The Apple iPhone 16 Pro / Pro Max Review for Photographers

September 19, 2024

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After Apple concluded its keynote featuring the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max, I dove into my review of this new smartphone as a photographic and videographic tool in the sunshine of California. Jordan Drake shot our entire video review on the iPhone 16 Pro and I scoured the area around Monterey and Santa Cruz to take pictures with the iPhone 16 Pro Max.

We are looking at only the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max models because we feel these are the most capable tools possible for anyone serious about creating with the latest iPhone. As compelling as these phones might be for the casual user, we also focused almost entirely on the shooting experience, as we want to evaluate these devices as the cameras that they potentially can be.

iPhone 16 Pro Review: How it Handles

One of the things that frustrates me most about any smartphone is the rather poor ergonomics of simply holding and photographing with one. Short of getting a custom case designed for photography, most people will instead struggle with the inherent flatness of a smartphone and learn how to push buttons effectively without dropping the device. Of course, we still end up dropping them all the time.

The latest iPhone is here and it promises to be more rugged and capable than ever before.

This year, Apple has done something quite interesting by introducing the Camera Control button that not only functions as a shutter button but also brings up the camera app with a simple press. It also allows for adjusting manual exposure and zoom thanks to a handy sliding interface that operates similarly to a camera dial. You can also use the button as a touch interface on the menu the Camera Control button brings up, so there are many ways to make quick adjustments. Having used the new controls extensively, I can say that I like the additional level of control that it provides. With practice, the operation became predictable and repeatable, and it is always good to have more ways to manipulate a camera at your fingertips.

Close-up of the side of a smartphone showing a metallic volume button. The button is elongated with rounded edges and sits within a glossy, dark-colored frame. The right side of the frame is visible against a black background, while the left side edge appears slightly reflective. — The Camera Control button is new on the iPhone 16 series and it turns out to be a very useful feature.

Thanks to the faster A18 processor, the shutter lag is negligible and I found the response time to be much more predictable than before even when shooting RAW photos rapidly. The iPhone 15 always had a delay when taking pictures and I find the ability to time my shots to be much more like a standalone camera now.

A man with a beard and glasses hanging from the collar of his dark polo shirt is standing with his arms crossed, looking out of a window. His reflection is visible in the glass, giving the impression that he is facing himself. — I appreciated the lack of shutter lag when shooting pictures quickly.

Two people riding bicycles on a sunny day past a brightly decorated building with colorful geometric shapes and a large zigzag pattern. The person at the forefront waves while the other cyclist rides ahead, holding a tote bag. — In situations where I wanted to capture fast movement across the frame, the new iPhone 16 is more responsive.

There has been a noticeable improvement in battery life but I have never had an issue with the iPhone 15 for what it’s worth. Apple knows how to do battery life well but the charging speeds are still capped at just under 30 watts of draw. There is an improvement to the MagSafe wireless charging speeds which now rival what the USB-C port can do, however. I will likely rely on the wireless charger now instead of relegating its use to overnight charging as a result. The iPhone 16 can draw extra power beyond this level but only to facilitate the use of apps that need power while charging the phone simultaneously. The iPhone 16 can still follow Apple’s claim that a 50% charge can be achieved in half an hour.

Two smartphones display their home screens with several app icons arranged in a grid. The phone on the left shows "6.3" and the one on the right shows "6.9", indicating screen size. Both show the date, "Monday 16", and a weather widget stating "Calgary 21°C". — The camera suite and display brightness are identical between the Pro and Pro Max models. You can clearly see the difference in size, though.

The iPhone 16 Pro now has a slightly larger 6.3-inch screen and the Pro Max has a massive 6.9-inch display. I nit-picked the lack of any improvement in brightness on the iPhone 16 screens in my initial impressions as they are the same 2,000 nits of peak brightness as before. However, in use, they are perfectly usable in bright and glaring conditions, and although other manufacturers are making brighter screens, the iPhone displays do just fine in practical terms. I stand corrected.

iPhone 16 Pro Review: How it Shoots

Having used the iPhone 15 Pro Max extensively, I wanted to see how much the image quality has improved on this year’s model and there are some noteworthy improvements on paper. Unfortunately, the upgrades are relatively minor when applied in the real world.

A wooden wall decorated with an eclectic mix of items including a guitar, paddle, windows, signs, a framed picture, and various knick-knacks. Two red wooden chairs sit in front, while the wall features signs that say "Inspire" and "No Trespassing. — The iPhone 16 Pro can record excellent levels of detail, but it is no better than its predecessor.

