Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max vs iPhone 13 Pro Max: Apple Intelligence versus legendary battery life
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Intro
The iPhone 16 Pro Max, now official, is Apple's newest flagship phone for 2024, naturally establishing itself as the new dynasty head of the iPhone family.
The arrival of the iPhone 16 Pro Max also marks roughly three years since the iPhone 13 Pro Max was announced by Apple. This was the last jumbo-sized iPhone with a traditional notch, and it also debuted the ProMotion display on the iPhone lineup. Still a mighty fine iPhone that's alive and well, the iPhone 13 Pro Max is, however, starting to show some signs of aging.
The iPhone 16 Pro Max might as well be a prime upgrade target from the perspective of an iPhone 13 Pro Max user, as the jump in new features definitely is there. Still, an argument could be made that the iPhone 13 Pro Max is still a mighty fine phone that has stood the test of time rather well.
Is the upcoming iPhone 16 Pro Max the one that you need to upgrade to?
iPhone 16 Pro Max vs iPhone 13 Pro Max differences:
| iPhone 16 Pro Max | iPhone 13 Pro Max |
|---|---|
| 6.9-inch OLED | 6.7-inch OLED display |
| 2000 nits peak brightness, 1 nit min brightness | 1200 nits peak brightness |
| New Ceramic Shield coating | Scratch resistant glass |
| Just 227gr | Heavier at 240gr |
| Titanium body with extremely thin bezels (1.15mm) | Stainless steel body with matte glass back plate and regular bezels |
| 48MP main camera, 48MP ultra-wide camera | 12MP main, 12MP ultra-wide camera |
| 12MP 5X telephoto | 12MP 3X telephoto |
| Customizable Action button and Camera Control button | Standard ring switch |
| USB Type-C port at the bottom | The penultimate phone to feature a Lightning port |
| Second-gen 3nm chip (Apple A18 Pro) | 5nm Apple A15 Bionic chip |
| 8GB RAM | 6GB RAM |
| Wi-Fi 7, Snapdragon X75 5G for faster speeds | Wi-Fi 6, Snapdragon X60 5G modem |
| Apple Intelligence support | No Apple Intelligence support |
| Visual Intelligence with Camera Control | No Visual Intelligence support |
| Three or four storage tiers: 256GB, 512GB, 1TB | Four storage tiers: 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB |
| Better battery life (33 hours video playback) | Lesser battery life (28 hours playback) |
| 25W MagSafe | 15W MagSafe |
Table of Contents:
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Design and Size
What a difference three years make
What a difference three years make! The iPhone 16 Pro Max features a significantly larger 6.9-inch screen, although the phone is not dramatically larger much in size, which is a win-win situation.
Apple has achieved that by employing some rather thin bezels, which is always a great sight to see: the iPhone 16 Pro Max is way more futuristic than its older predecessor, making for a pretty stark evolution.
The iPhone 16 Pro Max is taller and thicker, but narrower and lighter than the iPhone 13 Pro Max, so overall, the new phone wins some and loses some. The wight is the big differentiator here, though. That's a win-win scenario, no matter how you look at it: it allows for a larger display and battery to be fitted in the new phone, and at the end of the day, you're getting a much lighter phone as well!
The titanium body with slightly curved frame, which debuted with the iPhone 15 Pro Max, is making a return, and Apple has employed tougher Ceramic Shield glass to match the robust titanium frame. With the iPhone 15 Pro Max, tests indicated that the glass could shatter as the titanium didn't flex as much as aluminum or stainless steel, so the glass can't withstand any amount of serious pressure.
The customizable Action Button is here as well, but with the iPhone 16 generation, Apple introduced a new capacitive hardware button, called Camera Controls, which could be used to take photos/videos and further interact with the camera app.
Meanwhile, the iPhone 13 Pro Max is the last carrier of Apple's old design language. It comes along with a stainless-steel frame that is flat on all sides, a classic ring switch, and last, but not least, a Lightning port at the bottom. There's also a traditional notch here, housing the FaceTime camera and the Face ID paraphernalia.
IP68 water- and dust-resistance are a common feature on both models.
