Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max Review: New Model Reflects Slowing Pace of Innovation

The new iPhone has tantalizing camera improvements, but the device is emblematic of Apple’s slower pace of hardware innovation. Also: The company is preparing a slew of updates to iOS 18 through next year; one dazzling new Apple Watch configuration remains elusive; and the latest beta version of iOS 18.1 arrives.

Last week in Power On: Apple’s new hearing aid and health upgrades saved iPhone 16 launch.

When Apple Inc. introduced the original iPhone in 2007, the wireless carrier industry was aggressively pursuing a bold strategy: pushing consumers to upgrade to a new device every two years — at a steep discount.

Apple, looking to break into the phone world, went all-in on that idea. By the time the second-generation iPhone went on sale in 2008, the device cost just $199 for most people — subsidized by wireless carriers. That model, the 3G, helped set the pattern for Apple’s iPhone strategy for the next several years.

In 2009, Apple introduced the iPhone 3GS. That was Apple’s first new iPhone without a design change. The device was even introduced with a commercial that had a person declare, “I think it’s the same” — though it did have new features like a faster processor and video recording.

The following year, Apple did a more dramatic overhaul. The iPhone 4 had a new design, FaceTime, the first Retina display and high-definition video recording. A year later, Apple retained the same design — calling the model the 4S — but added 1080P video recording, a dual-core processor and, of course, the Siri digital assistant.

By this point, Apple’s biennial redesign schedule was well-established. The company would revamp the phone every other year, just in time for consumers to do their regular upgrades. The approach lasted until the mid-2010s.

Over the 17-history of the iPhone, I count six genuinely new hardware redesigns:

By the launch of the iPhone X in 2017, Apple had moved to a three-year redesign cycle. Back then, that extra year of development made sense. The iPhone X was a gigantic upgrade, with its ground-up redesign, Face ID and other new software.

From there, it took Apple another three years to bring out its next big overhaul: the iPhone 12. This was the first iPhone to connect to 5G networks, and the launch took place at the height of the pandemic. The company also had new screen sizes, manufacturing techniques and four distinct models for the first time.

But after that, the redesign lag got even lengthier. Apple now appears to be working on a half-decade-long cycle. For better or for worse, the iPhone 16 has a nearly identical look and feel as the iPhone 12. Apple has added a lot other features between 2020 and 2024, but it’s undeniable that the days of frequent hardware changes are over.

Has this hurt Apple’s sales? It’s hard to tell. The company did suffer a revenue decline last year — partly due to slower iPhone sales — though much of the smartphone industry was mired in a slump.

A reliable group of customers still upgrade every year or two because of the iPhone Upgrade Program, trade-in offers or carrier installment programs (even if the incentives aren’t as generous as they once were). Millions of additional upgrades come from people like me, who will get a new model each year because they simply love Apple devices. And it does look like the iPhone 16 may well be a hit product, based on the early buzz on launch day.

But for a company looking to prove that it still has design chops — now that most of Jony Ive’s vaunted team has left the building — the lack of major overhauls in recent years is notable.

Ive left Apple in 2019, but remained a consultant for a few years afterward. So it’s very likely that we haven’t yet seen a major new Apple product that he wasn’t involved with — at least to some extent.

Still, the iPhone 16 has some changes that users will probably love. I picked up a Pro Max model on Friday and have been putting it through its paces this weekend.

Here are my first impressions:

There are other camera improvements, such as the expanded Photographic Styles options and the new ultrawide camera lens. Still, it doesn’t feel like a radically different experience.

To that end, it’s no accident that the company is touting Apple Intelligence as the main reason to buy a new iPhone — despite the fact that the AI platform is unfinished and will ultimately work on last year’s Pro models.

This is where Apple is being a little disingenuous with its marketing. The company claims the iPhone 16 is the first model “built from the ground up for Apple Intelligence.” The reality is that the processor and other hardware in the new iPhones isn’t meaningfully better for AI. The key factor is having 8 gigabytes of memory, the minimum required to run Apple Intelligence.

If Apple felt that the hardware changes were enough of a selling point, it would have focused its marketing pitch around those features. Instead, it has zeroed in on Apple Intelligence in spite of the drawbacks. Most consumers won’t have access to the software for weeks — with some features not coming until next year — and it’s still nowhere near as capable as rival AI systems.

Even if all of Apple Intelligence was available today — including the emoji generator called Genmoji, Image Playground and the new Siri — there’s little here that makes these iPhones a must-buy.

