[[[Preface: The image part of the new iPhone 16 series is more interesting]]
Some time ago, we have brought you the first hands-on experience of the press conference of the new iPhone 16 series, a close-up visit to the production line, and a performance comparison test.
Through the above article, you must have been able to have a deeper understanding of the similarities and differences between the new iPhone 16 series phones, especially the iPhone 16 Plus and iPhone 16 Pro Max in terms of exterior design, process details, and performance release.
So for the next evaluation of the iPhone 16 series, there is now one project that can be carried out at this point in time. That's right, that's how the iPhone 16 Plus and iPhone 16 Pro Max are analyzed, and how the imaging experience is tested in between.
[[Technical Analysis: Pro has changed two cameras, and Plus's ultra-wide angle has been greatly upgraded]]
Before entering the main text, we have summarized the following comparison table through the public information on the official website and various channels. For ease of analysis, the previous iPhone model is also included as a reference.
It is clear that compared to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, the iPhone 16 Pro Max retains the periscope telephoto design of the former, but upgrades the CMOS of the wide-angle main camera. The main change is the increased CMOS readout speed to support the new and exclusive Dolby Vision 4K 120FPS video capture and ProRes lossless encoding for 4K 120FPS video capture.
At the same time, a bigger improvement of the iPhone 16 Pro Max this time is that it has been replaced with a new 48-million-pixel ultra-wide-angle solution. It can be seen that this CMOS uses the same size design as the previous 12 million pixel solution, so the aperture and equivalent focal length of its lens have not changed. And because of the new CMOS pixel increase, the iPhone 16 Pro Max's auto macro can now also support 48 million pixel mode.
However, those who are attentive may have noticed that the new IMX972 sensor no longer supports all-pixel focusing compared to the previous IMX633 solution, so will this affect its focusing performance in ultra-wide and macro modes? Let's wait and see.
Compared to the iPhone 16 Pro Max, the iPhone 16 Plus's main camera solution still clearly shows the difference in positioning for the "non-Pro" version. As you can see, it continues to use the 1/1.59-inch main camera CMOS of the previous iPhone 15 Plus, while switching to the same ultra-wide angle of the iPhone 15 Pro Max. Compared with the IMX772 equipped with the previous generation iPhone 15 Plus, the IMX633 used in the iPhone 16 Plus is not only much larger, but also has significantly improved focusing performance, making the iPhone 16 Plus the first non-Pro iPhone in history to support "auto macro".
[[[Camera control: an industrial miracle of a five-layer structure, the feel and function are difficult to imitate]]
Next, let's talk about a topic that many friends may be very concerned about, that is, about the new "photo control" button of the iPhone 16 series, and what changes it can bring in the user experience.
Friends who have read the article "0.001mm perfection is the confidence that the iPhone 16 series is difficult to imitate" may remember that we have previously visited the iPhone 16 series in the production line of Luxshare Precision, and also specifically analyzed the extremely complex internal structure of the "photo control" button.
Specifically, whether it is the iPhone 16 Pro Max, the iPhone 16 Plus, or other models of the iPhone 16 series, their "photo control" buttons all adopt the same design, that is, a capacitive touch sensor, a pressure sensor, a physical micro-motion button, a vibration feedback unit, and an independent processing chip together to form a complex structure with a full 9 layers and a machining accuracy of up to 0.001mm.
Compared to some other designs in the industry that may "look similar", the biggest advantage of the iPhone 16 series "Photo Control" button is that it allows for a more diverse range of operating modes than other models thanks to the superposition of at least three (pressure, touch, physical buttons) sensors. In addition to basic operating modes such as "long press", "short press", "quick double tap", and "swipe", it also supports control functions such as "tap first and then press again" that other solutions can't do. And according to the information previously revealed by Apple, after the system update in the future, "Camera Control" will also add more functions such as tapping to lock white balance, as well as two-stage shutter feedback.
And because the iPhone 16 series "photo control" button itself has an independent vibration feedback unit, whether it is sliding zoom, double-tapping to switch modes, or when selecting settings, there will be a very "crisp and powerful" sense of feedback. This makes it very easy to zoom precisely on the iPhone 16 series, and to be honest, with the precision that this vibration feedback can provide, Apple's "photo control" button design is enough to beat many of its competitors who look like it.