Display Differences
We've already said it, but let's reiterate: the iPhone 16 Pro Max packs a display that spans 6.9 inches across. That's a significant and notable increase over the iPhone 13 Pro Max's 6.7-inch screen, achieved by employing much thinner bezels and a slightly taller body. Apple has also introduced a more advanced Ceramic Shield coating, which should prevent the screen from getting scratched.
The iPhone 16 Pro Max employs a Super Retina XDR OLED display with 120Hz ProMotion refresh rate, and has a maximum brightness readings of 2,000 nits; new here is the new support for 1-nit minimum brightness which should be useful when using the phone at night.
Meanwhile, the iPhone 13 Pro Max boasts slightly less impressive display properties: it has a 6.7-inch Super Retina XDR OLED screen with 120Hz ProMotion, but it achieves a "lower" maximum brightness of up to 1,200 nits in HDR mode, which is low as per today's flagship standards. Don't be too quick to shoot that one down, though: the iPhone 13 Pro Max still has a perfectly capable and beautiful screen, which is a joy to use and look at.
Face ID is the only way to authenticate with the two iPhones, nothing new here.
Performance and Software
Everything in the name of AI
The iPhone 16 Pro Max features Apple's second-gen 3nm chipset, the Apple A18 Pro. It consists of dual performance and quad efficiency cores, a hexacore GPU, and a 16-core Neural Engine unit that's heavily involved with everything Apple Intelligence-related.
The iPhone 16 Pro Max also features a redesigned internal design, which reportedly delivers a solid 20% improvement in the thermal management of the phone and passively reduces the chance of thermal throttling. Thanks to this, the sustained performance of the iPhone 16 Pro Max should be better than before.
Having such a dedicated unit is an easy way to boost on-device AI and ML processing; the enhanced memory bandwidth of the iPhone 16 Pro Max is also geared towards better AI performance.
The iPhone 13 Pro Max came with the Apple A15 Bionic chip, which is now three years old. However, despite that is lagging in the synthetic performance benchmark tests, it's still more than enough to deliver a great everyday experience, even to heavy users.
I've been using an iPhone 13 Pro Max as a daily driver for more than two years and don't really feel compelled to upgrade to a newer iPhone Pro Max due to any performance shortcomings.
The iPhone 16 Pro Max comes with at least 8GB of RAM, which is apparently the bare minimum for Apple Intelligence to function properly, so next year's model might come with some extra, probably. Meanwhile, the older iPhone 13 Pro Max has merely 6GB of RAM, which is enough for regular tasks.
Storage-wise, the iPhone 16 Pro Max starts with 256GB of RAM, but will also be available in 512GB and 1TB, and probably even 2TB. The older iPhone starts with 128GB of storage, and can also be found with 256 and 512GB, as well as 1TB of on-board storage.
With the iPhone 16 Pro Max, we get faster connection speeds. The new phone gets Wi-Fi 7 and the Snapdragon X75 5G modem, potentially allowing for much faster data throughput speeds. At the same time, the iPhone 13 Pro Max supports Wi-Fi 6 and the older Snapdragon X60 5G modem, which should be sufficient, but potentially delivering lower data speeds.
We assume that the iPhone 13 Pro Max will be supported until 2028 or 2029, given how long recent iPhones have been supported. The iPhone 16 Pro Max will be supported even longer than that, well into the 2030s.
Both the iPhone 16 Pro Max and iPhone 13 Pro Max will eventually run iOS 18. However, Apple Intelligence, the highlight of the new software update, will only be supported on the iPhone 16 Pro Max, not to mention that the majority of Apple Intelligence features will arrive with iOS 18.1, followed by a revamped Siri in early 2025. No Apple Intelligence for the iPhone 13 Pro Max.
Camera
Triple cameras, but very different
The iPhone 16 Pro Max boasts a much better and more versatile camera than its aging predecessor.
Just look at the specs: a 48MP main camera with a new sensor, a brand-new 48MP ultra-wide camera (an upgrade from the 12MP one), and a 12MP telephoto with 5X optical zoom are a much better hardware loadout than the one on the iPhone 13 Pro Max, no matter how you look at it.
