We're approaching the iPhone 17 launch, and with less than a month to go, MacRumors videographer Dan Barbera decided to take a look back at his year with the iPhone 16 Pro Max.
The iPhone 16 Pro Max has held up well over the last 11 months, with no major problems with the durability or battery life. Battery health has held up well, and Dan's battery is still at 96 percent capacity.
Even with software optimizations over the last several months, the iPhone 16 Pro Max still runs hot at times. You're most likely to feel it heating up when the display is at max brightness in the sun, or when you're doing something that's demanding like playing a GPU-heavy game. Rumors suggest the iPhone 17 Pro will have a new vapor chamber cooling system, so we might see some improvement with next year's model.
There are minor scratches on the titanium frame of the device, but it otherwise looks good for a year of use. Dan doesn't use a case and shattered the back glass with a drop, but he had a no questions asked repair with AppleCare+. The iPhone 17 Pro Max will have an aluminum frame with less glass on the back, so it could be more durable. The front glass of the iPhone has deep scratches, but there's also a rumor that the iPhone 17 models will get a better scratch resistant coating that could improve things.
Camera Control isn't particularly useful except for opening up the Camera app, and it's downright annoying when a setting accidentally gets changed from a mistaken swipe. Performance with the A18 Pro chip has been impressive, and the next iPhone will be even faster.
If you have an iPhone 16 Pro Max, there's probably no reason to upgrade to an iPhone 17 Pro Max based on the rumors we've heard so far, but coming from an older iPhone, it'll be worth it. How has your iPhone 16 held up over the last year? Let us know in the comments below.
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