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Need To Knows
- Smaller form factor of the iPhone 16e is much nicer to use
- Camera system on the 16 Pro Max is obviously far superior
- 60Hz display lags behind the 120Hz of the Pro Max
- Overall, iPhone 16e offers better value for money
This is the iPhone comparison no one asked for, but I don’t care – I’m undertaking it for two reasons. Firstly, this is my tech review business, and I can do what I like with it. So there.
The second is the fact that, by comparing Apple’s flagship iPhone against its newest entry-level device, we learn a very important lesson about the iPhone and its place in the market.
Oh, and there’s a third – I’ve made the switch from the iPhone 16 Pro Max to the iPhone 16e (no, really), so I know exactly what I’m talking about.
Read my full iPhone 16e review here!
Before you head into the comments section and call me an idiot for making this comparison, please give it a fair crack of the whip. There’s a serious point to be made here, and we might even agree on it.
The specifications
| Feature | iPhone 16e | iPhone 16 Pro Max |
|---|---|---|
| Release Date | February 28, 2025 | September 2024 |
| Starting Price (UK) | $599/£599 | $1,199/£1,199 |
| Build & Materials | Aluminum frame, glass back | Grade 5 Titanium frame, textured matte glass back |
| Display | 6.1″ Super Retina XDR OLED, 1170×2532 pixels, 60Hz refresh rate | 6.9″ LTPO Super Retina XDR OLED, 1320×2868 pixels, ProMotion 120Hz |
| Chipset | Apple A18 (3nm), 4-core GPU | Apple A18 Pro (3nm), 6-core GPU |
| RAM | 8GB | 8GB |
| Storage Options | 128GB, 256GB, 512GB | 256GB, 512GB, 1TB |
| Rear Cameras | Single 48MP wide camera | 48MP wide, 12MP periscope telephoto (5x optical zoom), 48MP ultrawide, LiDAR scanner |
| Front Camera | 12MP TrueDepth | 12MP TrueDepth |
| Camera Features | Smart HDR 5, Deep Fusion, Night Mode, Portrait Mode (human faces only) | ProRAW, ProRes, Cinematic Mode, Night Mode, Photonic Engine, advanced Portrait Mode |
| Battery Life | Up to 26 hours video playback | Up to 29 hours video playback |
| Charging | Wired: 50% in 30 min; Wireless: 7.5W Qi (no MagSafe) | Wired: 50% in 30 min; Wireless: 15W MagSafe |
| Connectivity | 5G, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3, USB-C 2.0 | 5G, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3, USB-C 3.0, Ultra Wideband (UWB) |
| Special Features | Apple Intelligence, Action Button, Face ID | Apple Intelligence, Action Button, Face ID, LiDAR, Always-On Display, ProMotion |
| Colors Available | Black, White | Black Titanium, White Titanium, Natural Titanium, Desert Titanium |
| Water Resistance | IP68 | IP68 |
| Weight | 167g | 227g |
The price – both too expensive for what they are
Let’s take a look at the least and most you can spend on either phone and what that nets you in terms of storage.
iPhone 16e
- Least expensive: £599/$599 (128GB)
- Most expensive: £899/$899 (512GB)
iPhone 16 Pro Max
- Least expensive: £1,199/$1,199 (256GB)
- Most expensive: £1,599/$1,599 (1TB)
Read my full iPhone 16 Pro Max review!
This is where the comparison is at its most daft. The iPhone 16e is, clearly, for people who want to spend the least amount of money on a new iPhone. The iPhone 16 Pro Max is for people who want the best and biggest iPhone on the market and who need as much storage as they can afford.
There is no winner here, just to be clear – they are both too expensive.
The design – smaller size wins out
The design might be the highlight of the iPhone 16e. It’s one of Apple’s best-looking phones (in black) and is perfectly one-handed.
The iPhone 16 Pro Max might look and feel impressive, but it’s also huge. So huge, in fact, that you’ll quickly get bored of it troubling your trousers (particularly when bending over). It’s one of the main reasons I’m not going back to the big boy iPhone.
