iPhone 16 Pro (Max) vs iPhone 15 Pro Max Camera Test: Shocking Results!

Are the new cameras of the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro 
Max worth an upgrade? I have an iPhone 15 Pro Max   and an iPhone 16 Pro here. The 16 Pro has exactly 
the same cameras as the 16 Pro Max. To judge the   quality of the cameras, there are 10 categories. 
If the upgrade and the new features are really   relevant, there is one point for the 16 Pro. 
If the iPhone 16 Pro gets more than 5 points,   you can say that the camera could 
be a valid reason for an upgrade. Let's start with perhaps the most important 
category in this comparison. The colours,   exposure and contrast make up a large part of 
the subjective image quality. And even if it   doesn't seem so at first glance, a lot could have 
changed here.

If only because the main lens and   the ultra-wide lens should have received a new 
sensor. If you take a close look at these shots,   you'll notice that the shots from the 16 
pro now look visibly warmer. By the way,   I'm focussing on video recordings and video 
quality today. But the differences in photo   quality are very similar, and I'll cover the most 
important new photo features in the last category,   which is about the special camera features.
You can see the difference in the colours   relatively well here in these comparison shots. 
Most of the shots so far have been taken with the   ultra wide lens. And that is decisive. Because 
what's interesting is that the difference in   colour is not so noticeable when using the wide 
main lens. Hardly any relevant differences can be   recognised in shots taken with the main lens. 
Neither in the colours nor in the exposure or   contrast. This also applies to the telephoto 
lens. And that is not surprising. After all,   the ultra-wide lens has made the biggest leap and 
has received a completely new 48 megapixel sensor.   The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max have a 12 megapixel 
sensor for the ultra-wide lens.

Apart from the   aforementioned differences in the colours of the 
ultra-wide lens, there are hardly any relevant   differences in the look. Since the improvements, 
even if they are rather subjective, only affect   the ultra-wide lens, this is only half a point 
in favour of the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max. The lenses of the iPhone 16 pro Max have exactly 
the same focal length as the lenses of the 15   pro Max. On the other hand, the iPhone 16 pro now 
has the same 5X telephoto lens as the 16 Pro Max,   while the 15 Pro still had a 3x telephoto lens. 
You should bear in mind that a difference in   focal length not only means more reach, but 
also results in a completely different look.   Here you can see a comparison between the old 
3X telephoto lens and a 5X telephoto lens and   get an impression of the effects of the new 
telephoto lens on the iPhone 16 Pro.

By the way,   the shots in 3X were taken with the iPhone 14 
Pro. A longer focal length does not only have   advantages. It leads to poorer stabilisation 
and, for example, shots of groups of people   have become more difficult with the 5X, as 
you must now move much further away to get   everyone in the picture. Nevertheless, I would 
say that the new telephoto lens is an advantage,   at least for the iPhone 16 Pro. So it depends on 
which iPhone you're coming from. If you're coming   from the 15 Pro and not the Pro Max, the upgrade 
may be relevant. I give the 16 Pro half a point.

And although the wide main lens has also received 
a new sensor, it has exactly the same number of   megapixels as the sensor of the iPhone 15, pro 
and pro Max. Even when zoomed in, i in this case   to 500% or when using the additional 2X digital 
lens, there is no difference in detail between   the iPhone 16 pro and the iPhone 15 pro Max. This 
also applies if you zoom in digitally up to 4X.   I would expect the new high-resolution sensor of 
the ultra-wide lens to produce significantly more   detail than the old sensor. Here you can see two 
shots of the ultra-wide lens at a magnification of   500% and you can actually see a difference. But it 
is much smaller than expected. If we now zoom in   digitally on the ultra-wide lens, we might expect 
that with the help of an internal adjustment there   would be a significant improvement compared 
to the old sensor.

But this is not the case   either. Although you can see a difference 
here in the trees with a digital zoom of 0.9,   this difference is also much smaller than I 
had expected. And that's a bit disappointing,   because we shouldn't forget that when we 
use the macro mode, for example, the iPhone   automatically zooms in digitally on the ultra-wide 
lens. And unfortunately, the quality will only   improve slightly in this case. But the hope 
remains that the new ultra-wide sensor will   bring more advantages in low light conditions. 
There are also no relevant differences in the   details with the telephoto lens.

Half a point for 
the slight improvements of the ultra-wide lens. I can't see any improvements at all when it comes 
to dynamic range. And that's not surprising,   because the iPhone 15 Pro already has a fantastic 
dynamic range that leaves little to be desired.   Dynamic range is about how well the details in 
very bright and very dark areas of the image   are preserved and protected. Highlights are 
very well protected, both in the shots of the   16 pro here with the wide main lens and in the 
shots of the 15 pro Max. In this comparison with   the new ultra-wide lens, the 16 pro actually 
performs slightly worse than the 15 pro Max,   which reacts better and faster to changes in 
the light. No points for the dynamic range. On the other hand, there is a long overdue 
improvement when it comes to slow-motion shots.   The iPhone 16 pro and pro.

Max are now finally 
able to shoot in 4K at up to 120 frames per   second. And in my opinion, this is one of the 
most important, if not the most important new   camera feature of the iPhone 16 pro and Pro 
Max. Until now, you had to switch to slow   motion mode to take slow-motion shots, whereby 
the resolution was reduced to 1080. In 1080,   frame rates of 120 or 240 frames per second 
are available on the iPhone 15 pro and 15 pro   Max. This has not changed on the 16 pro either. 
However, you can now set a frame rate of up to 120   frames per second in 4K in normal video mode. This 
means you can slow down the shot in post to up to   20 % in high 4K quality. And it's not just about 
slowing down action shots or fast movements. Slow   motion shots in high quality can also be helpful 
for cinematic B-roll shots, for example.

