At Apple’s Glowtime occasion, the corporate unveiled its newest lineup of iPhone 16 handsets. Whereas the brand new telephones share a variety of new options, there’s a fair greater distinction between the 2 massive telephones — common and premium — this 12 months. This is the iPhone 16 Plus versus the iPhone 16 Professional Max.
Essentially the most distinguished distinction between the 2 greater telephones is dimension, as they’re now not tied for largest iPhone on report. The iPhone 16 Plus nonetheless has a 6.7-inch show, however the iPhone 16 Professional Max has a 6.9-inch show, giving it the crown for the largest iPhone ever made.
Extra from the Apple occasion
There are knock-on results of that call: All the pieces the iPhone 16 Plus is, the iPhone 16 Professional Max is a bit bit extra. That comes at a literal worth, with the iPhone 16 Plus with 128GB of storage beginning at $899 (£899, AU$1,599) and the iPhone 16 Professional Max with 256GB of storage beginning at $1,199 (£1,199, AU$2,149).
That is a large worth gulf between the 2, however there are a handful of issues the even greater cellphone packs that its now-smaller sibling does not. The iPhone 16 Plus has a 48-megapixel fusion digicam (with a neat new 12-megapixel 2x digital zoom characteristic) and 48-megapixel ultrawide digicam; the iPhone 16 Professional Max has that and a 12-megapixel telephoto digicam with 5x optical zoom. Each telephones have a 12-megapixel TrueDepth front-facing digicam for selfies and FaceID.
The Professional Max additionally has the next video ceiling, recording 4K video at 120 frames per second, which is nice for changing to sluggish movement; the Plus tops out at 4K video with 60 frames per second. Each telephones can shoot Spatial Video, the depth-focused format of movies watchable solely in Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional, at 1080p at 30 frames per second.
What the Professional Max does have over its cheaper sibling is extra delicate audio recording due to its 4 microphones over the Plus’s 3. Each telephones get Audio Combine, a trio {of professional} toggles to direct the cellphone to report sure sound sources over others when recording a video: in-frame captures who’s talking in entrance of the digicam (even when individuals close by are talking off-camera), studio is constructed for podcasters and vloggers to make them sound like they’re nestled within the sound-damped partitions of a studio and cinematic combines sounds towards the entrance of the display screen (very like a regular film combine).
Unsurprisingly, the iPhone 16 Professional Max has a extra superior A18 Professional chipset than the iPhone 16 Plus’s A18 silicon, although each assist Apple Intelligence. The larger cellphone has extra most storage with 256GB, 512GB and 1TB choices, whereas the Plus has 128GB, 256GB and 512GB configurations. Apple has not launched the RAM on every mannequin.
The place the Plus is 6.33×3.06×0.31 inches (160.9×77.8×7.8mm), the Professional Max is 6.42×3.06×0.32 inches (163×77.6×8.25mm). That additionally means the smaller cellphone is lighter at 199 grams (7.03 ounces), whereas the larger handset is 227 grams (7.99 ounces). The Professional Max is available in a titanium body with 4 colours: black, white, a silver-ish pure and a tan desert hue. The Plus has a extra vibrant vary of colours: black, white, pink, teal and ultramarine. Each telephones are IP68 rated for mud and water resistance, and each pack USB-C ports.
Each telephones’ shows have OLED Tremendous Retina XDR and 460 pixels-per-inch decision, in order that they’re equally as sharp, although the bigger Professional Max logically has extra pixels in its display screen (2,868×1,320-pixel decision) than the comparatively smaller Plus (2,796×1,290-pixel decision). The telephones max out at 2,000 nits of brightness in direct daylight, however they will dip all the way down to a single nit in darkness, which helps protect battery.
That additional area means extra battery life (although in typical Apple vogue, we do not have tough hourly utilization reasonably than actual capability figures). The iPhone 16 Professional Max tops out at as much as 33 hours of video playback (or as much as 29 hours if streaming the video), whereas the iPhone 16 Plus has as much as 27 hours of video playback (or as much as 24 hours if streaming it). Each telephones have the identical wired charging (as much as 20 watt) because the earlier technology, although MagSafe wi-fi charging has been bumped as much as 25 watts if utilizing a 30-watt or quicker charger.
Each telephones run iOS 18 out of the field, and each will get Apple Intelligence when it drops later in September. Apple did not reveal rather more about its AI capabilities than was proven off at WWDC again in June. The generative AI will supercharge Siri, supply ideas for spiffing up the tone of a message, routinely organize your pictures and supply extra correct contextual searches amongst them.
Apple’s additionally added AI-generated emoji, which you’ll whip up by submitting prompts — say, a cowboy frog on a diving board.
The massive reveal is Visible Intelligence, which sees Apple’s AI utilized to the digicam. Visible Intelligence is ready to seek for no matter is in your viewfinder. That is summoned with a brand new {hardware} characteristic: the Digital camera Management button, which is discovered on each telephones on the best aspect under the lock button. It is capacitive and bodily clicky, so you’ll push in for Visible Intelligence or faucet it to deliver up its second performance: appearing as an additional digicam setting toggle.
For instance, when your digicam app is open, you may run your finger alongside it to zoom out and in or change the aperture — and it will work as an additional menu inside third-party apps, too. The Apple presentation confirmed it functioning in Snap.
Equally, the Motion Button is now on each the premium and customary telephones, taking the place of the ringer-silent swap to behave as a customizable app shortcut. It is now not unique to the premium handsets.
That shrinks the variety of exclusives that the Professional Max holds over the Plus, making its $300 worth differential more durable to justify. True, it is bigger, with a 3rd rear digicam (telephoto), titanium body and greater battery. However with Apple Intelligence coming to each telephones (it is solely drifting again to the iPhone 15 Professional and Professional Max fashions), the premium telephones are more durable to justify over their cheaper siblings.
Watch this: Palms-On with iPhone 16 Professional and iPhone 16 Professional Max