The results are in: the iPhone 16 Pro Max is Apple’s battery champ
If you want the best iPhone with the best battery life, the iPhone Pro Max models are usually your best bet. Apple stuffs its most capacious batteries into these devices, and this year is no different – and a recent test has shown exactly the kind of longevity you can expect.
The benchmarking was done by Tom’s Guide, which put the entire iPhone 16 range through its paces. The process involved surfing the web using 5G connectivity and with the display brightness set to 150 nits, and by the end the iPhone 16 Pro Max was the clear winner.
It managed 18 hours and six minutes of browsing, compared to 14 hours and seven minutes for the iPhone 16 Pro, 16 hours and 29 minutes for the iPhone 16 Plus, and 12 hours and 43 minutes for the iPhone 16.
That put the iPhone 16 Pro Max comfortably ahead of Apple’s other iPhone 16 products. In fact, it’s the highest score of any iPhone that Tom’s Guide has ever tested.

It also romped ahead of almost all the non-Apple competition. Tom’s Guide says that if you’re of the Android persuasion, only the Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro, the OnePlus 12R or the Asus ROG Phone 7 Ultimate offer longer battery life. In Tom’s Guide’s testing, these phones hit 18 hours and 48 minutes, 18 hours and 42 minutes, and 18 hours and 32 minutes, respectively.
As for Apple’s main high-end phone competition, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra fell well short of the iPhone 16 Pro Max, clocking 16 hours and 45 minutes of battery life, despite having a larger 5,000mAh cell (compared to the iPhone 16 Pro Max’s 4,685mAh).
Compared to the iPhone 15 range, this year’s iPhones have increased their battery life considerably. For instance, in Tom’s Guide’s testing, the iPhone 15 Pro Max managed 14 hours and two minutes, falling over four hours short of the iPhone 16 Pro Max.
Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more.
While Tom’s Guide used real-world benchmarking, there’s no guarantee that you’ll see similar numbers from your own iPhone, as these things can vary from user to user and device to device. But it’s certainly encouraging to see how much juice Apple has managed to cram into the iPhone 16 range. If battery life matters to you, you’ll likely be very happy with Apple’s latest efforts.
If you want the best iPhone with the best battery life, the iPhone Pro Max models are usually your best bet. Apple stuffs its most capacious batteries into these devices, and this year is no different – and a recent test has shown exactly the kind of longevity you can…
Recent Posts
- Dave Eggers told OpenAI staff that ChatGPT was ‘silencing an entire generation’
- France doubles down on restricting access to Polymarket
- Apple has banned home service content on upcoming Maps ads
- Google might not kneecap the Pixel 11a with an old processor
- How to watch France vs England: Free Streams, TV Channels & Kick-Off time for FIFA World Cup 2026 third place play-off
Archives
- July 2026
- June 2026
- May 2026
- April 2026
- March 2026
- February 2026
- January 2026
- December 2025
- November 2025
- October 2025
- September 2025
- August 2025
- July 2025
- June 2025
- May 2025
- April 2025
- March 2025
- February 2025
- January 2025
- December 2024
- November 2024
- October 2024
- September 2024
- August 2024
- July 2024
- June 2024
- May 2024
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023