After Five Years of Pro iPhones, I’m Going iPhone 16 Plus This Year

 If you had asked me two weeks ago which model iPhone I'd be acquiring this year, I would have said straight away: my intention was to acquire an iPhone 16 Pro Max and keep the tradition of the last five years. I’ve been using the largest possible iPhone since the XS Max and have bought the ‘Pro Max’ flavor ever since it was introduced with the iPhone 11 Pro Max in 2019. For the past five years, I’ve upgraded to a Pro Max iPhone model every September.

And the fact is, I did purchase an iPhone 16 Pro Max this year as well. But I've come to the conclusion that I'm going to return it and settle on the iPhone 16 Plus instead. Not only do I feel that is the most logical choice for my needs based on this year's iPhone releases, but I think that this "downgrade" is making me truly enjoy my new iPhone so much more.

It all boils down to a basic premise: fun.

Discovering That, Sure, Perhaps I'm Not a Pro Anymore

That idea – that maybe I'd be okay with a standard iPhone rather than a Pro model – initially crossed my mind as I sat glued to Apple's September keynote. With the inclusion of last year's Pro-exclusive Action button and the cross-model addition of the new Camera Control, I hoped perhaps I wouldn't feel "left behind" regarding significant new iOS features. Historically, that's always been the draw of the Pro line: there's something particular to them – whether it's the size, the display tech, or the design language – that gets me to forgo the base model and opt for the pricier Pro one, where "Pro" truly equates to "best". But if the features that mattered most to me were making their way down to non-Pro iPhones as well, would my own definition of "best" have to shift as well?

In addition to tossing around feature availability, I also experienced a vibe-related epiphany during the keynote. More so than in years past, certain aspects of the photography portion were quite geeky and, in my own tastes, tedious. Don't get me wrong. I like that Apple is unlocking great potential for photographers and filmmakers to be able to shoot with an iPhone and have complete control over their workflow. The company needs to push the limits and give people who need it that level of power. But that's the problem: as I watched the audio mix segment and was almost falling asleep, for the first time in years I felt like Apple wasn't marketing to me – and maybe that phone just wasn't for me.

I know, right? It sounds stupid. But if you've been blogging about Apple or have been in the "Apple community" as long as I have, you know there's a sort of unspoken social contract where actual nerds are supposed to be consuming and creating content about the most expensive iPhones each year. I know and speak of this because I've been a victim of this line of thinking myself. There's nearly an understanding that whoever produces content regarding Apple must do it from the top down, buying the most expensive version of whatever it is the company produces. But if you consider it for a moment, this is a short-sighted strategy: the majority of folks simply can't afford the highest-priced Apple items and, in fact, most of our tales risk sounding too aspirational (or worse, alienating) to them instead of realistic.

This meta note on buying Apple devices experiences and the parasocial stress of blogging about them is required context since, despite the way I felt during the keynote, I went and ordered an iPhone 16 Pro Max anyway. Even though I wasn't interested in any of that fancy camera technology in the Pro models, even though Action button and Camera Control came to the base models, and even though Brendon's tale on this same subject spoke to me, I still thought, "Well, of course I'm going to be getting an iPhone 16 Pro Max. I can't be one of those kinds of people who 'downgrades' to a standard iPhone 16, right?

And thus preorder I did, so absolutely certain that I needed to use a pricier (and less visually interesting) iPhone due to the always-on screen, ProMotion, telephoto camera, and longer battery life. When the 16 Pro Max dropped, I immediately knew something was amiss with it this year. I'm not complaining that it wasn't a good upgrade from my iPhone 15 Pro Max; the upgraded ultra-wide camera was wonderful, battery life was wonderful, and thinner bezels were a nice touch. What I'm complaining about is that, more than any other year, I found myself thinking that it was almost "too much iPhone" for me, and that its updates were merely making minor improvements upon my last generation experience.

Meanwhile, I was surrendering the playful glances, artistic limitations, and greater mobility of an iPhone 16 Plus in order to uphold my side of an implicit agreement with my readers – or perhaps simply myself. The longer I spent with the iPhone 16 Pro Max, the more that it began to cross that boundary of heft and screen size that I had not anticipated. I’ve always been a strong proponent of large iPhones, but for the first time, the 16 Pro Max felt too big and heavy.

This notion was cemented when Apple finally dispatched a review unit of the iPhone 16 Plus to me: there I was, holding an iPhone just a fraction smaller than the Pro Max (though still large enough), yet 30 grams lighter, and, more significantly, boasting a beautiful ultramarine color that made me smile every time I picked it up. I tested the iPhone 16 Plus for several days using my iPhone 16 Pro Max. In the test, I came to understand that my initial impression was correct and I should have believed my initial instincts. The iPhone 16 Plus offered everything I was looking for in a new iPhone (big screen, decent battery, Action button, Camera Control, A18 performance) in a more affordable package that sacrificed high-end camera capabilities for added portability and, yes, sheer looks.

And just as I agreed a few months ago that I'm not so much an AirPods Pro type but really like the base model AirPods, so I've opted to go back on my purchase of my iPhone 16 Pro Max and purchase an iPhone 16 Plus instead. One week on, I've not once missed the larger, heavier iPhone 16 Pro Max. Indeed, working with the iPhone 16 Plus and challenging myself to become creative within its photographic limitations has revived in me an enthusiasm for the iPhone range that I hadn't experienced for years.