Apple iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max - what we know so far

There are only a few hours left until “It’s Glowtime”, so let’s do a recap of what to expect. In case you missed it, we already covered the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus rumors and leaks, here we will go over everything we (think) we know about the two Pro models.

The event starts at 5 PM UTC and we will have coverage of all the new launches. Until then, here is a recap of everything that happened in the last few months.

The launch

Pre-orders for the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max will start tomorrow if not later today. We are probably looking at two weeks of pre-orders, so the first shipments and in-store availability should be on September 20 (Apple always picks a Friday).

Apple Intelligence, the major upgrade for iOS 18, has missed the deadline and will arrive later as part of iOS 18.1. This is why Apple has two beta branches being tested simultaneously. Apple apparently didn’t want to delay the iPhone launch until Intelligence was ready, but we expect that it will be a major part of the presentation.

The design

This section will be brief – we’ve seen photos of iPhone 16 Pro Max dummies and if not for the new color (Gold, not Brown), we might have been fooled into believing that those were just iPhone 15 Pro Maxes. Speaking of colors, there are Titanium Black and Titanium White, of course, as well as Titanium Silver and Titanium Gold. There was a rumor of a Rose option, but there is no photographic evidence of such a hue. If you want colors, you'd may want to get an iPhone 16 or 16 Plus instead.

iPhone 16 Pro Max dummies in White, Black Silver and Gold

The Gold color model also appeared in a short unboxing video where it is labeled “Desert Titanium” (the hue was apparently inspired by the sands of the Sahara desert). This video offers the briefest glimpse of the front of the phone – well, the front of the retail box, which has an image of the front of the phone – which shows that nothing much has changed. The Dynamic Island is in place, apparently no smaller than last year.

Size comparison between the four iPhone 16 models

Apple did tweak the design slightly, but it’s not immediately obvious. The iPhone 16 Pro Max will allegedly have the world’s thinnest bezels, but even so, the phone will be slightly larger. The reason why will become obvious when we get to the display section.

Dimensions	iPhone 15 Pro	iPhone 16 Pro	iPhone 15 Pro Max	iPhone 16 Pro Max
Height	146.6mm	149.6mm	159.9mm	163.0mm
Width	70.6mm	71.5mm	76.7mm	77.6mm
Thickness	8.25mm	8.25mm	8.25mm	8.26mm
Weight	187g	194g	221g	225g

Larger displays

Both iPhone Pros retain exclusivity on the ProMotion panels, i.e. if you want 120Hz LTPO, you get a Pro model. The two vanilla phones will keep using outdated 60Hz tech for yet another year. But this year the two pairs will diverge even further as they will no longer offer the same screen sizes.

iPhone 16 Pro Max retail package

The iPhone 16 Pro will go up to a 6.3” display, while the vanilla 16 will stick to 6.1”. The iPhone 16 Pro Max will be the biggest iPhone yet with a 6.9” display – up from the 6.7” of the previous Pro Max and the upcoming Plus. The resolutions will probably be bumped up slightly to keep the pixel density the same as before.

In the previous section we mentioned that the bezels will be thinner to offset some of the growth from the larger displays – not enough to entirely cancel it out but still. The iPhone Pro bezels will shrink from 1.71mm to 1.2mm compared to last year’s model, while the Pro Max bezels will go from 1.55mm to 1.15mm.

Here’s a mockup that Ice Universe made to show off the difference:

iPhone 16 Pro Max (left) vs. iPhone 15 Pro Max (right) bezels

We’re not sure why there are so few leaked photos (or videos) that show the front of the iPhone Pros, but it’s clear that any major changes around the Dynamic Island will have to wait until next year (it will allegedly get narrower).

Action and Capture buttons

Side views of dummies show the tentatively named Action and Capture buttons, which will trigger custom actions and will act as a camera shutter key, respectively. This does mean that the Alert Slider will be removed, however.

All four iPhone 16 models will have an Action button And a capture button

Apparently, the Capture button will be more of a capacitive trackpad than a physical button, allowing swiping gestures – this could be used to control zoom, for example.

Apple A18 chipset and AI for all

Last year the two Pro phones were powered by the Apple A17 Pro chipset, while the two vanilla models had to reuse the A16 from the year before. This and the smaller amount of RAM means that the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus will not get Apple Intelligence.

