iPhone 16 Pro Max: One Week Camera Review

Friday September 27, 2024 11:10 am PDT by Juli Clover

It’s been a full week since the new iPhone 16 models launched, and we’ve now had enough time to give the Camera Control button and the camera setup a more in-depth look. We tested the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max, which have triple-lens rear camera setups with 48-megapixel Fusion lens, 48-megapixel Ultra Wide lens, and 5x Telephoto lens.

Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.

The Camera Control button has turned out to be great for quickly launching the camera and snapping photos and videos, but the more in-depth adjustments that require light presses and swiping are harder to get used to.

It’s still quicker to get to these controls in the Camera app itself by tapping on the display. Maybe that’s a matter of getting used to the new setup, but it’s also harder to use the button in portrait orientation than landscape mode, and a lot of people take photos in portrait orientation these days. On the ‌iPhone 16 Pro‌ Max especially, the button is just too low to be comfortable to use when holding the device vertically.

New this year is the 48-megapixel Ultra Wide lens, and it’s a big improvement over the prior 12-megapixel Ultra Wide lens. Apple is using pixel binning to combine four pixels into one, ultimately providing a 12-megapixel finished image, but merging pixels allows for more detail and improved quality in low light.

The 5x Telephoto lenses haven’t changed, but you can get 5x optical zoom on the 16 Pro in addition to the Pro Max, which is new this year. The “Fusion” camera is also basically identical to the “Main” camera from last year, and you still have the settings to choose between 24mm, 28mm, and 35mm lenses.

Photographic Styles are a great addition for tweaking the look of an image, and the pad for adjustments is useful to get a unique mood with minimal effort. Make sure to check out our video above to see it in action.

For videographers, the option to shoot in 4K 120 fps is super useful, especially because you can slow it down or speed it up in post production. The Audio Mix feature for changing the audio also really makes a difference for capturing video.

We have some ‌iPhone 16 Pro‌ camera comparisons coming, where we pit the ‌iPhone 16 Pro‌ against some other flagship smartphones. Stay tuned to MacRumors to see those videos next week.

Popular Stories

15 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18.1

Friday September 27, 2024 6:14 am PDT by Tim Hardwick

Apple is set to release iOS 18.1 in October, bringing the first set of Apple Intelligence features to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models. This update marks a significant step forward in Apple’s AI integration, offering a new Siri contextually-aware experience and a range of additional capabilities powered by on-device machine learning and large language models. There are a couple of handy new…

Apple Releases New AirPods Pro 2 Firmware

Thursday September 26, 2024 11:16 am PDT by Juli Clover

Apple today released a new firmware update for the AirPods Pro 2, with the software available for both the USB-C and Lightning models. The AirPods Pro 2 firmware has a build number of 7A305, up from the 7A302 firmware released earlier in September. There is no word yet on what’s included in the firmware, but Apple is planning to add hearing aid and hearing test features to the AirPods Pro 2…

Best Buy Takes Up to $1,000 Off M2 iPad Pro With Record Low Prices

Best Buy is back this week with big discounts on the M2 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro, providing up to $1,000 off select models. A My Best Buy Plus/Total membership is not required to see these discounts. You’ll find both Wi-Fi and cellular tablets on sale at Best Buy, with a particular focus on the larger capacity 1TB and 2TB models. All deals listed below represent record low prices on…

What to Expect From an Apple Event in October: iPad Mini 7, Redesigned Mac Mini, and More

Friday September 27, 2024 11:47 am PDT by Joe Rossignol

Apple will likely hold another event in October this year to announce new Macs and iPads. If so, it would be the fourth time in the last five years that Apple has held an event in October. Last year, Apple held a virtual event on Monday, October 30 to announce new MacBook Pro and iMac models with the M3 series of chips. A concept of a smaller Mac mini Below, we recap rumors about a potential…

10 Reasons to Wait for Next Year’s iPhone 17

Monday September 23, 2024 2:00 am PDT by Tim Hardwick

Apple’s iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models simultaneously, which is why we sometimes get rumored feature leaks so far ahead of launch. The iPhone 17 series is no different – already we have some idea of what to expect from Apple’s 2025 smartphone lineup. If you plan to skip…

Apple Preparing iOS 18.0.1 Update for iPhone Following Several Bugs

Thursday September 26, 2024 9:34 am PDT by Joe Rossignol

Apple appears to be internally testing iOS 18.0.1 for the iPhone, based on evidence of the software update in our website’s analytics this week. Our logs have accurately revealed many iOS versions before they were released. We expect iOS 18.0.1 to be a minor update focused on bug fixes. Issues that could be addressed with the update include touchscreen issues affecting the iPhone 16 series…

AirPods 4 With ANC vs. AirPods Pro 2

Saturday September 28, 2024 7:02 am PDT by Juli Clover

Apple last week released the AirPods 4, and one version of the new earbuds has Active Noise Cancellation included. ANC means the AirPods 4 have a feature set that rivals the AirPods Pro 2, so we thought we’d compare the two for those undecided on which to get. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. The AirPods 4 are Apple’s first open-ear earbuds to include ANC, and the…

Apple’s 80% Charging Limit for iPhone: How Much Did It Help After a Year?

Tuesday September 24, 2024 2:09 pm PDT by Juli Clover

With the iPhone 15 models that came out last year, Apple added an opt-in battery setting that limits maximum charge to 80 percent. The idea is that never charging the iPhone above 80 percent will increase battery longevity, so I kept my iPhone at that 80 percent limit from September 2023 to now, with no cheating. My iPhone 15 Pro Max battery level is currently at 94 percent with 299 cycles….