At its September 2024 Glowtime event, Apple unveiled its latest lineup of iPhone 16 handsets. These phones share a lot of new features, with the biggest differences being in size and the division between standard and premium phones. While the iPhone 16E released in 2025 corners the affordable market, the biggest iPhone 16 models remain the priciest, and there’s plenty to differentiate them. Here’s the iPhone 16 Plus versus the iPhone 16 Pro Max comparison.
The most prominent distinction between the two bigger phones is size, as they’re no longer tied for the title of largest iPhone on record. The iPhone 16 Plus still has a 6.7-inch display, but the iPhone 16 Pro Max has a 6.9-inch display, giving it the crown for the biggest iPhone ever made.
See more: Apple iPhone 16 Pro Review: Compelling Upgrade With My Favorite iPhone Feature in Years
That decision has knock-on effects: everything the iPhone 16 Plus is, the iPhone 16 Pro Max does a little better. That comes at a literal price, with the iPhone 16 Plus with 128GB of storage starting at $899 (£899, AU$1,599) and the iPhone 16 Pro Max with 256GB of storage starting at $1,199 (£1,199, AU$2,149).
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A highlight of the 5x optical telephoto in the iPhone 16 Pro Max during the Apple Glowtime event.
That’s a sizable price gulf between the two, but there are a handful of things the even bigger phone packs that its now-smaller sibling doesn’t. The iPhone 16 Plus has a 48-megapixel fusion camera (with a neat new 12-megapixel 2x digital zoom feature) and 48-megapixel ultrawide camera; the iPhone 16 Pro Max has that and a 12-megapixel telephoto camera with 5x optical zoom. Both phones have a 12-megapixel TrueDepth front-facing camera for selfies and FaceID.
The Pro Max also has a higher video ceiling, recording 4K video at 120 frames per second, which is good for converting to slow motion; the Plus tops out at 4K video with 60 frames per second. Both phones can shoot Spatial Video, the depth-focused format of videos watchable only in Apple Vision Pro, at 1080p at 30 frames per second.
Colors of the iPhone 16 Pro Max.
Where the Plus is 6.33×3.06×0.31 inches (160.9×77.8×7.8mm), the Pro Max is 6.42×3.06×0.32 inches (163×77.6×8.25mm). That also means the smaller phone is lighter at 199 grams (7.03 ounces), while the bigger handset is 227 grams (7.99 ounces). The Pro Max comes in a titanium frame with four colors: black, white, a silver-ish natural and a tan desert hue. The Plus has a more vibrant range of colors: black, white, pink, teal and ultramarine. Both phones are IP68 rated for dust and water resistance, and both pack USB-C ports.
The iPhone 16’s Camera Control “button” lets you launch the camera without touching the screen.
The big reveal is Visual Intelligence, which sees Apple’s AI applied to the camera. Visual Intelligence is able to search for whatever is in your viewfinder. This is summoned with a new hardware feature: the Camera Control button, which is found on both phones on the right side below the lock button. It’s capacitive and physically clicky, so you’ll be able to push in for Visual Intelligence or tap it to bring up its second functionality: acting as an extra camera setting toggle.
For example, when your camera app is open, you can run your finger along it to zoom in and out or change the aperture — and it’ll work as an extra menu within third-party apps, too. The Apple presentation showed it functioning in Snap.
Watch this: Hands-On with iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max
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