So is there a shortcoming in the specific use of the "photo control" key? In fact, there are, and the reason is very simple, that is, its position on the fuselage is indeed far from the bottom of the fuselage. So if you want to shoot horizontally and use the "Photo Control" button as a zoom lever and shutter, you will find that our fingers cannot be "framed" on the rear of the camera, but must be held in a slightly awkward way.
Why is this so? According to Apple, this is actually because the product positioning of the iPhone is not a pure and professional "camera" after all, so it also has to take into account the needs of today's public users for shooting scenes such as vertical screen VLOG. Moving the "Photo Control" button away from the bottom of the camera to a certain extent is a compromise made to improve usability when shooting in portrait mode.
[[Sample analysis: In the regular scene during the day, the standard model can also be played this time]]
Next, let's use the live samples to compare and analyze the imaging characteristics of the iPhone 16 Pro Max and the iPhone 16 Plus, as well as their respective shooting experiences.
iPhone 16 Pro Max 13mm ISO40 f2.2 1/102s
iPhone 16 Plus 13mm ISO40 f2.2 1/99s
First of all, let's take a basic zoom test, which we look at one focal length at a time. In the ultra-wide-angle part, although theoretically speaking, the hardware quality of the iPhone 16 Plus is actually the same as the previous generation's "super cup", that is, the ultra-wide angle of the iPhone 15 Pro Max, but because the iPhone 16 Pro Max has changed to a new 48 million ultra-wide-angle scheme, although the focal length and aperture are the same between the two, it can still be seen that there are subtle differences in color style. The iPhone 16 Pro Max's ultra-wide angle is a bit warmer, while the iPhone 16 Plus is cooler.
左16 Pro Max、右16 Plus
However, zooming in on the image, the iPhone 16 Pro Max's ultra-wide image is still imaged at 12 million pixels by default. And in this mode, there is no significant difference in the resolution of the ultra-wide angle between the two models, after all, their theoretical light intake and sensitive area are exactly the same.
iPhone 16 Pro Max 24mm ISO64 f1.78 1/261s
iPhone 16 Plus 26mm ISO32 f1.6 1/159s
Next, we switch to the wide-angle main camera section. As you can see, the difference between the two is smaller in the wide-angle section, but you can still see that the iPhone 16 Pro Max's hair color is a little "heavier". And because the focal lengths of the lenses are different, the iPhone 16 Pro Max will have a wider field of view than the iPhone 16 Plus.
左16 Pro Max,右16 Plus
What's even more interesting is that if you zoom in, you can see that in this scene, the iPhone 16 Plus's long-range resolution is even a little better than that of the iPhone 16 Pro Max, which may be due to the difference in the main camera strategy between the two. As you can see, the iPhone 16 Pro Max is noticeably using a faster automatic shutter in this scene, while also pulling up the ISO to ensure sensitivity, but doing so results in a loss of real resolution.
We speculate that this may have something to do with the fact that the larger CMOS area of the "super cup" makes optical image stabilization more difficult. Conversely, the iPhone 16 Plus, which has a smaller CMOS for the main camera, can therefore use longer exposure times and lower ISOs, which gives it a certain advantage in this scenario.
iPhone 16 Pro Max 48mm ISO50 f1.78 1/151s
iPhone 16 Plus 52mm ISO40 f1.6 1/121s
Next, push the focal length to 2x focal length. Since both the iPhone 16 Pro Max and iPhone 16 Plus's 2x zoom is achieved through sensor cropping and algorithm fusion, the previous conclusion is easily replicated in this scenario. Once again, the iPhone 16 Plus took the lead, with lower ISOs and slower shutter speeds clearly playing a key role.
iPhone 16 Pro Max 120mm ISO200 f2.8 1/99s
The 16 Pro Max 5x telephoto on the left and the 16 Plus 2x photo magnification 2.5x on the right
Of course, the iPhone 16 Pro Max has a discrete 5x periscope telephoto with 3D image stabilization. Therefore, as long as the focal length is further extended, the "super large cup" still finds a significant image quality advantage.