Again, we suspect this will be a major part of the presentation later today and a major part of the marketing for the new 16-series, so all four models have to have it.

This means that all four iPhone 16 models will run an Apple A18 chipset. They may not be identical, the Pro models could have more GPU cores, for example. The NPUs will likely be identical so that on-device AI tasks feel equally snappy.

They may have the same amount of RAM too, 8GB. We’ve seen leaks that claim this capacity for the two vanilla models and no credible rumors that the Pros are getting 12GB. 12GB might have to wait for the 17-series and even then it might be reserved for the iPhone 17 Pro Max. AI models need plenty of RAM to run and Google has even reserved a portion of the extra RAM on the Pixel 9 phones to keep the model loaded at all times. We will see how Apple approaches this problem.

5x tele camera for the iPhone 16 Pro, minor upgrades

Much like ProMotion, telephoto cameras are exclusive to iPhone Pros. This will be the case for this generation as well, but at least the two Pros will be brought closer together. Previously, only the Pro Max had the long 5x tele lens.

Now, both Pro and Pro Max will have a 5x telephoto camera – the same one as last year, apparently, with a 12MP sensor and an f/2.8 aperture. The main camera will remain unchanged as well, a 48MP sensor. It will offer a 48MP ProRaw mode, there’s talk of JPEG-XL (as alternative to HEIF) and a new video mode – 3K at 120fps with Dolby Vision.

Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max

The ultra wide camera will have the same 12MP sensor but is getting a new lens on the vanilla models – it will have a wider f/2.2 aperture (up from f/2.4) and it will have autofocus, just like on the Pro models.

We already mentioned the Capture button above. Since it’s a capacitive button, it will support swipes (e.g. for zooming in and out) and it will be pressure sensitive too, so there will be a virtual half-press for focusing.

Batteries and charging

Apple, like Samsung and Google, just isn’t a fan of fast charging for phones. Both the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max charged at a sedate 27W over USB-C and 15W over MagSafe. This year’s models will increase the power limits noticeably, though nothing too crazy.

The iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max phones will reportedly support 40W wired and 20W MagSafe charging. Okay, that doesn’t sound like much, but this represents an increase of 48% and 33%, respectively. That’s more than the Pixel 9 Pro XL upgrade (23% wired, no upgrade for Qi charging), Samsung didn’t change the charge rates for its flagships at all (and it hasn’t in a while).

Since the two Pro phones are larger, we expect to see larger batteries too, right? Well, yes, but only just – the table below has a comparison with the previous models and shows only minor improvements.

	Capacity	Wired charging	MagSafe charging
iPhone 15 Pro	3,274mAh	27W	15W
iPhone 16 Pro	3,355mAh	40W	20W
iPhone 15 Pro Max	4,441mAh	27W	15W
iPhone 16 Pro Max	4,676mAh	40W	20W

Increased production, Pros from India

You may or may not care about this one, but it’s worth mentioning. Apple is expected to continue to expand its production base in India and this year, for the first time, Pro models will be built in the country. Previously, the Indian factories only made vanilla iPhones. As early as next year, India is expected to account for as much as 25% of the total iPhone production.

This move will help boost sales in the country but also the total production volumes too – Apple allegedly plans to produce more iPhones this year, mostly focusing on the iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max. The goal is around 90.1 million total, up from 86.2 million last year. The non-Pro duo will apparently account for around 33% of production with the rest going to the Pros.

The expectations are for the iPhone 16 Pro Max alone to make up 37% of the total (33.2 million units, up from 24.2 million for the previous Pro Max), while the 16 Pro should make up 30% of the mix with 26.6 million units (up from 21.8 million for the 15 Pro).

What comes next

Since we know most of you don’t upgrade your phone every year, it’s important to mention what will come next – of course, this is just pure speculation, but some might decide to hold on for another year.

The iPhone 17 Pro Max could get a 48MP periscope camera for superior zooming. This leak was from late 2023, though, so plans may have changed since then – it also mentions that the iPhone 16 Pro phones will have 48MP ultra wide cameras and that isn’t happening. All four iPhone 17 models are expected to have 24MP selfie cameras, up from the current 12MP.

As mentioned above, the iPhone 17 Pro Max may get 12GB of RAM (but not the smaller 17 Pro). The Pro models might also get an exclusive chipset, the very first chip from TSMC’s 2nm foundry.