There are other notable differences. While they both have the Action button (marginally useful), only the Pro Max has the Camera Control button (utterly useless and massively irritating). The flagship iPhone also has the Dynamic Island, whereas the 16e sports the ludicrously dated notch.
Latest mid-range phone recommendations:– Nothing Phone 3a Pro review– Samsung Galaxy A56 review– Google Pixel 9a review
They’re made from different materials, too. If you like the idea of a titanium iPhone, you need to stump up for the Pro Max (the 16e is made from aluminium).
Despite these differences, they both feel as well-made as you would expect from Apple, and both offer the reassurance that comes from IP68 water resistance. I just prefer the ease of living with the 16e, given its size.
The display – 16e lags behind
The Pro Max has a much bigger display compared to the 16e – 6.9” versus 6.1”, to be exact. This gives it an advantage in terms of screen estate, of course, but it contributes once again to the size of the device and the trouser-troubling nature of it.
If you’re wondering, they both have, mercifully, OLED panels.
The key differences are the presence of a much higher peak brightness and ProMotion (which is Apple’s marketing name for a 120Hz variable refresh rate) on the Pro Max. The latter is the only one I miss on the 16e, because peak brightness is irrelevant unless you’re watching HDR content.
The irony here is that neither of those differences should exist. Virtually every Android-based competitor for the 16e has a much higher peak brightness and a 120Hz variable refresh rate.
Proper budget value: CMF Phone Pro 2 review
I prefer the size of the iPhone 16e display due to the convenience and one-handedness, but the fact that Apple is still using ProMotion as a differentiator for its Pro iPhone lineup is where the problems begin.
The performance and battery – no discernible difference
The iPhone 16 Pro Max is powered by the A18 Pro chip. Lift the bonnet on the iPhone 16e and you’ll find an A18. The main difference is the fact that the latter has two fewer GPU cores.
They both have 8GB of RAM. And, yes, I had to double-check that for the Pro Max.
Great battery: OnePlus 13R review
The comparison here is, thankfully, pretty simple. In everyday use, they feel identical. If you want out-and-out gaming performance, get the Pro Max.
Battery-wise, the Pro Max has seven hours more quoted battery life than the 16e, but in my experience, the latter feels like it has far more stamina. The Pro Max series has never been quite the same when it comes to battery life for me since the heady days of the iPhone 13 Pro Max.
The big boy iPhone does have faster wireless charging, though. It also supports USB 3 data transfer speeds versus the USB 2 speeds on the 16e.
Oh, and both support Apple Intelligence. But who cares?
The camera system – an obvious winner
There is no competition here. The iPhone 16 Pro Max has a far more capable camera system, thanks to the range of optical zoom options and the presence of Pro shooting features.
Apple’s flagship also has an ultrawide lens and a telephoto with a 5x optical zoom. It can shoot macros and night portraits, film 4K video at up to 120fps, and you can shoot everything in RAW (both photos and videos) if you want. The iPhone 16e can’t do any of that.
However, it’s worth noting that they both share an almost identical main camera – the 48mp fusion camera system with optical image stabilisation. The only difference I can spot is that the 16e has, curiously, a slightly larger aperture than the Pro Max, which should theoretically let in more light.
I’ll let you be the judge of my test photos in terms of which one is best, if at all, but there’s no escaping the fact that the iPhone 16e is severely limited in terms of photographic capabilities. It simply gets you by and is, clearly, designed for people who just open the camera app and hit the white button. That’s fair enough, although once again, there are many better options out there in Android Land.
Conclusion – why bother with the Pro Max?
Having thought a lot about this comparison, it’s clear that there are two things I miss from the iPhone 16 Pro Max, having switched to the iPhone 16e:
- ProMotion; and
- a better camera system.
That’s it. And I can get both of those things from the recently launched CMF Phone 2 Pro from Nothing. Which costs £219. Or pretty much any other budget Android phone that has been launched within the last twelve months.
This silly comparison proves that the iPhone is, as I have suspected since reviewing a considerable number of Android phones, so far behind the competition. Apple is still peddling ‘pro’ features which were rendered standard by every other manufacturer long ago.
Things need to change.