[[Sample Analysis: The advantage of the super large cup is at night, and the iPhone also has a "night telephoto"]]
So, what if there are more complex scenes?
iPhone 16 Pro Max 24mm ISO200 f1.78 1/121s
iPhone 16 Plus 26mm ISO125 f1.6 1/77s
左16 Pro Max,右16 Plus
For example, in the above scene where background blur is tested, you can see that the iPhone 16 Plus does still have a lower ISO and a slower shutter speed, but this time there is no longer a perceptible difference in center image quality between the two, but the iPhone 16 Pro Max does achieve a more significant edge blur effect because of the larger "bottom".
iPhone 16 Pro Max 13mm ISO125 f2.2 1/100s
iPhone 16 Plus 13mm ISO125 f2.2 1/100s
The most interesting thing is the "Auto Macro" scene. Thanks to the new ultra-wide-angle scheme, the iPhone 16 Plus also supports the auto macro function this time. Looking at the live shots, it doesn't differ from the iPhone 16 Pro Max in focus, color, and even shooting parameters in auto macro mode. This situation actually confirms our previous speculation that the iPhone's ISO and shutter strategy have a lot to do with its CMOS size.
iPhone 16 Pro Max 24mm ISO640 f1.78 1/50s
iPhone 16 Plus 26mm ISO500 f1.6 1/25s
Next, we come to a well-lit evening scene. Surprisingly, the iPhone 16 Plus, which has a smaller CMOS base, still doesn't lag too significantly behind the iPhone 16 Pro Max in this seemingly obvious disadvantage. While the former shows a greater chiaroscuro with a larger "bottom", the latter may be more pleasing to the eyes of some friends by slowing down the shutter speed and making the picture brighter overall.
iPhone 16 Pro Max 24mm ISO1000 f1.78 1/9s
iPhone 16 Plus 26mm ISO320 f1.6 1/9s
iPhone 16 Pro Max 120mm ISO1250 f2.8 1/8s
iPhone 16 Plus 130mm ISO160 f1.6 1/5s
When it comes to night scenes, the iPhone 16 Pro Max really closes the gap with the iPhone 16 Plus in most focal lengths with its larger main camera and independent telephoto. Night scenes are noticeably sharper, with more contrast between light and dark, and less noise in the darks. Especially when we tried to shoot telephoto at night, the iPhone 16 Pro Max's periscope telephoto effortlessly achieved a much better image quality than the iPhone 16 Plus's main camera+ algorithm, despite not having a large bottom.
iPhone 16 Pro Max 24mm ISO64 f1.78 1/100s
iPhone 16 Plus 26mm ISO50 f1.6 1/100s
iPhone 16 Pro Max 13mm ISO500 f2.2 1/96s
iPhone 16 Plus 13mm ISO200 f2.2 1/50s
iPhone 16 Pro Max 24mm ISO320 f1.78 1/50s
iPhone 16 Plus 26mm ISO320 f1.6 1/50s
In addition, in urban night scenes with prominent light sources, the iPhone 16 Pro Max shows better forgiveness than the iPhone 16 Plus in both wide and ultra-wide angles. Especially in the low-light areas of the frame, the iPhone 16 Pro Max's (wide) outsole and (ultra-wide) high pixels allow it to retain more color and texture detail, and the positioning difference as a "Pro" version is also reflected in image quality.
[[Video: 4K 120FPS lossless shooting, redefining mobile phone productivity]]
Finally, let's talk about the video recording function of the iPhone 16 series this time, and some precautions in the details.
First of all, as we mentioned earlier, the biggest feature of the iPhone 16 Pro Max in the video shooting function this time is that it supports Apple ProRes HDR lossless high dynamic range video recording at 4K 120FPS.
However, under "normal circumstances", it is not possible to enable this mode directly, because the lossless video bitrate of 4K 120FPS is too high, and the sustained write speed of the built-in storage is no longer bearable. Therefore, Apple requires users to use an external storage device in order to activate the encoding format in the built-in camera app.
It's important to note that not all external storage devices will do. Judging from our actual measurements, the regular USB Type-C USB flash drive is most likely not good, because their writing speed is not fast enough, so it will lead to a black screen problem during recording, and only the use of a pSSD (portable solid state drive) can ensure perfect 4K 120FPS lossless video shooting.
However, the specific pSSD specification requirements are not high, and we have a double-headed pSSD in the form of a U disk with a write speed of about 400MB/s on hand can already meet this requirement. Higher-end 10Gbps or 20Gbps products that use separate data lines are no problem.