Colorful ski lift chairs, each with a person, suspended high in the air against a bright blue sky. The chairs and cables recede into the distance, creating a sense of depth and motion. The chairs are yellow, red, green, and purple. The scene exudes a playful vibe. — We toured the Santa Cruz boardwalk as well to catch the colorful scenes it has to offer.

The Pro models get an identical suite of cameras, whether you choose the Pro or Pro Max model, with some notable improvements over the iPhone 15 Pro series. First is a new main camera that features the same 48-megapixel resolution and f/1.78 aperture but is roughly twice as fast when it comes to readout speeds. This makes it possible to unlock 4K at 120 frames per second in video mode but I hoped it would also improve photographic image quality. We’ll come back to this.

Looking up through the branches of a large tree with lush green leaves. Sunlight filters through the leaves, casting dappled light and shadow patterns. The sky above is clear and blue. — The new ultra-wide camera now adds 48-megapixels which brings it more on par with the main camera and the competitors too.

A narrow, covered pathway with a stone floor leading through a shaded area framed by wooden doors and trellises. Green foliage lines parts of the path, and the wooden structures have a rustic, weathered appearance. Light filters through the overhead lattice. — I like the exaggerated sense of perspective that the ultra-wide lens delivers.

The ultra-wide camera has also been improved to a new 48-megapixel sensor with autofocus that can deliver decent macro capabilities with more detail than before. The aperture is the same as before at f/2.2. I like now having the option of 48-megapixel RAW files although, in real-world situations, the resolution does not match that of a standard Bayer pattern sensor at 48 megapixels. Oddly, Apple also decided not to implement the option for a 24-megapixel HEIF file, which it does have on the main fusion camera. The extra megapixels are unnecessary for social media applications but at least landscape and macro photographers can squeeze some more detail out of their RAW files.

Close-up image of a green succulent plant with thick, fleshy leaves arranged in a rosette pattern. The leaves have smooth edges with subtle pinkish tips, creating a symmetrical and vibrant display. — The ultra-wide can capture the occasional close-up shot with pretty decent resolution thanks to the new sensor.

Comparison of two images of a wooden surface with yellow moss; the left side is labeled "12MP HEIF" and the right side is labeled "48MP RAW". The right image shows clearer details and sharper textures compared to the left image. — You can see that the extra megapixels in the new ultra-wide camera make a difference when you need to get more detail.

The only camera module reused from the iPhone 15 Pro Max is the 5x telephoto f/2.8 lens which is now present on both the Pro and Pro Max (some users will probably miss the 3x camera on the 15 Pro). I would have liked to have seen an improvement here because this camera has limitations. Unfortunately, this camera module is still the weakest of the rear-facing cameras, with somewhat noisy images in low light and maxing out at 12 megapixels of resolution.

A woman with long dark hair, wearing a purple shirt, stands smiling while looking to her left. She is next to a foggy glass wall with water streaming down, creating a textured, wavy background. — The 5X telephoto lens is handy and I find myself using it often.

Close-up image of a black bird with iridescent feathers. The bird has a piercing light-colored eye and a sharp, black beak. The background is a blurred, neutral tone, making the bird the focal point of the image. — The 5X telephoto camera is still one that I use often, but it hasn’t improved this year.

In regards to all the camera modules, I did notice an improvement when it came to flare resistance in bright light. Older iPhones are plagued with vibrant rainbow reflections across the frame, which is much less pronounced on the iPhone 16 series. This is thanks in no small part to the new lens coatings Apple has added to its optics. However, due to the similar optical formulas being used, distinct and distracting ghosts are still visible when shooting towards bright light sources.

A photo of tall, slender trees reaching towards a clear blue sky with the sun shining brightly in the top left corner. The sunlight creates a lens flare effect. Below, there's lush greenery and tall grass, with a dense forest of trees in the background. — There is much less rainbow flare from the sun, and contrast is retained well. Still has that weird ghosting in the corner though.

A black and white photo shows a vintage clock mounted on the exterior wall of a building. The wall is adorned with creeping vines and is partially illuminated by sunlight. The scene includes chairs and tables in an outdoor setting with a cloudy sky overhead. — The black and white filters are nice to use, and I can access them quickly through the touch screen now.

