The most highly anticipated smartphone series of the year has arrived, with the iPhone 16, the iPhone 16 Plus, the iPhone 16 Pro, and – at the top of the heap – the iPhone 16 Pro Max all having been unveiled at Apple's 'Glowtime' event.
These four phones are sure to be among the best selling phones of the year, but will they also be the best phones of the year? While we can't definitively answer that just yet, we do now know all their specs and features.
Below, you'll find a detailed look at the key specs and features offered by the iPhone 16 Pro Max, along with its release date and price. Or, to read about the Glowtime event itself, head to our iPhone 16 launch live blog.
iPhone 16 Pro Max: what you need to know
- The iPhone 16 Pro Max was announced on September 9
- The iPhone 16 Pro Max starts at $1,199 / £1,199 / AU$2,149
- It has a larger 6.9-inch display
- It includes a new Camera Control button for taking photos
- The iPhone 16 Pro Max uses the new A18 Pro chipset
- It’s equipped with a new 48MP ultra-wide camera
- It ships with iOS 18
- Comes with between 256GB and 1TB of storage
- Comes in black, white, natural titanium, and Desert Titanium
Price, release date and preorders
- Starts at $1,199 / £1,199 / AU$2,149
- Pre-orders opened on September 13, and it ships from September 20
The iPhone 16 Pro Max was announced at the Apple 'Glowtime' event on Monday, September 9, and pre-orders for the phone opened on Friday, September 13.
Following that, the iPhone 16 Pro Max will start arriving on doorsteps on Friday, September 20. Though since this is sure to be a very popular phone, you might be waiting longer if you don't get your order in fast.
Indeed, this appears to be the most in demand of the iPhone 16 models, and delivery dates for the iPhone 16 Pro Max have started to slip.
It's also a very expensive phone, starting at $1,199 / £1,199 / AU$2,149, for which you get 256GB of storage. Full pricing can be seen in the chart below.
iPhone 16 Pro Max specs
We'll take a closer look at the iPhone 16 Pro Max's main upgrades further down. But first, the chart below gives you an at-a-glance overview of the phone's key specs.
All the big iPhone 16 Pro Max upgrades
- A 6.9-inch 120Hz OLED screen
- A new Camera Control button
- A 48MP main, 48MP ultra-wide, and 12MP telephoto camera
- An A18 Pro chipset
The iPhone 16 Pro Max looks a lot like the iPhone 15 Pro Max at first glance, complete with a glass back, a titanium frame, and a Dynamic Island at the top of the display. But it actually has a significantly larger screen than its predecessor, at 6.9 inches rather than 6.7 inches.
The other major design change is the addition of a Camera Control button, which can be used to take photos, record videos, switch modes, and if you swipe across it even zoom and adjust settings. This button also powers Apple's new Visual Intelligence feature, which can tell you more about whatever you point the camera at.
There are smaller changes too though, with some new colors. The full selection of options being Black Titanium, White Titanium, Natural Titanium, and Desert Titanium.
The iPhone 16 Pro Max also has smaller bezels than the previous model, and comes in at 163 x 77.6 x 8.25mm, and 227g.
Beyond the design, the cameras have also had some upgrades, most notably the 48MP ultra-wide camera, which replaces a 12MP sensor on the iPhone 15 Pro Max. That's joined by a 48MP main camera with a new sensor and a 12MP telephoto with 5x optical zoom, similar to last year. There's also a 12MP selfie camera on the front, and the phone can shoot video in 4K quality at 120fps.
Of course, this phone is also more powerful than its predecessor, thanks to an A18 Pro chipset. This has a CPU that's up to 15% faster than the A17 Pro and a GPU that's up to 20% faster, and it should help smoothly deliver the various AI features that will be added soon as part of Apple Intelligence.
On day one there's no Apple Intelligence here, with that expected in a software update next month. But you do get iOS 18, so the core software has been freshened up.
Apple hasn't said how big the battery is in the iPhone 16 Pro Max, but we do know it can last for up to 33 hours of video playback or up to 105 hours of audio playback, which amounts to up to 4 hours more life than the iPhone 15 Pro Max. It also supports wireless charging at up to 25W with MagSafe, and up to 45W wired charging, which is over 50% faster than the iPhone 15 Pro Max's wired charging speeds.
The iPhone 16 Pro Max comes with up to 1TB of storage, and with 8GB of RAM, which is the same as last year.
My analysis
We haven't fully reviewed the iPhone 16 Pro Max yet so it remains to be seen exactly how well all its specs and features will come together.
That said, we should soon have a hands-on iPhone 16 Pro Max review, along with a hands-on iPhone 16 review, a hands-on iPhone 16 Plus review, and a hands-on iPhone 16 Pro review. So keep an eye out for those.
Based just on the specs though, the iPhone 16 Pro Max sounds like it should be able to go toe-to-toe with any other high-end smartphone.
It's power-packed, and it's likely to have a superb screen and cameras going both by the specs and past form.
Between the new 48MP ultra-wide camera and the new Camera Control button this might especially appeal to mobile photographers, but it's likely to please anyone looking for the biggest and best possible iPhone – just as long as you can stomach the price tag.