Massive specs leak suggests the iPhone 16 Pro Max is the model to buy this year

Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max REVIEW
The iPhone 15 Pro Max (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)

There’s little doubt that the iPhone 16 Pro Max will be the new best iPhone when it launches later this year, as well as probably being one of the best phones period, but a new and detailed specs leak suggests it could be substantially better than the iPhone 16 Pro.

According to leaker yeux1122 writing on South Korean site Naver (via BGR), the iPhone 16 Pro Max will have a larger battery than the one in the iPhone 15 Pro Max, so larger than 4,441mAh. Not only that, but it will apparently be more power-efficient, with the two upgrades combining to make this the longest lasting iPhone battery ever.

They don’t list the battery capacity, but another recent leak pegged the iPhone 16 Pro Max’s battery at 4,676mAh, so this new claim chimes with that. Yeux1122 says the iPhone 16 Pro will also have a larger battery than its predecessor, but that it unsurprisingly won’t match the iPhone 16 Pro Max for size or longevity.

The iPhone 16 Pro Max could also have an edge when it comes to cameras, as it will reportedly have a ‘Super Periscope’ camera, while the iPhone 16 Pro is said to inherit the iPhone 15 Pro Max’s 5x optical zoom.

We’ve heard talk of a super-periscope or super-telephoto snapper before, with previous leaks suggesting this might offer much longer-distance zoom – perhaps 10x or more.

Beyond that, the other iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max specs listed here are largely the same for both phones, and also largely reiterate what we’ve heard before. That includes a new A18 Pro chipset, a Capture button for taking photos and shooting videos, up to 2TB of storage, a 48MP ultra-wide camera (up from 12MP on current models), and 8GB of RAM, with that RAM spec being the same as current Pro models.

Bigger screens, smaller bezels, and exclusive AI

The source also claims that their screens will be slightly bigger than those on the current models, with the iPhone 16 Pro having a 6.3-inch display and the iPhone 16 Pro Max having a 6.9-inch one. That would make them both 0.2 inches larger than their predecessors, and is something we’ve heard before. But interestingly the source also claims that the physical size of the phones won’t be much changed, thanks to smaller bezels.

Another interesting claim here is that the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max will have some exclusive AI features, which suggests that these features might not be available on the standard iPhone 16 or the iPhone 16 Plus.

The source doesn’t say what these features would be, but they might relate to the enhanced camera zoom abilities of the Pro models, or be enabled by the extra power these phones are likely to have.

Finally, they claim that the titanium frame on these phones will be cheaper to produce than it was on the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, due to improvements in the production process, so it’s possible that those savings could be passed on to consumersw.

So there’s a lot to ponder here, and both the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max sound like big upgrades if this all pans out. But between its impressive sounding battery life and longer-distance zoom, the iPhone 16 Pro Max looks to be the phone to go for if you can stomach the inevitably high price.

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James Rogerson

James is a freelance phones, tablets and wearables writer and sub-editor at TechRadar. He has a love for everything ‘smart’, from watches to lights, and can often be found arguing with AI assistants or drowning in the latest apps. James also contributes to 3G.co.uk, 4G.co.uk and 5G.co.uk and has written for T3, Digital Camera World, Clarity Media and others, with work on the web, in print and on TV.

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