We’re months away from the iPhone 16 launch event, but we’re starting to get a clearer picture of what Apple is working on. The latest leak covers the specs of the iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max, teasing a few major upgrades. If it’s real, it has just alleviated my main concern about the next-gen iPhone Pro models: They won’t be significantly larger than their predecessors.
Size will matter little to me this year, however. I’m already eying the iPhone 16 Plus as my next iPhone. If the iPhone 16 Pro or iPhone 16 Pro Max offer impressive enough “exclusive AI features,” then I might go for one of the new Pro models instead.
An iPhone 16 Pro Max leak said a few days ago that the largest model will also have the best battery life of the four 2024 iPhones. I found the iPhone 16 Plus battery claims strange. The leaker said the upcoming Plus would feature a smaller battery than its predecessor.
A Korean leaker who goes by the name yeux1122 on Naver is a constant source of iPhone leaks. They posted similar claims about the iPhone 16 Pro Max battery life around the same time. Then, over the weekend, they listed the purported specs and key features for both the iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max, citing current rumors about the new handsets.
The leaker says the iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max will feature 6.3-inch and 6.9-inch OLED panels, respectively. We saw the same sizes in previous leaks. Initially, these iPhone size rumors made me worry about the actual size increases for the upcoming Pro models. That was before I considered going with a Plus or Pro Max for my next iPhone purchase.
Now, the leaker says that the size differences will be imperceptible. The iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max should be about as big as their predecessors. The slim bezels, which will be about as big as the Galaxy S24 bezels, should help with that.
The iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max will also feature the new Capture button, a 48-megapixel ultrawide angle camera, and the A18 Pro chip. The iPhone 16 Pro will get a 5x telephoto lens. That’s presumably the iPhone 15 Pro Max’s tetraprism zoom lens and the reason why Apple is increasing the sizes of the two Pros.
The iPhone 16 Pro Max should feature a “Super Periscope Camera,” according to a machine translation of the leak. It’s unclear what that means, however.
The leaker also notes the iPhone 16 Pro Max will get a bigger battery, which matches other leaks. Yeux1122 claims that the larger Pro will feature improved energy efficiency and the best battery life ever on an iPhone.
I speculated last week that one reason to slightly downgrade the iPhone 16 Plus battery concerns the Pro Max. Apple would probably want its largest and most expensive iPhone to offer the best possible battery life.
The leaker also mentions features like exclusive on-device AI capabilities without saying what these might be or whether they’re exclusive to the iPhone 16 Pro Max. I think Apple is more likely to pack exclusive AI features into both iPhone 16 Pro models than just the Max unless those AI features are related to a unique zoom camera for the Pro Max.
Finally, the leaker says the iPhone 16 Pro models will feature 8GB of RAM, up to 2TB of storage, and an improved titanium frame manufacturing process. Also, they say naming changes are possible, which will undoubtedly bring up iPhone Ultra memories. According to older rumors, Apple might use that name for the iPhone Pro Max at some point in the future.
None of this can be confirmed at this time. But we’ll probably see other leakers corroborate the accurate parts of this report in the coming months.
