SpecEagle
SpecEagle review · Apple

iPhone 16 Pro Max review: The most refined Pro Max yet — and the one to beat for video.

SpecEagle Editorial·Sep 2024·$1,199
Overall
91/100
Class rank
#6 of 41
Tier
Flagship
Buy?
Yes
The verdict, up front

A precision tool for the Apple-ecosystem buyer who still wants the best video on a phone.

Two generations of bigger sensors, refined haptics, and titanium have made the Pro Max what it should have been at launch. The A18 Pro pulls ahead on sustained loads; Apple Intelligence covers the AI-feature gap on paper. The two weak points — charging speed and entry pricing — are the same ones you would have flagged a year ago.

01Display

94/100

94/100 puts it above the 91-point average for flagship phones of 2024.

TypeLTPO Super Retina XDR OLED, 120 Hz, HDR10, Dolby Vision
Size6.9 inches (~91.9% screen-to-body ratio)
Resolution2,868 × 1,320 px (460 ppi)
Peak brightness2,000 nits HBM · 1 nit minimum
ProtectionCeramic Shield, 2nd-gen

02Camera

92/100

92/100 puts it above the 86-point average for flagship phones of 2024.

Main48 MP, f/1.78, 24 mm, sensor-shift OIS, dual-pixel PDAF
Ultrawide48 MP, f/2.2, 120° FoV, autofocus
Telephoto12 MP, f/2.8, 5× optical, OIS
Selfie12 MP, f/1.9, autofocus
Video4K @ 24/30/60/120 fps · Dolby Vision · ProRes

03Performance

96/100

96/100 puts it above the 93-point average for flagship phones of 2024.

ChipsetApple A18 Pro (3 nm, TSMC N3E)
CPU6 cores (2 × 4.05 GHz P + 4 × 2.42 GHz E)
GPUApple 6-core GPU, hardware ray tracing
NPU16-core Neural Engine, 35 TOPS
RAM8 GB LPDDR5X

04Battery

86/100

86/100 — right at the average for flagship phones of 2024.

Capacity4,685 mAh, Li-Ion, non-removable
Wired~27 W USB-C PD
Wireless25 W MagSafe · 15 W Qi2
Video playbackUp to 33 hours (Apple claim)

05Build

95/100

At 95/100 this is one of the strongest build showings among flagship phones of 2024 — 7 points above the cohort average.

06Value

80/100

80/100 — right at the average for flagship phones of 2024.

What works
  • Best-in-class video stabilization and Dolby Vision capture.
  • Sustained gaming performance ahead of every Android peer.
  • Six-plus years of major OS updates with day-one global rollout.
  • Compact for a 6.9" device — titanium frame keeps weight reasonable.
What doesn't
  • ~27 W wired charging trails Android peers by a wide margin.
  • Only 8 GB RAM — competitors ship 12 GB at the same tier.
  • No periscope telephoto; 5× optical reach is the ceiling.
  • Starting price stayed flat — no cheaper entry point.
Cross-shop it against
Pixel 10 Pro XL
$1,199 · score 92/100

How this review is built: every section score, spec row and comparison on this page comes from SpecEagle's tracked catalogue — scores weight measured specs against the 41-phone cohort of flagship devices released around the same time. We don't publish invented lab anecdotes. Spot an error? .