iPhone 16 Pro CAMERA is WORSE than iPhone 15 Pro! PROOF!

Tony Northrup tests the new Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max cameras against the iPhone 15 Pro Max to see if it’s worth it for you to upgrade. The answer is: Maybe!

The new iPhone 16 Pro Max offers 4k @ 120 FPS video, and the image quality test shows that it is better than the iPhone 15 Pro Max HD @ 120 FPS video. It’s more detailed and less over-sharpened.

With the main “24mm” lens, there’s not really any difference at all.

The iPhone 16 Pro offers 48 megapixels with the ultra-wide angle “13mm” lens, but ONLY if you press the RAW MAX button. In those situations, it produces significantly more detailed and less over-sharpened images. HOWEVER, if you don’t use the RAW MAX button, there is no image quality improvement. AND, if you shoot in low light, regardless of whether you use raw, the iPhone 16 Pro Max is actually WAY WORSE than the iPhone 15 Pro Max!

0:00 Introduction
0:24 Squarespace Promo
1:10 Camera Control Button
2:36 iPhone 16 Pro 4K 120 FPS slow-motion video
3:18 Main camera image quality test
3:49 Ultra-wide angle camera image quality test
6:59 Macro camera test
7:31 Summary
8:05 Squarespace Promo

[holsteincowboy]

Changed my mind on buying the pro max 16 - have now ordered the Sony A7R 5 with a GM lens - Very confident the images will be better than the new iphone

[holsteincowboy]

Breaking news - Tim Apple has removed Tony from his Christmas card list

[johnhann]

@Tony, I wonder if you used the camera "control" button at 6:18 to take your wide angle image at low light? MaxTech noted worse images when photos are taken using "camera control" due to the vibration from the button push introducing motion blur. While the iPhone's computational photography collects many images, it might explain why your image is worse at low light and isn't impacted in the light of day.

[truthseeker]

people shouldn't be 'upgrading' yearly. only those on iphone 13 and below. get a real camera that would be equal to iphone 30.

[MetalDEmpire]

im going from the iphone 7, so i think its better than that at least, right?

[aljawad]

As a veteran fan of Apple for 45-years, I’m proud to declare that the iPhone 16/16Pro are the first iPhones that I’ve skipped and have no intention of purchasing!

[APOLLOSTEES]

I'm not so interested in comparing last year's model to this year's. A year over year upgrade is pretty excessive, and expensive. I'm more interested in the comparison to the 14, 13, or even 12. Those are the devices getting close to upgrade time.

[JasoDOS]

Do you have something like this comparing the Pixel 8 to the Pixel 9? Love the video!

[jacy]

Still can’t believe they gave us 4k 120 and raw max photos and they DIDN’T give us more memory. I don’t like the cloud. I use 300gb in a single video shoot with the iPhone as a C cam. Super lame. I’ll be waiting not a memory upgrade.
My 13pro is still doing fine and I use my R5 for real photography anyways.

[daidnz]

I just think most of these top tier phones are too expensive now. You could buy a whole desktop PC system for the price.

[bruceinmyheart]

The main camera on the 16 Pro Max uses the Sony Exmor IMX 803, I think. It’s the same as in the 15 Pro Max — and the 14 Pro Max. Apple simply added a new coating on the plastic lens, and renamed it «FUSION» camera 😂

[ThePensmith]

The camera button on the iPhone 16 pros and pro max made me laugh when all I have to do on my 15 pro max is to swipe from the right to get to the camera 😂😂 and people fall for this shit 🤦🏾‍♂️

[dronephotogeek]

I chance they can fix that with an update

[Anonyme]

Same thing happened from 12 pro to 13. The 13 today on reddit people are still complaining about blurry pictures

[jerrynieves]

I’ve been waiting for someone to make a video like this. F-Stoppers said the same thing and MKBHD showed that in Low light the ultra has a huge vignette too. WOW. I’m definitely returning my 16 pro and getting the 15 pro max or pro cause this sucks.

[lyfandeth]

Could be they rushed to market and the problems in the 16 are the result of unpolished software. In which a software upgrade in six months might change things. Or not.
Keep pixel peeping, Tony. It is good to see someone digging up facts.

[ChrisThe]

It‘s a downgrade. I mostly use the 3x camera - that‘s gone

[romanmenyhart]

It’s good for this to be out in the open, thanks for making the video. We can’t have it all, and iPhone needs to continue to sell, 5x optical is more than 3x and Apple must know that most buyers, this year, will want a bigger zoom despite the worse quality in the prime focal range. Alas.

[Kevr]

Thank you! I'm waiting for the s25 Ultra now.

[cedeunmail]

So you compare the 48mp raw on 16pro with the 12mp of the 15pro and tell us that the 48raw looks better? Aha. Thank for the information. How about 48mp on 15pro vs 48mp on 16pro? There is absolutely no difference.