iPhone 16 Pro Max vs Google Pixel 9 Pro XL: Power vs Creativity

Google's ultimate and largest flagship phone this year is called the Pixel 9 Pro XL, and it is one of the most fierce rivals to Apple's recently-announced iPhone 16 Pro Max.

Google revealed its most high-end flagship before Apple's event this year. It came with several improvements like its 42MP selfie camera (which has performed mightily in our PhoneArena Camera Score), a much more capable Gemini Nano AI assistant, a fresh new design that is somewhat similar to the iPhone's, and more.

The iPhone 16 Pro Max comes with a new image sensor ultrawide camera, which sounds promising and will potentially introduce big jumps in image quality (especially for the ultra-wide). It also has faster wireless charging, a 6.9-inch display, a new Camera Control button, 4K 120fps video recording, and more.

The 9 Pro XL also has a new price tag, starting at $1099 for the base 128 GB storage variant, which is higher than its predecessor but still not as high as the $1199 for the iPhone 16 Pro Max. Although, it's worth noting that the Pro Max starts at 256 GB.

It's important to remember that all information about the iPhone 16 Pro Max is based on what Apple has revealed during its announcement and on its website. As for the Pixel 9 Pro XL, everything below is based on our time with the phone and the results we got during the extensive tests we ran it through.

Google Pixel 9 Pro XL: Get at Amazon

Want more screen real estate to play with? The Pixel 9 Pro XL might be right for you, and it's now available for purchase.

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Google Pixel 9 Pro: Get yours at Amazon

The Pixel 9 Pro can be yours at Amazon. The sleek smartphone with advanced Gemini AI features and 16GB of RAM arrives without discounts.

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Apple started using titanium for its Pro iPhone frames, which is also what the iPhone 16 Pro Max's has. In comparison, Google is yet to switch to a different type of material from aluminum. So, at the very least the iPhone should be more resistant to damage, despite Google's claims that the new Pixel 9 Pro XL is twice as durable as before.

Speaking of durability, Apple also introduced the second generation of its Ceramic Shield glass, which boasts 50% higher toughness compared to the first generation. The OG Ceramic Shield was already more scratch resistant compared to the Gorilla Glass 2 that Google uses for its Pixel Pro models.

Size-wise, there isn't too big of a difference between the two, with the iPhone 16 Pro Max measuring 163 x 77.6 x 8.25 mm and the Pixel Pro 9 XL coming in at 162.8 x 76.6 x 8.5 mm. Despite its titanium frame though, the iPhone weighs in more at 227g vs the 221g of the Pixel 9 Pro XL.

Google refreshed the Pixel's design this year. Apart from its new camera module, the rest of the Pixel 9 Pro XL looks remarkably similar to Apple's iPhones in terms of shape. Of course, the camera modules make differentiating between the two very easy.

But the iPhone 16 Pro Max also has two additional buttons besides the volume and power ones. Of course, you get the customizable Action Button that debuted with the 15 Pro Max last year, but Apple has also added a Camera Control capacitive key that lets you work with the camera in new ways.

The Pixel 9 Pro XL comes with a big 6.8-inch display that can reach a peak brightness of 3000 nits, and has a minimum of 2 nits. It also has a resolution of 2992 x 1344 pixels and a 1-120Hz variable refresh rate.

The iPhone 16 Pro Max comes with a slightly larger 6.9-inch display and extremely thin bezels, a resolution of 2868 x 1320 pixels, and 1-120Hz variable refresh rate. However, it cannot compare in terms of maximum brightness, capping at 2000 nits. That said, it does reach lower brightness of just 1 nit.

Now that Google has reduced the bezels with the Pixel 9 Pro XL and made them uniform, it can finally rival the aesthetics of the iPhone's display, although we don't know yet if they are larger.

Another big thing for the Pixel 9 Pro XL is that it gets an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor embedded in its display. Google says the new sensor is 50% quicker compared to the optical fingerprint sensor on previous Pixel models. Of course, the iPhone continues to rock FaceID as its biometric security system, but we are a bit disappointed that Apple did not include TouchID with the new Camera Control key.

The iPhone 16 Pro Max comes with Apple's A18 Pro chipset (3nm), which comes with a 15% faster CPU and 20% GPU compared to its predecessor. It also has a new 16-core neural engine that's faster and more efficient, meant to power Apple Intelligence. Additionally, Apple says it has improved the thermal design for 20% improvement in heat management and better performance.

Typically, Apple's chipsets perform significantly better compared to Google's when it comes to benchmark tests. This gap in performance doesn't usually show in real life though, at least not until you open up a graphically intensive app like the AAA games that you can play on the latest iPhones.

That said, the Pixel 9 Pro XL seemed to be somewhat slow at performing AI functions during the our time with it, although that might improve with software updates. We will have to wait and see how the iPhone 16 Pro Max does, as many of its features won't be immediately available but rather come with later updates during the next months.

On the other hand, Google already offers AI enhancments and features. The Google Assistant on the Pixel 9 series is slowly but surely being replaced by Gemini, which is now multimodal and can understand information not only from text, but also from images, speech, and audio.

Google is also known for implementing AI on its phones in a fun, helpful, and creative way. The latest example of that, which comes with the Pro XL, is the Add Me feature. Add Me helps you combine two separate group photos to make sure everyone is in the image, using AI and augmented reality.

Google also provides Google Lens on the Pixel 9 Pro XL (and other phones via the Google app), which lets users point at anything and get relevant information. Apple will also be adding a similar feature called Visual Intelligence, which will basically have the same functionality, but will be activated via the new Camera Control button.

