The launch of a brand new iPhone is always a very big deal, and the iPhone 16 Pro Max will be no exception. But those of you rocking an iPhone 14 Pro Max might be paying the most attention, especially if you’re on a 2-year phone plan that’s coming to an end. However, whether you should upgrade or potentially hold off a little longer depends on what the iPhone 16 Pro Max offers and whether it’ll be worth the money.
We know that the iPhone 16 series will be officially announced at Apple’s Glowtime event on September 9, so we don’t have long to wait to see what Apple has in store for us. Thankfully, for those of you who don’t want to wait to start making that decision, we have heard plenty of rumors about what the iPhone 16 Pro Max could offer.
The iPhone 16 Pro Max is expected to come with a new Capture Button for photography, a larger 6.9-inch display, a larger primary camera sensor and a bigger battery than its predecessors. Not to mention the processing power to handle Apple Intelligence’s on-device AI features. That’s all on top of upgrades that debuted on the iPhone 15 Pro Max, like USB-C, the Action Button and the tetraprism telephoto lens with 5x optical magnification.
Here are all the biggest rumored upgrades to expect 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 at $1,099 when it was released in 2022. That price got you 128GB of storage, though you could pay extra for as much as 1TB of space. The Apple Store and website stopped selling the iPhone 14 Pro Max after the launch of the iPhone 15 Pro Max last year, but it is still available from many retailers. However, the options aren’t as plentiful as when the phone was new.
It’s unclear exactly how much the iPhone 16 Pro Max might cost this year, but we’re hoping that Apple will leave well alone and stick with the same $1,199 starting price as the iPhone 15 Pro Max. That’s $100 more than it cost to buy the iPhone 14 Pro Max, but the added benefit is that the cheapest model came with 256GB of storage rather than 128GB.
The iPhone 16 Pro Max will likely start with 256GB of storage, and rumors suggest we may see a 2TB storage option for the first time. As for an official release, Apple typically opens pre-orders the Friday after launch, which would be September 13. The official release happens a week later, meaning the phone could be in our hands on September 20.
iPhone 16 Pro Max vs iPhone 14 Pro Max: Design and display
The iPhone 14 Pro Max has a 6.7-inch display complete with an LTPO panel that offers a 1-120Hz adaptive refresh rate. It’s also one of the last phones to come with a Lightning port and lacks any additional buttons or features around the side.
On the other hand, the iPhone 16 Pro Max is expected to come with a larger 6.9-inch display, making it the biggest iPhone Apple has ever made. The fact that this new size seems to have been confirmed by dummy units means that it’s pretty likely this size upgrade is on the way. Other rumors claim that we could see the bezels around the screen shrink to 1.15mm, meaning more screen space without necessarily making the iPhone 16 Pro Max too unwieldy for people who don’t have huge hands.
Other rumors suggest that the remaining Face ID sensors could be hidden under the phone’s display, shrinking Dynamic Island’s pill to a more typical hole-punch design. A solid-state “Capture Button” could also be included at the bottom right side of the phone to help open and activate the camera more quickly.
Naturally, the 16 Pro Max is expected to have an Action Button, a titanium frame and a USB-C port, three things that the iPhone 14 Pro Max lacks.
iPhone 16 Pro Max vs iPhone 14 Pro Max: Cameras
The iPhone 14 Pro Max was one of the best camera phones at the time of release. Its triple-lens main camera system included a 48MP main lens, a 12MP ultrawide-angle lens and a 12MP telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom. Up front, there was a 12MP selfie camera.
Of course, being two years old, it’s since been knocked off our list of the best camera phones, thanks to an explosion of improvements from various other phone companies—Apple included. That means the difference in camera performance from the iPhone 14 Pro Max to the iPhone 16 Pro Max could be pretty large.
We don’t know much about the iPhone 16 Pro Max’s camera setup yet, but we have heard a bunch of different rumors about how the cameras could be improved compared to the previous two generations. The main one is that the main camera lens could feature a large 1/1.4-inch sensor, which would allow the camera to capture more light, improving performance and quality, especially in low-light conditions.
We’ve also heard rumors of a 48MP ultrawide-angle lens, up from 12MP, and a telephoto lens that increases the focal length to 300mm—more than double the iPhone 15 Pro Max's, which was, in turn, significantly larger than the iPhone 14 Pro Max’s.
That telephoto lens may also be thinner to improve magnification, but no matter what happens, we’re expected to see the tetra prism lens make a comeback with at least 5x optical zoom. That’s still a big improvement over the 3x optical magnification on the iPhone 14 Pro Max.