The portrait mode has been tweaked and I noticed slight improvements to the subtlety of the depth maps and how accurately they separate hair from the background. While pixel peepers will spot the difference, I don’t think the improvement will translate to social media. Low-light performance was something I hypothesized might be improved due to the faster scanning sensor in the iPhone 16 main camera. If the sensor reads out faster, it should be able to stack more images and improve quality even further. Looking at the photos, though, any difference between the older iPhone 15 Pro phones and the new 16 series is not apparent.

While Apple stuck with the same nine image stacks as before despite the faster readout speeds, there is some benefit to the shooting experience.

A man with short dark hair and a trimmed beard wearing a black hoodie is looking to the side. There is a large blue ceramic pot with greenery in the background. The image is well-lit with natural light. — Portrait mode is improved in a very subtle way on the iPhone 16 Pro. Apple still tends to do the best job with depth maps compared to other manufacturers.

The image compares low light photography of two smartphones, labeled "15 Pro" on the left and "16 Pro" on the right. Close-up of red coral-like structures shows the "16 Pro" image appears sharper and more detailed. Text: "Low Light Crop" at the top. — Darker conditions can be difficult for smartphones to deal with and the main camera of the iPhone 16 Pro doesn’t seem to improve things much.

The faster readout speeds mean that the iPhone 16 stacks images with less delay in between them. In faster action situations this will lead to less ghosting and overlapping of imagery when the frames are stacked and less wasted frames, too. Still, if there are any improvements to the low-light quality in dark situations just due to a new sensor and processing engine, I certainly didn’t notice it.

Monterey Bay Aquarium is one of the finest around and represents a very typical venue for smartphone photography.

Close-up photo of vibrant, purple-tinted coral polyps with delicate, translucent tentacles. The coral polyps appear dense, creating a mesmerizing, almost glowing effect against a dark underwater backdrop. — The low-light potential of the iPhone 16 Pro is decent but I was hoping for some improvement this year.

The revamped portrait styles are good — Apple has made some important efforts to maintain accurate skin tones — and the ultra-wide camera is improved to some degree. I appreciate that these picture styles can be applied in live-view mode and can always be changed to a different style later. This may provide the ease of use and convenience to convince more people to try them out and ultimately get more use out of them. I also like the new touchscreen interface for accessing them and the ability to customize them fully for tone and opacity.

A person with salt and pepper hair and a beard gazes to the right in a thoughtful manner. They are wearing a gray and pink raglan t-shirt. The background includes shelves with a framed picture and a plant. — Here you can see the realistic-looking separation from the background and the Amber undertone being used. Despite my naturally warm skin tone, the Amber setting doesn’t go over the top.

A side-by-side comparison of two portrait photos of a young girl with long red hair, wearing a floral dress and a hair bow. The left photo is labeled "Standard" and the right photo is labeled "Rose Gold." The "Rose Gold" image has a warmer tint. — The Rose Gold undertone gives a subtle warmth but the skin tones are still natural looking.

A young girl with long red hair, wearing a floral dress, smiles at the camera. She is standing next to an old blue truck with one hand resting on its hood. A building with horizontal siding is visible in the background. — Using the Cold Rose undertone gives a cool feel to the entire image but doesn’t overdo blue tones in the skin.

Kudos to Apple for offering the option to switch to the JPEG-XL standard. Apple ProRAW images can now be set to the JPEG-XL format, which renders as a DNG RAW file but also has an easy-to-share embedded JPEG image. Even more importantly, file size is now far reduced to roughly 45 megabytes in a lossless format and only 20 megabytes in a lossy format that is, despite its name, perceptively lossless. This will substantially reduce storage space needed both on the phone and in the cloud for anyone who wants to have the benefits of RAW files at hand.

An ornate wrought-iron sign with intricate designs hangs above a shingled roof. The sign reads, "The Court of the Golden Bough." The sky in the background is partially cloudy. — Carmel-By-The-Sea is always a charming place to take a smartphone.

A man sits and reads at an outdoor café table under a beige umbrella, surrounded by green plants and hedges, with a hanging lantern framed by a passageway in the foreground. Sunlight illuminates the scene, creating a relaxed and peaceful atmosphere. — A phone lets you stay discreet, and the new camera controls are quick to manipulate.

iPhone 16 Pro Review: The Best Smartphone for Video Gets a Bit Better

On the video front, the headline addition is the ability to record up to 4K 120p with a very high-quality look thanks to ProRes Log. You can also retime the 120p footage down to 1/5 speed for a 24-frame-per-second timeline right on the phone and it will show it to you in real-time as it is rendering. Speed ramping can be done very simply within the same interface allowing for some dramatic looking slow motion shots.