In general, it’s rare for Apple to rely on software to market a new iPhone. But it has happened before.

The last time was also related to AI: It was when the company launched Siri in the iPhone 4S. But that was a very different situation. The design of the iPhone 4S was still fairly new, having only been introduced a year prior. And in 2011, the Siri voice interface felt like a sci-fi vision. This time around, the AI features feel like they’re two years behind the competition.

Besides buying a new iPhone, I also picked up an Apple Watch Ultra 2 in black. I am coming from last year’s Ultra 2 in silver, and while there are zero changes other than the color, I’m a huge fan of the device and have been clamoring for one in black. It’s absolutely not worthwhile for 99.9% of people to get this “upgrade,” but the over $300 in trade-in credit for my old one made it a bit easier for me.

Though the Series 10 model is this year’s big Apple smartwatch upgrade, I prefer the Ultra for several reasons:

Here’s hoping that the Ultra 3 next year gets a meaningfully faster chip and begins to shed some thickness. But I have no intention of shifting to a non-Ultra watch given all of the current benefits.

A slew of updates to iOS 18 and Apple Intelligence are in the works. The iOS 18.1 software update, which will support Apple Intelligence, is on the cusp of launching. The company aims to reach a point of having no critical bugs in the operating system by the beginning of this week (the first public beta version was released last Thursday). The time between that status and a final release is usually two to three weeks, so we should be looking for the software upgrade by the middle of October.

Apple has released four beta tests of iOS 18.1 thus far. The latest version has two major changes: a redesign to the connectivity section in Control Center, as well as query suggestions in the Type to Siri interface. The connectivity panel is where you will find your Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and other related controls. It has now been simplified and is far less confusing to navigate than the version in iOS 18.0. Type to Siri will now suggest queries based on what you’ve typed, so that’s also handy.

But despite iOS 18.1 probably shipping to consumers in a few weeks, it still has some bugs, including a pair of fairly annoying ones. The problems include the inability to remove Control Center buttons for hearing functions permanently. If you remove them, they’ll return on the next reboot and get placed in a location that messes up your carefully crafted layout. The other bug has to do with the lock screen and Control Center buttons for shortcuts. These buttons — at least just for now, I hope — use a default shortcuts icon rather than the one you set within the Shortcuts app.

Looking further ahead, Apple is already racing to complete a major iOS 18.2 upgrade, which will include features like Genmoji, ChatGPT integration and the Image Playground app. The company is looking to get that release down to zero-bug status in early November so it can ship it by December. Other features in the works include notification prioritization on the lock screen and the new email app interface.

After that, Apple wants to get iOS 18.3 complete by the end of the year, setting the stage for a January release. The biggest iOS 18 update after iOS 18.1 will be iOS 18.4, which will include many of the new Siri features (some are in consideration for iOS 18.3, I’m told). That’s not scheduled to be released until March, following its completion in early February.

This staggered rollout of Apple Intelligence could test the patience of customers. Though it’s not uncommon for Apple to postpose the release of new features, the scale of the delays this year is unprecedented. And the company has only made things worse by turning these still-unavailable features into the main selling point for new iPhones.

The elusive gold Apple Watch with a link bracelet. One of the most impressive-looking new Apple Watches is the Series 10 model in gold titanium with the gold link bracelet. This style had been sought by Apple fans for a decade — ever since the company gave all-gold versions of the watch with link bracelets to celebrities like Drake, Pharrell and Katy Perry to promote the original product in 2015.

Now it’s finally here, sort of. Apple announced a titanium and steel combo of this design at its event earlier this month, but it remains elusive. By my count, it’s the only new Apple Watch configuration that is completely unavailable to order from the company’s online store. You aren’t able to buy the complete set, nor are you able to order the gold link bracelet on its own.

If you’re looking for this particular look, I’d recommend buying the gold version with whatever band you can find and then later ordering the link bracelet on its own. There’s no word on when it will become available, but I’d guess the end of November or December at the earliest.

(Answers to the below are shown in the subscriber-only version of this newsletter.)Q: Why do you think Chase will replace Goldman Sachs as the bank behind the Apple Card?Q: What’s your favorite feature of iOS 18?Q: Why was the AirPods Max update so minimal?

Email me, ask on the Power On Discord, or you can always send me a tweet or DM @markgurman.

I’m on Signal at markgurman.01; Telegram at GurmanMark; or ProtonMail at [email protected].

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