I have   already shown what I mean by this in my short 
video on the new slow motion mode. Take a quick   look at it after this video if you're interested 
in what you can do with 120 frames per second.  I think you've already noticed: this is a clear 
point in favour of the iPhone 16 pro and pro Max. Newer sensors are usually supposed to 
bring improvements in low light conditions,   especially with small cameras. that's simply the 
biggest challenge when you're making a camera as   small as a smartphone camera. A small sensor can 
only capture very little light and therefore often   produces image noise in low light conditions. 
We must also consider the different lenses and   cameras of the two iPhones separately in low 
light. This is because they have different   apertures. And even in this context, there 
is no difference when using the telephoto   lens. You can see that the camera with the 
telephoto lens has not changed since last year,   at least if you consider the Pro Max. If we now 
take a look at shots with the important main lens,   unfortunately only extremely small differences 
can be seen here too.

The main lens takes the   best shots overall in low light conditions. 
And I have the impression that the new main   camera produces slightly more detailed shots in 
low light. You can see this especially in this   vlogging shot. There is now a little more detail 
in the face. Apart from that, the shots from the   16 pro are sometimes slightly brighter and there 
are also slight changes in the colours. But the   differences are very small and only noticeable 
in direct comparison. One simply realises that   a limit has been reached here, at least for the 
hardware. But I was very interested to see what   improvements the new sensor brings when using the 
ultra-wide lens in low light.

And the answer is:   none at all. I can't see any improvement at 
all in the shots taken with the iPhone 16 Pro   compared to the 15 Pro Max. Neither when it comes 
to image noise, nor when it comes to details,   does the new ultra-wide lens of the iPhone 16 pro 
perform better. And I find that a bit shocking,   because we have seen that at least in video 
mode, the higher resolution of the sensor   hardly brings any advantages in terms of detail. 
And since it is probably a Quad Bayer sensor,   one might have expected that there would 
be improvements in low light after all.   But anyone expecting this will definitely be 
disappointed.

No points in the Low Light category. Audio quality is often neglected by many users. 
However, the fact is that good audio quality is   an extremely important part of a good video. 
And there is indeed an important innovation   in this category. The iPhone 16 Pro now has 4 
new apparently professional microphones and a   few very interesting new audio features. In the 
standard settings, however, I can hardly hear any   difference despite the new microphones. But: The 
iPhone 16 Pro supports spatial audio. And this has   2 important new features: with the right playback 
device, for example with Airpods or the Apple TV,   your recordings get a spatial sound during 
playback and sound more realistic and   immersive – but not only that – you can 
significantly improve the audio quality,   especially of the voice in post using Audio Mix 
– you can set different profiles in AUdio Mix   that change the audio quality of your shot. 
Studio, which reproduces the quality of a   professional recording studio, is really cool.

As 
I place a lot of value on audio quality myself,   this feature blew me away. Especially for 
Audio Mix there is a clear point from me. The shots I showed at the beginning were taken 
in Cinematic mode – and it's getting better   and better. While shots in Cinematic mode 
two years ago were more of a gimmick and,   unlike Portrait mode, were hardly usable, they 
look much better today. But this also applies   to the iPhone 15 Pro Max. The shots look 
great here too. You must now look closely   to see the imperfections on the edges and in 
the hair. But since this is not an improvement   over the iPhone 15 Pro, this is not a 
point in favour of the iPhone 16 Pro.  And the same goes for image stabilisation. 
It could not be improved with any of the   lenses.

The shots look identical in terms 
of stability – this applies to all three   lenses – and even the action mode still leads 
to a sharp reduction in resolution and poorer   image quality and could not be improved 
in any way. No points for stabilisation. 10 Camera Control – Photographic 
Styles – 48 MP Photos.  The iPhone 16 Pro also has 3 new important 
camera features that we have not yet   covered today and which are very interesting.
One of these is, of course, the much-discussed   Camera Control button. This allows you to do more 
than just launch the camera app. If you press the   button only lightly, you can also use it like a 
control wheel for zooming, for example, before   taking a shot by pressing it firmly. A light 
double press opens the camera menu at the top.  And the Photographic Styles feature has been 
completely redesigned just for the iPhone 16.   There are new styles, you can customise them more 
precisely to your liking, create your own personal   style and, most importantly, you can change 
the style even after taking the shot, which   was previously not possible.

By the way, this 
feature only applies to photos and not videos.  Well, the high resolution of the sensor 
of the new ultra-wide lens actually has   an advantage – because you can now take 
high-resolution 48 megapixel photos and,   in contrast to the video recordings, these 
now have significantly more detail than   the 12 megapixel photos of the old ultra-wide 
lens – and that is a significant improvement. 1 point for the new features and 
that makes a total of 4.5 points.   so would I recommend upgrading from the 15 Pro 
or Pro Max – absolutely not. But the iPhone is   still a fantastic device for video and for 
taking photos and it just got a little bit   better.

There will be detailed tutorials on 
the video and photo features of the iPhone   16 – so stay tuned – in the meantime take a 
look at my video on the new slow motion mode,   give me a like if you found the video 
interesting and see you next time..

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