As for connectivity, Apple has added support for Wi-Fi 7, which offers faster speeds and lower latency, especially in crowded networks. There is also a new Snapdragon X75 5G  modem that improves signal strength and power efficiency.

In terms of software support, Apple matches Google's 7 years of Android updates and security patches, as it has been offering long software support on iPhones for many years now.

The Pixel 9 Pro XL has the same camera system at the back that came with last year's Pixel 8 Pro. What's new is the selfie camera, which is now a 42MP and much more light sensitive than before. This should improve the image quality drastically, and we expect it to be visibly better than the 12MP selfie camera on the iPhone 16 Pro Max.

The iPhone 16 Pro Max comes with a brand new sensor for the ultrawide camera. The new ultra-wide camera has 48MP, matching the resolution of the Pixel 9 Pro XL's ultra-wide snapper.

However, the new ultra-wide sensor on the iPhone 16 Pro Max takes 24MP default photos, just like with the main camera. That is why we expect the iPhone to take more detailed and sharp ultra-wide images compared to those from the Pixel 9 Pro XL, which defaults to 12MP.

When it comes to the telephoto cameras, however, the Pixel 9 Pro XL might blow the iPhone 16 Pro Max out of the water, thanks to its higher resolution and arguably better image processing when it comes to zoomed in shots.

As for video recording, the iPhone 16 Pro Max now comes with support for 4K 120FPS video. What's more, users can utilize when recording in the Dolby Vision, ProRes, and LOG formats. You can even adjust the frame rate after the video has been recorded. This makes the iPhone much more capable when it comes to more professional use of its cameras.

Another exciting camera-related addition with the 16 Pro Max is a new capacitive Camera Control button. This new button is pressure sensitive and it can be half-pressed to focus, for example, and then press it more firmly to take the shot. It also works with third-party applications, and offers several other functions via swiping your finger on it, like changing the Photographic Style or aperture during Portrait Mode.

Speaking of Photographic Styles, Apple has added more of them this year, some of which are very stylistic. Users can also adjust how the filter is applied to the image via a single control pad.

When it comes to AI camera features Apple is lagging behind quite a bit. There is only one from all iPhone 16 AI features that's related to the camera experience, dubbed the Clean Up tool, and it works exactly like Google's Magic Eraser.

Google already introduced quite a bit of camera AI functionality with last year's models, but the company has expanded on that solid foundation. Arguably the most noteworthy new AI camera-related feature on the Pixel 9 Pro XL is Add Me, which combines multiple group photos into one so that everyone can be in the shot.

What's more, while it cannot shoot at 4K 120FPS, the Pixel 9 Pro XL can use Google's Video Boost feature to upscale 4K footage to 8K resolution.

Additionally, Apple has improved the four microphones and claims the new ones offer "studio quality" recording. These new mics also supposedly allow for the new Audio Mix feature during video recording, which you can use to simulate different sound profiles in your video: Studio, Cinematic, and In-Frame. Check out more about this in our article about the iPhone 16 camera.

The new mics are also what allows for better noise reduction, especially noise generated by wind.

Battery life has historically been pretty awesome on the iPhone Pro Max and larger Pixel models. Apple claims to have improved the battery life with the iPhone 16 Pro Max, while the Pixel 9 Pro XL performed somewhat better than its predecessor in our tests.

The Pixel boasts a large 5060 mAh battery, and while we don't know the exact battery capacity for the iPhone 16 Pro Max is yet, Apple has shared longer hours from its battery life tests. The iPhone 16 Pro Max is shown to have lasted 33h vs 29h during Video Playback, 29h vs 25h for Video Streaming, and 105h vs 95h for Audio Playback compared to its predecessor.

Neither the iPhone nor the Pixel have ever featured incredibly fast charging speeds, with representatives from both models usually aiming for a 50% charge in about 30 minutes of charging. However, the Pixel 9 Pro XL is stated to be able to charge from 1-70% in 30 minutes, while apple claims a 50% charge for the same amount of time.

The one thing Apple had going for its iPhones since the introduction of the iPhone 12 series was MagSafe, and that is still the case. But now it also offers 25W of wireless charging, which is a little higher than the 23W on the Pixel 9 Pro XL.

Overall we are looking at somewhat similar iPhone 16 Pro Max vs Pixel 9 Pro XL specs, besides the chipsets, which will differ quite a bit from each other in terms of processing power.

The most notable specs here are the differences in wired charging, telephoto cameras, and the chipsets. Of course, specs can tell us very little, especially when it comes to the camera performance, so keep that in mind.

It appears this year is an important one for camera upgrades, both for the iPhone and the Pixel high-end models. We can't wait to compare the two camera systems of these phones!

Besides the cameras, the most notable differentiating factors, and ultimately the reason why you choose one instead of the other, is the way AI gets utilized and the user experience that comes along with the operating system you go for. Of course, that is unless you are walled in Apple's ecosystem, as that is a major transition stopper.

But Apple seems to be struggling with keeping up with the wave of AI innovations, while Android is becoming more and more powerful via Google's extensive experience in this segment. Not to mention that the Pixel 9 Pro XL looks and feels a lot like an iPhone now, so a transition might not be as weird to consumers as it used to be.

The iPhone 16 Pro Max has a lot of promise when it comes to its camera system, but for most else there appears to be little that can beat the Pixel 9 Pro XL. Well, except in raw chip performance, of course.

Whatever the case, we can't give a final verdict until we pace the iPhone 16 Pro Max through our PhoneArena Rating and give it the time it deserves, so stay tuned for a more detailed comparison full with camera samples and test results.