence it

was the easiest on my eyes at night yeah

it's unclear what sort of pwm the 16 Pro

Max has the XOM Mark will for sure be

giving us some insight soon and this

brings me to the camera control the

change that I was excited for the most

in the entire iPhone 16 lineup we showed

this in our leaks rers videos in

Concepts and dumb units and I was genely

hyped for this but after using it I've

been left very disappointed here's the

thing the placement is not great it's

far too low which means that when I'm

using the iPhone in portrait mode I need

to do these finger gymnastics to be able

to reach it and when I'm using it a

landscape I need to hold it like this to

take the shot which is not very

comfortable of course I can always you

know hold it in two hands but yeah I'm

just referring to the one-handed

usability here now I didn't really feel

as uncomfortable on the dumb units but

these things were of course much lighter

now what I do really like about a camera

control is how quickly I can launch the

camera I literally just press it once

and then boom I'm in the camera app the

action button was not only in a much

worse placement but you also had to hold

it to launch the camera so it was far

slow lower this also means that we've

now got four ways of launching the

camera from the lock screen the camera

control the action button the lock

screen button and then of course also

swiping to the left although everything

else aside from the camera control and

the swiping gesture can be remapped to

something else I also like that it

physically clicks something that I was

not expecting but I am glad to see this

which means that even when you're

wearing gloves you'll still be able to

press it and quickly launch the camera

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let's talk about what I don't like about

