Now the iPhone 16 Pro Max is here, users with an iPhone 14 Pro Max may well be considering if it's time to upgrade. And we're here to help you answer that question.
The iPhone 16 Pro Max has increased in size compared to the 14 Pro Max, added a couple of extra buttons, upgraded the cameras, charging and battery specs and performance overall. But the basic design is the same as the iPhone 14 Pro Max's, which remains a strong phone even two years after its debut.
So if you're coming to the end of a two-year phone plan, or are curious if you can save a little money by going for an older Pro iPhone instead of the newest one, here's a lowdown on the iPhone 16 Pro Max compared to the iPhone 14 Pro Max.
iPhone 16 Pro Max vs iPhone 14 Pro Max: Price and availability
The iPhone 14 Pro Max started life as a $1,099 phone when it debuted in September 2022, but can probably be found for cheaper if you hunt around for it.
The iPhone 16 Pro Max starts at $1,199, $100 more than the 14 Pro Max's original price. But in return, Apple gives the 16 Pro Max 256GB of storage to start with, rather than 128GB in the 14 Pro Max. Both have higher storage options though, with the 14 Pro Max also offering 256GB, 512GB and 1 TB options, and the 16 Pro Max 512GB and 1TB.
iPhone 16 Pro Max vs iPhone 14 Pro Max: Design and display
From a distance, it's hard to tell these two phones apart. The iPhone 14 Pro Max introduced us to the Dynamic Island notch, so between the pill-shaped cutout floating at the top of the screen, the flat sides and trio of cameras in a square block on the back, you'll only discern the iPhone 16 Pro Max from the iPhone 14 Pro Max by the differing colors.
But the iPhone 16 Pro Max is more distinct than you'd first think. It's got a Camera Control on the right edge for adjusting your photos, and an Action button on the left side in place of the iPhone 14 Pro Max's mute slider to allow you to switch between loud and quiet modes (or something else if you change the settings). The cameras are a little larger on the newer iPhone, and the side rails are also made of titanium, which is lighter than the iPhone 14 Pro Max's stainless steel.
There's a size difference too, with the iPhone 14 Pro Max offering a 6.7-inch display and the iPhone 16 Pro Max a 6.9-inch one. Both are 120Hz ProMotion OLED panels, but the 16 Pro Max is the bigger of the two, with a higher resolution to boot.
Looking at our display color and brightness test results, it's confusingly the iPhone 14 Pro Max that scores better on the brightness and color gamut coverage score. The two phones draw on the color accuracy score, but other than being larger it seems that there's not much advantage to the iPhone 16 Pro Max's screen.
iPhone 16 Pro Max vs iPhone 14 Pro Max: Cameras
The iPhone 16 Pro Max's camera loadout consists of a 48MP main camera (or Fusion Camera in Apple-ese since it offers up to 2x lossless zoom unassisted), a 48MP ultrawide camera and a 12MP 5x telephoto camera. While the iPhone 14 Pro Max also offers a 48MP main camera, its ultrawide camera is 12MP, and its 12MP telephoto camera only goes up to 3x zoom. Both phones do however use the same 12MP selfie camera.
We've not done detailed testing on how these cameras compare yet, but check back soon for when we have full shot-for-shot comparisons to show you.
iPhone 16 Pro Max vs iPhone 14 Pro Max: Performance
The A16 chip in the iPhone 14 Pro Max was class-leading in its day, but inevitably it has been replaced by the A18 Pro silicon inside the iPhone 16 Pro Max.
On the benchmark results currently available to us, we see how big a difference two years of chip development has made. The iPhone 16 Pro Max's GPU and "real life" test results show a marked improvement over the iPhone 14 Pro Max's, although more typical use may show a smaller performance gap to the average phone owner.
The iPhone 14 Pro Max uses 6GB of RAM, which is low compared to many modern phones but was enough for the time. The iPhone 16 Pro Max uses a slightly more generous 8GB RAM package for improved multi-tasking.
iPhone 16 Pro Max vs iPhone 14 Pro Max: Software
Both of these iPhones can run iOS 18 - the iPhone 16 Pro Max by default, the iPhone 14 Pro Max as an update from its original iOS 16. We'd expect the iPhone 16 Pro Max to get two extra software updates over the iPhone 14 Pro Max since it's two years newer, but Apple's surprised us in the past by keeping some phones supported for longer than its 5-year average.
However, one element that the iPhone 14 Pro Max can't access from the new software is Apple Intelligence - Apple's AI-powered feature set that is exclusive to the newest iPhone models. If you want things like Writing Tools, photo Clean Up or the new smarter Siri, an upgrade is in order.
iPhone 16 Pro Max vs iPhone 14 Pro Max: Battery
Apple doesn't tell users official battery capacities for its phones, but teardowns have revealed the iPhone 16 Pro Max uses a 4,685 mAh battery and the iPhone 14 Pro Max a smaller 4,323 mAh one.
With that capacity difference, and paired with general power efficiency improvements, the iPhone 16 Pro Max lasted almost two hours longer on our battery test than its older counterpart, opening web pages non-stop for 16 hours and 40 minutes compared to the iPhone 14 Pro Max's 14:42 result.
Apple similarly obfuscates the charging speed of its iPhones, but it appears that with a 30W charger, the iPhone 16 Pro Max can power up a little faster than the iPhone 14 Pro Max and its 20W charging. It's a similar story for MagSafe wireless charging too, with the iPhone 16 Pro Max offering up to 25W of wireless power with its newer standard compared to the original 15W standard available on the 14 Pro Max.
iPhone 16 Pro Max vs iPhone 14 Pro Max: Outlook
It's obvious that the iPhone 16 Pro Max beats the iPhone 14 Pro Max across most areas we've tested. Excluding an unexpected upset in the display tests, the newer model is the better model.
But this doesn't mean an upgrade from an iPhone 14 Pro Max to a 16 Pro Max is required, or that buying a new 14 Pro Max today is automatically a terrible decision. Most of the same software features are available on both devices, and unless you plan to run your phone at max power all the time, the extra oomph and efficiency of the iPhone 16 Pro Max's silicon may not be so noticeable. Plus if you can find a great price on the iPhone 14 Pro Max, it may be a better choice for budget-minded buyers.