Don’t expect any significant changes to the selfie camera on the iPhone 16 Pro Max, however. That won’t be getting any significant upgrade until the launch of the iPhone 17 series.
iPhone 16 Pro Max vs iPhone 14 Pro Max: Performance
The iPhone 14 Pro Max was powered by an A16 Bionic chipset and 6GB of RAM. While benchmarking tests at the time indicated that this was one of the most powerful phones on the market at launch, things changed. The least of which is the A17 Pro, which utilizes a 3nm process that makes chips smaller, more efficient and potentially more powerful.
Rumors claim that all iPhone 16 series phones will have some kind of A18 chipset, but that doesn’t mean the iPhone 16 Pro Max (and iPhone 16 Pro) won’t have a better chip than its non-Pro counterparts. We may see the A18 available on standard models, with a more powerful A18 Pro on the Pro and Pro Max — offering superior performance. And odds are this extra performance will be greatly beneficial to Apple Intelligence and on-device AI.
Leaked benchmarks even speculate that the Pro chips could outperform Apple’s M-series on single-core tests. Hopefully, the TSMC’s 3nm process has been a bit more refined this year, aiding that performance and boosting efficiency.
It’s unclear whether we’ll get more RAM on the iPhone 16 Pro Max. We know Apple needs at least 8GB of memory to run Apple Intelligence on-device, which is still 2GB more than the iPhone 14 Pro Max offers. Still, it’s possible that Apple may avoid going down the same route as Google and offering a chunk of extra RAM—even if it is for AI.
Don’t expect the Qualcomm modems to go anywhere this year, either. The Apple-made modem keeps getting delayed, and now Qualcomm seems to have signed an agreement with Apple to provide modems until at least 2026. But we may see Wi-Fi 7 debut on iPhone 16 Pro Max, for those of you that have the newest Wi-Fi standard available.
iPhone 16 Pro Max vs iPhone 14 Pro Max: Software
While both iPhone 14 Pro Max and iPhone 16 Pro Max will be compatible with iOS 18, the iPhone 16 Pro Max will be able to do a lot more. Whether Apple will announce any exclusive features isn’t known right now, but we do know that the 14 Pro Max doesn’t have what it takes to run Apple Intelligence. This means Apple’s all-new AI features will be limited to newer models like the iPhone 16 Pro Max.
So while both phones can enjoy extra-customizable home screens, a redesigned Control Center, an all-new Photos app and other general iOS 18 upgrades, AI will be firmly off-limits to the 14 Pro Max. This means anyone with the older handset can’t use native ChatGPT integration, the smarter version of Siri, image generation and editing tools, and everything else Apple Intelligence will have to offer.
Depending on your priorities, that may be worth the upgrade.
iPhone 16 Pro Max vs iPhone 14 Pro Max: Battery
Battery life has exploded in recent years, cleanly knocking the iPhone 14 Pro Max off our list of the best phone battery life — despite it holding one of the top spots in the ranking. That’s not to say that 13 hours and 39 minutes in our custom battery test is insufficient. However, the iPhone 15 Pro Max performed a lot better.
The iPhone 16 Pro Max is expected to extend battery life even further, not just in terms of extra efficiency but also thanks to rumors that the phone’s battery could increase to 4,676 mAh. This may be simply down to adding a larger battery pack, with extra space provided by the iPhone 16 Pro Max’s slightly larger design, but there have been reports that Apple could increase the density of its batteries.
That means there’s more power capacity in the same space, though the trade-off is that this can increase heat production. It's good that Apple is also reportedly looking at ways to boost heat dissipation and thermal management across its phones.
iPhone 16 Pro Max vs iPhone 14 Pro Max: Outlook
When it first launched, the iPhone 14 Pro Max had a lot to offer, and it still does. The only thing that’s changed is that a bunch of newer and better phones have been released that make the 2022 iPhone seem less impressive by comparison. But this doesn’t change the fact that it still offers great performance, solid 13+ hours of battery life, and takes some great photos—not to mention the fact that it’s due an upgrade to iOS 18 later this year.
However, a lot has changed over the past few years, and the iPhone 16 Pro Max will be a considerable upgrade. It may not offer quite as big of a leap as the iPhone 15 Pro Max, but combining all the upgrades that debuted last year with what’s supposedly coming at the Glowtime event, you have a very large pool of upgrades to choose from.
Apple Intelligence alone might be reason enough to upgrade from the iPhone 14 Pro Max, let alone all the expected improvements to performance, photography and battery life. Then again, considering the iPhone 15 Pro Max will be getting all those shiny new AI features, it offers a solid alternative — especially if the price drops between now and the end of the year.