The latter looks much humbler in comparison: triple 12MP sensors behind all cameras, with a telephoto that merely delivers 3X optical zoom. It pales in comparison, but still does a mighty fine job. Due to the lower megapixel count of the main camera, the iPhone 13 Pro Max lacks a sensor-cropping 2X zoom option in the camera, which the iPhone 16 Pro Max has.
The iPhone 16 Pro Max also gets newer and more customizable Photographic Styles. Those actually debuted with the iPhone 13 generation, but the first iteration of the feature only has rudimentary customization.
Another cool new feature of the iPhone 16 Pro Max is the new 4K@120fps video-recording option, which lets you create captivating cinematic clips. With a new four-mic array, the iPhone 16 Pro Max has Audio Mix for intelligent noise reduction, as well as improved wind noise isolation.
The new Camera Control button of the iPhone 16 Pro Max unlocks a whole new way of controlling the camera app. You can open the app, change the exposure, focus, and take a photo or video without ever taking your finger off the new button.
You can also use the latter to make use of Visual Intelligence. Just point the iPhone 16 Pro Max at a landmark or a business, click the Camera Control button, and you will get relevant information.
Battery Life and Charging
Not looking good on the iPhone 13 Pro Max front
We don't know the actual the iPhone 16 Pro Max battery capacity, though we had heard it will arrive with a large 4,676mAh battery. This could be a pretty significant improvement over the 4,352mAh one inside the iPhone 13 Pro Max, which was a very decent performer in our custom battery tests back in its heyday.
As per Apple, the iPhone 16 Pro Max has a battery life of 33 hours in the company's video playback battery test, while the iPhone 13 Pro Max was rated for just 28 hours in the same video playback. Pretty optimistic outlook for the new model, which could easily turn out to be the iPhone with the best battery life.
Factor in the battery degradation on the older model (most devices in circulation should be around or even below 90% battery health), and the outcome becomes mostly predefined.
The iPhone 16 Pro Max has not scored any wired charging upgrade over its predecessor. There's, however, a MagSafe upgrade to 25W wireless charging speeds; what's more, the new device also supports Qi2. The iPhone 13 Pro Max has regular MagSafe and 20W wired charging.
Specs Comparison
The iPhone 16 Pro Max vs iPhone 13 Pro Max specs comparison table is live, albeit mostly based on the rumored specs of the upcoming device.
| iPhone 16 Pro Max | iPhone 13 Pro Max | |
|---|---|---|
| Size, weight | 163.0 x 77.58 x 8.26 mm, 227gr | 160.8 x 78.1 x 7.65 mm, 240gr |
| Screen | 6.9" OLED 120Hz ProMotion 2,000 nits of max brightness Dynamic Island | 6.7" OLED 120Hz ProMotion 1,200 nits of max brightness (HDR mode) Notch |
| Processor | A18 Pro 3nm | A15 Bionic 5nm |
| RAM, Storage | 8GB/256GB 8GB/512GB 8GB/1TB | 6GB/128GB 6GB/256GB 6GB/512GB 6GB/1TB |
| Cameras | 48MP main 48MP ultra 12MP 5X zoom LiDAR scanner 12MP front | 12MP main 12MP ultra 12MP 3X zoom LiDAR scanner 12MP front |
| Battery | 4,676mAh* probable capacity | 4,352mAh |
| Charging | USB-C 25W wired 25W MagSafe | Lightning 25W wired 15W MagSafe |
Summary
It appears that the iPhone 16 Pro Max will enhance the advanced iPhone experience even further, making it a clear and logical winner over the now three-year old iPhone 13 Pro Max, and the phone to get if you wish to upgrade from the older iPhone flagship.
With a larger display, better performance, a better camera, and future-proofed for AI (which is still not here, though), the big new iPhone is definitely the recommended upgrade path for iPhone 13 Pro Max users.
There should be a palpable difference in the overall experience, with many novel features that will make the experience very fresh for seasoned Pro Max veterans.
Then again, the iPhone 13 Pro Max is still alive and kicking. Its classic and intransitive design still looks fresh, and while it's a slightly aging device, it's by no means slow, lagging, or lacking anything in particular that should compel you to upgrade to the newer device.
If you're satisfied with your phone, keep using it… until its wheels fall off!
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