Judging from the parameters of the actual video, the average bitrate of the 4K 120FPS ProRes HDR video is as high as 3012154Kbps, which is 2941.5mbps, or 367.7MB/s, and its recording part also uses 32bit depth, 3072kbps lossless PCM format. I have to say that seeing such terrifying data appear on a video taken by a smartphone, I have to sigh that the "productivity" attribute of the iPhone 16 Pro Max is indeed bursting again.
Of course, we don't recommend using this mode as a documentary option on a daily basis. Not to mention whether it is convenient to have an external storage device, it is close to 400MB in a second, and the video size is 24GB in a minute, which is also very inconvenient for most people to store and share.
Fortunately, the iPhone 16 Pro Max also supports direct shooting of ordinary Dolby Vision 4K 120FPS video encoded by HVC1 without connecting an external storage device. However, it should be noted that this 120FPS is a native encoded frame rate, not achieved by post-interpolation. So even without external storage and lossless encoding, the iPhone 16 Pro Max is still the highest-spec video model in the industry, and it doesn't have one of the best.
Judging from our actual night 4K 120FPS video, the iPhone 16 Pro Max will show a night scene effect that is very close to the naked eye in non-lossless mode. It doesn't brighten the picture noticeably, but noise suppression and dynamic range do a pretty good job. This is quite a difference from the night scenes shot by Android flagships in the style of "night vision". To put it bluntly, the former is still more professional use, while the latter is more pleasing to the needs of ordinary users for "good looks".
Compared to the iPhone 16 Pro Max, the maximum video specs of the iPhone 16 Plus can only be selected in Dolby Vision mode at 4K 60FPS. It can be seen that its average bitrate at this time is indeed about half of that of the iPhone 16 Pro Max in non-lossless 4K 120FPS mode.
What's more interesting, though, is that the iPhone 16 Plus captures significantly higher video brightness than the iPhone 16 Pro Max in the same night scene. Obviously, this can't be explained at the sensor or lens level, only by the fact that the two models have a completely different orientation for night video tuning.
As mentioned earlier, Pro Max focuses on reproducing true colors while maintaining low noise and clean images for post-editing. Plus, on the other hand, is closer to the familiar style, i.e., using in-camera processing to produce brighter, more "clear" straight images, so that users who can't or don't want to do post-editing can shoot the video they want. It has to be said that this difference is very interesting, and it is also clear that Apple has adopted a different strategy when it comes to treating two different product lines of the same generation.
[[Summary: Apple kills three birds with one stone, iPhone may lead the industry direction again]]
In general, the iPhone 16 series models have given us a lot of surprises in terms of images, both in terms of hardware specifications and software interaction.
On the one hand, the iPhone 16 Plus has shown itself to be quite competitive in everyday entertainment shooting. Its main camera and ultra-wide angle are not inferior to the Pro Max in daytime image quality, and even the double telephoto has the potential to "counterattack". As long as you don't have a particularly high demand for "telephoto" on a daily basis, or don't need to shoot video professionally, then the iPhone 16 Plus (and the iPhone 16 with its configuration) is obviously far more competitive in imaging than the previous "standard" models.
On the other hand, with its terrifying frame rate, bitrate, recording quality, and creator-specific video look, the iPhone 16 Pro Max has undoubtedly turned itself into perhaps the smallest and cheapest "professional cinema camera" on the market this year. From this point of view, although it also has the current mainstream level of wide bottom angle, the leading structure of 5x periscope, and the upgrade of a new high-pixel ultra-wide angle, but compared to the more comprehensive still photo shooting capabilities, the iPhone 16 Pro Max's video experience is so outstanding that it may be difficult to match its video shooting capabilities in the entire mobile phone industry for a long time to come.
Of course, don't forget the "Camera Controls" button. After all, according to Apple's usual style, this button will inevitably have more playability in the future. Moreover, its complex structure, the feel and function that is currently unique in the industry, are also destined to lead a new round of "tribute" tide.
To sum up, it is not difficult to find that Apple has achieved an almost "killing three birds with one stone" effect with the new iPhone 16 series. Among them, Pro Max and Pro have redefined the upper limit of smartphone image productivity, and have pulled themselves into professional fields that are difficult for competitors to achieve. The standard version and Plus have greatly increased their daily video experience, and they have begun to be responsible for "wrestling wrists" with mainstream competitors; The new logic will force competitors to spend a lot of time and cost to imitate it again, so as to re-establish Apple's industry leadership in "mobile phone photography ease".