A video playback speed menu is displayed, showing options: 100% (120 fps) with a checkmark, 50% (60 fps), 25% (30 fps), and 20% (24 fps). Part of an abstract, green and black object is visible behind the menu. — The retime tool for the new 4K 120P mode is intuitive and powerful.

With four microphones embedded in the iPhone 16 Pro, you can now record spatial audio for your video work. This means that the iPhone 16 can pick up sounds from in front and behind the camera and then provide the option to creatively mix them as you desire. There is a new audio mixing interface that allows you to focus the sound only on what is in the composition or minimize ambient noise and maximize vocal sound almost as if your subjects are in a sound booth. You can also have the camera send out individual sound channels to an audio output that supports spatial audio and get basically a surround sound kind of effect.

Comparative image showing the quality of 4K video at 400% crop between two cameras. The left side, labeled "15 Pro 0.5X Camera," displays more noise and less detail, while the right side, labeled "16 Pro 0.5X Camera," shows clearer, sharper details. — You would be hard-pressed to notice any difference in sharpness when it comes to the video footage from the iPhone 15 Pro against the iPhone 16 Pro.

When it comes to the actual video quality we didn’t notice much improvement versus the iPhone 15 Pro from last year. Now keep in mind, the iPhone 15 Pro delivers some of the best log recording video a smartphone can deliver so the new iPhone 16 Pro is still at the top of the list. But with the exception of the new 4K 120p recording mode, there isn’t much reason to upgrade. The new ultra-wide lens absolutely delivers more resolution for stills but when it comes to video the detail between the older iPhone 15 and newer 16, we couldn’t see a difference.

iPhone 16 Pro Review: Apple Eschews AI

Let’s talk about AI for a bit because there is no denying that generative AI technology is advancing in the smartphone world. Apple has a very different approach to AI, which translates into a far more conservative approach.

Currently, the only generative AI tool they are implementing is an eraser tool. Something that Google has offered for multiple generations now. Apple states that its approach to AI is based on a philosophical choice to maintain the integrity of the photograph and believes that photographers will appreciate this decision in the long run.

A person sits by the water’s edge on a sandy beach, facing the ocean. The scene is tranquil with gentle waves lapping at the shore. In the distance, a pier extends out into the sea, and a town with trees and buildings lines the horizon under a clear blue sky. — Apple needs a better long-exposure tool. Switching to Live Photo mode and applying the filter is cumbersome, and the results are still not ideal.

I agree that Google may have gone too far in its approach with generative AI, but the technology is here to stay and will only get better. I don’t use any of the prompt-based tools that Google offers, but I think there is legitimate value in some of the other tools such as auto-framing and moving subjects within the frame.

When a photographer wants to maintain the integrity of their images, they can shoot RAW and traditionally edit their pictures. Still, I feel that many users will want to have additional tools available to help them be creative, especially with social media posts. Apple users may find themselves looking elsewhere in these situations.

The iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max: Good but Familiar

From an image quality standpoint, a lot has stayed the same from the iPhone 15 Pro models. Essentially, we have very similar cameras to the iPhone 15 Pro Max. That does mean that those upgrading from older devices have a choice between jumping to the iPhone 16 Pro series and getting top-of-the-line or opting for a cheaper but still quite good iPhone 15 Pro series phone.

From a photographic standpoint, not much has changed in a way that will “wow” iPhone 15 Pro users. If you just upgraded last year, you can stand to wait for next year’s changes before considering an upgrade if photography is your main and most pressing consideration.

Two people stand in front of a large aquarium, silhouetted by the blue glow of the water. Small fish swim densely near the top, while larger fish move more sparsely in the water. One person is looking up at the fish, while the other appears to be taking a photo. — I like the images and capabilities of the new phone, but I don’t feel like we are getting a significant step up in image quality.

Are There Alternatives?

An existing Apple user will likely stay in the Apple ecosystem. Due to the image quality being so similar, the main competition to the iPhone 16 Pro is the older iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max. For anyone who wants to test the Android waters, the Google Pixel 9 Pro also has significant upgrades to its camera modules and AI-based technology. Samsung’s S24 Ultra didn’t do much on the hardware front this year, so it’s less of a compelling alternative.

Should You Buy It?

Maybe — it depends on how old your current phone is. The new controls are beneficial and some users will enjoy the new Picture Styles, making the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max more compelling upgrades if you’re coming from the iPhone 14 series or older.

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