the camera control and there's a lot

here but it basically boils down to its

additional functionality the idea here

is that you press it a bit but not

enough to trigger a physical click and

that's when you'll trigger the force

click Now by default this lets you zoom

in and out uh but then if you double

first click you can actually switch

between different settings that you can

and then adjust like for example the

Styles more on that later however there

are three major problems here number one

the force click is really weird since

you always need to make sure that you're

not pressing hard enough to activate the

physical click and getting that right

level pressure can be tricky by the way

I found that if you go into the

accessibility settings and then camera

control you can actually adjust this

from a lighter pressure to a firm

pressure although no matter what I've

tried I just couldn't get that feeling

to feel right to me then my second issue

is that for whatever reason you cannot

simply just swipe on it you have to

force touch now I actually took a photo

you have to force touch and then swipe

on it which makes it so much slower to

use at least by default now you can

enable this in the accessibility

settings you can actually enable this

swipe so now if I go into the camera now

I should be able to just swipe and there

we go it works but to be honest this is

so glitch like most of the times it just

doesn't even work the third problem and

this is really the biggest one is that

you can literally use a the touchcreen

for all of this like you don't need to

use the camera control at all and just

using the touch screen is so much faster

additionally if you go into settings

then camera and then you go to camera

control you can actually disable

something called clean preview this is

with clean preview enabled and this is

without as you can see with clean

preview enabled your controls will go

away but if you disable it then even

when the zoom feature is active you can

still use the onscreen buttons to zoom

in and out something that that is just

miles faster and also far more

comfortable so is the camera control a

gimmick then well not entirely for me

when it comes to controlling your camera

settings yes it is a gimmick but where I

do find it really useful is for

launching the camera as for that it is

literally the fastest method of doing so

plus you can also sign different camera

apps to launch when you press the camera

control button so for example you can

set headlights launch so that's when you

press the camera control button there

you go Allied launches and then you can

still have the action button set to

launch the default camera app so you can

have two different Hardware methods of

launching two different camera apps if

you're you know a heavy photographer or

if you post on Instagram a lot you can

even set Instagram to launch when you

press the capture button but like I said

my main use case for this is to just

launch the camera as I would be using

the touchcreen for everything else

including by the way for the capture

buttons controls yes you can use the

touchcreen for that as well okay now

let's talk about the camera and here I'm

pretty dis disappointed as I was

honestly expecting more you see although

Apple said that the iPhone 16 pro and

pro Max have a new main sensor that's

faster I haven't noticed any major

improvements in the end result at least

when it comes to the daytime shots as

they look exactly the same as before

occasionally there were some minor

processing differences where the 16 Pro

was a bit darker but for the most part

the photos were pretty much identical

sometimes even blurrier on the 16 Pro

nighttime shots do see some improvements

with the 16 Pro Max being sharper and

also with less noise in both the sky and

the texture of some buildings although

the differences are quite minor and to

me this looks to be mostly image

processing tweaks the telephoto is

literally the same as before at least at

lower Zoom levels at higher Zoom levels

like 20x or 30X it looks like apple has

tweaked the processing a bit to actually

make the end result clear now I did have

high hopes for the new 48 megapix Ultra

wide however it is exactly the same in

its default 12 megapixel mode least in

fact it seems to be even slightly

noisier than the 15 Pro max if anything

and at night the 16 Pro Max's Ultra wide

was even worse as it was quite a bit

softer like the only place where I've

noticed an improvement was when

specifically shooting in the 48

megapixel mode it was sharper there

although definitely not four times

sharper and also when taking macro

photos which were sharper thanks to the

exra resolution and also less noisy so

in some cases this was actually a pretty

noticeable Improvement in others it was

just slightly slightly better uh but

yeah that's that's it when it comes to

the main camera Hardware changes very

very very minor improvements now I've

also tried the new 4k 120 FPS video mode

but uh I'm not actually a fan of it

because number one if you enable it you

can no longer switch between your lenses

you can only do that on the main one

number two in some cases I've actually

noticed some severe flickering which was

not the case in 4k 60 and three the file

size is are just huge so yeah I'll be

sticking with 4K 160 I've also played

around with the new photographic Styles

a bit I mean really for the most part

these are just the same ones as on the

iPhone 15 Pro but with the ability to

now adjust the color intensity The Tint

was already possible to adjust before so

yeah this is purely a software feature

that Apple locked to the iPhone 16s

instead possibly to give them an extra

camera selling points the only thing

that makes them more different in my

opinion is that you can apply them after

the fact whereas on the 15 Pro they had

to be selected during capture but that's

it I've also tried the new audio mixing

feature which this one was by the way

pretty cool and quite good when

recording in a public setting with a lot

of background noise okay so this is a

test of the audio on the new iPhone 16

Pro so this is the audio mixing feature

and we're actually going to switch

between the audio mode so that you guys

can hear what each audio mode sounds

like so let me know uh what do you guys

think which one is the best I think

studio is probably the best so in

conclusion after spending about a week

with the iPhone 16 Pro Max I am honestly

quite disappointed and also bored the

camera is pretty much the same 4K 120 is

not something that I would be using on a

regular basis the camera control button

has a very poor implementation with some

features like touch to focus and visual

intelligence even missing entirely and

coming later and speaking of things

coming later Apple intelligence you know

the feature that Apple has been

promoting the most about all this phone

that's also missing and coming later in

fact even when I went to the Apple Store

some Apple employees were telling

customers that Apple intelligence was

the main key selling feature on the

iPhone 16 and that it was so exciting to

have it and you know witness it but when

these people actually buy the iPhone 16

they won't even have apple intelligence

until at least a month from now and

that's only for the writing tools and

the more you know basic AI features the

big ones like series contextual

awareness that's only coming out in mid

2025 and not even all regions will be

supported by the way so I don't know I

just think the iPhone 16 is an

incomplete phone and just the same again

like the only thing that's not the same

for me at least I would say is the

battery life where I've noticed a rough

20% improvement over my 15 Pro Max which

is pretty good by the way but other than

that uh yeah it's the 15 Pro Max all

over again with some minor changes but

what do you guys think let me know down

below and feel free to continue this

conversation on our Discord and check

out some awesome cool wallpapers uh from

our app linked down below Daniel S and

I'll see you guys in the next one out

cheers

[Music]