iPhone 18 Pro Max vs iPhone 16 Pro Max: Main differences to expect

Along with John Ternus, Apple will also be celebrating a new flagship lineup this September. Normally, I'd say it would be headlined by the iPhone Pro Max, which has historically been the most anticipated iPhone, but this year, the show will definitely be stolen by the foldable iPhone. 

However, it will certainly price out most potential buyers, and being a first-gen product means it wouldn't enjoy nearly the same amount of popularity as the large conventional iPhone 18 Pro Max. 

Rumored upgrades for this device this year include a main camera with variable aperture, a more efficient display panel, a larger battery, the new A20 Pro chip, and likely many other smaller improvements.

How would the iPhone 18 Pro Max compare against the iPhone 16 Pro Max, the last titanium Apple phone?

Although now nearly two years old, it's still a flagship iPhone that is still up there in terms of camera and overall performance, not to mention that it has the classic and very charming pre-camera plateau design language.

The iPhone 18 Pro Max will inherit the iPhone 17 Pro Max's general design and come with mostly the same aluminum build. The highlight will once again be the expansive camera plateau in the rear, which houses the triple camera, the flash, and the LiDAR scanner.

This design change notably faced some criticism due to the not-so-impressive durability of the edges of the aluminum camera plateau, which easily chipped and dented, leading to a not-so-premium experience.

Aside from that, the iPhone 18 Pro Max will boast the same flat design language with rounded corners that most recent iPhones have utilized, the 16 Pro Max included.

The iPhone 16 Pro Max, on the other hand, was the last iPhone to boast a premium titanium design and have the standard camera island at the back, which did not protrude side to side. Sure, it had a less exciting selection of colors but had an undeniable charm to it.

One big change would be found at the front, where the iPhone 18 Pro Max is expected to have a smaller Dynamic Island notch. Apple will reportedly shrink the size by roughly 40% and deliver a more impressive experience.



Size-wise, the iPhone 18 Pro Max will remain mostly similar to the iPhone 17 Pro Max. It will remain 8.75 mm thick, whereas the iPhone 16 Pro Max is ever-so-slightly more compact at 8.25 mm. In terms of length and width, both will most certainly be very comparable. There are reports claiming the iPhone 18 Pro Max could push past 240 gr, which wouldn't be great for sure.

In terms of colors, the iPhone 18 Pro Max will be available in an intriguing selection of colors, with the heavily rumored Dark Cherry (Pantone 6076) likely being the hero one. Apple has also reportedly been experimenting with other colors like Coffee Brown, Purple, and Burgundy, but the Dark Cherry one is said to be the winner.

The other colors in which the iPhone 18 Pro Max will be available are reportedly Light Blue (Pantone 2121), Dark Gray (426C), and Silver (Pantone 427C).

The iPhone 16 Pro Max was available in Black Titanium, White Titanium, Natural Titanium, and Desert Titanium colors.

From a properties perspective, there wouldn't be that many differences between the iPhone 18 Pro Max and the iPhone 16 Pro Max. That's because both will share the nearly identical 6.9-inch ProMotion XDR OLED panel at the front, with 1-120Hz refresh rate, high sharpness, and excellent minimum brightness. 

The iPhone 18 Pro Max will undeniably have a leg up in terms of the peak brightness: we expect at least 3,000 nits as opposed to around 2,000 on the iPhone 16 Pro Max. 

Another upgrade for the iPhone 18 Pro Max could bring LTPO+ technology to the iPhone. LTPO usually indicates a high-refresh rate screen, but LTPO+ could provide Apple with much greater control over the light emission and thus achieve greater efficiency. This means even better battery life, folks. 

The biggest improvement with the screen of the iPhone 18 Pro Max will be the smaller Dynamic Island at the front. Reportedly, the Face ID module on the left side of the notch would be significantly smaller (20.76mm wide on the iPhone 17 Pro vs ~13.49mm on the iPhone 18 Pro), massively improving the immersion. 

Expect the 2 nm Apple A20 Pro chipset to be powering up the iPhone 18 Pro Max. This will certainly introduce major performance gains––as well as efficiency improvements that will deliver even better battery life.

The iPhone 16 Pro Max came with the 3nm A18 Pro chip, which is still a high-end performer, but less impressive in terms of raw performance in comparison with the A19 Pro chip and surely the upcoming A20 Pro, too. 

Apple would also likely finally bring its Apple C2 chip to the iPhone range. Previously, all iPhones have had Snapdragon modems. Usually, this has little importance, but an Apple modem will help deliver better efficiency. 

Some 12 GB of memory are expected on the iPhone 18 Pro Max, which is the same amount as the iPhone 17 Pro Max. The iPhone 16 Pro Max had 8 GB of RAM, which is the minimum for Apple Intelligence to work. 

Storage-wise, the iPhone 18 Pro Max will start at 256 GB of storage and also be available with 512 GB, 1 TB, and likely 2 TB of storage. The iPhone 16 Pro Max has the same storage tiers minus the 2 TB rumored version. 

The iPhone 18 Pro Max will come with iOS 27 out of the box. We expect to see it demonstrated in a couple of weeks' time at WWDC'26. The iPhone 16 Pro Max will be updated to iOS 27 this September. 

Rumors put a main camera with a variable aperture in the iPhone 18 Pro Max. 

A variable aperture would allow the camera to intelligently switch to a wider aperture in lower-light conditions or when the need for a shallow depth of field arises (most often when taking portraits). Conversely, the opposite narrow end of the variable aperture would boost the focus, sharpness, and detail in standard light conditions.

The telephoto of the iPhone 18 Pro Max is also expected to have a wider aperture for better low-light performance. Other than that, the device will boast 48 MP sensors behind all three cameras. 

The iPhone 16 Pro Max, on the other hand, was equipped with a 48 MP main, 48 MP ultrawide with a small-ish sensor, and a 12 MP telephoto with 5X optical zoom and a small sensor, too. 

At the front, the situation will be pretty different, too. Expect the 18 MP Center Stage camera to make a return to the iPhone 18 Pro Max, while the iPhone 16 Pro Max had to rely on a 12 MP FaceTime camera. The Center Stage camera gives much better flexibility at how selfies are captured and also makes video calls that much better as it intelligently keeps you in the frame.  

Overall, the iPhone 18 Pro Max will undoubtedly deliver a better camera experience. 

Apple isn't Samsung, so it's not afraid to deliver annual battery capacity upgrades. This has been the case for years, and the iPhone 18 Pro Max will likely reiterate that by coming with a camera in the ballpark of 5,200 mAh.

Paired with all the potential display and hardware efficiency upgrades, this one will undoubtedly beat the iPhone 16 Pro Max in terms of endurance. That one had a 4,685 mAh battery, which is by no means small for an iPhone, but is certainly smaller than the one potentially arriving to the iPhone 18 Pro Max. 

Charging-wise, the iPhone 18 Pro Max will certainly charge faster, at up to 40 W, while the older iPhone 16 Pro Max peaked at less than 30 W. This means significantly shorter charging times. 

Both phones will share the same MagSafe 2.0 charging speeds of up to 25 W. 

Here's a complete breakdown of the anticipated iPhone 18 Pro Max specs in comparison with the current iPhone 16 Pro Max specs. 

The iPhone 18 Pro Max and the iPhone 16 Pro Max are the perfect example of Apple's slow but steady evolution.