Apple iPhone 16 Plus vs iPhone 13 Pro Max

Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.7-inch Apple iPhone 16 Plus (with Apple A18) that was released on September 9, 2024, against the Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max, which is powered by Apple A15 Bionic and came out 3 years and 1 month before. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.

Select the amount of RAM to evaluate performance and value for money more precisely
Memory

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 16 Plus
  • 69% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1949K versus 1153K)
  • Delivers 74% higher peak brightness (1809 against 1040 nits)
  • Shows 23% longer battery life (34:32 vs 28:08 hours)
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.3)
  • Compatible with Wi-Fi 7 wireless networks
  • Has 33% more RAM: 8GB versus 6GB
  • The phone is 3 years and 1 month newer
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max
  • The rear camera has a 3x optical zoom
  • Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz

Review

Evaluation of Apple iPhone 16 Plus and iPhone 13 Pro Max crucial features
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
Scores with a red asterisk (*) are approximate and may change in the future as we gather more data.
NanoReview Score
Final comparison evaluation
Select your primary usage scenario to get a more accurate NanoReview Score
📱 Primary usage:

Value for money (Beta)

Should I update?
No 50% Yes
Maybe, but mainly if you specifically want better performance.
This is a situational upgrade. It makes the most sense if better performance matters to you.
Main improvements: performance, battery life, and connectivity.
Be aware: the newer phone is weaker in display.

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type OLED OLED
Size 6.7 inches 6.7 inches
Resolution 1290 x 2796 pixels 1284 x 2778 pixels
Aspect ratio 19.5:9 19.5:9
PPI 460 ppi 458 ppi
Refresh rate 60 Hz 120 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate No Yes (10-120 Hz)
Max rated brightness 2000 nits 1000 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR 1600 nits 1200 nits
HDR support Yes, Dolby Vision Yes, Dolby Vision
Screen-to-body ratio 88% 87.7%
Display features - DCI-P3 - DCI-P3
Display tests
RGB color space 99.8% 99.9%
PWM 256 Hz 238 Hz
Response time 4 ms 8.5 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Peak brightness test (auto)
1809 nits
1040 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 160.9 mm (6.33 inches) 160.8 mm (6.33 inches)
Width 77.8 mm (3.06 inches) 78.1 mm (3.07 inches)
Thickness 7.8 mm (0.31 inches) 7.65 mm (0.3 inches)
Weight 199 g (7.02 oz) 240 g (8.47 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP68
Rear material Glass Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors White, Black, Blue, Green, Pink Black, Silver, Gold, Blue, Green
Fingerprint scanner No No
Repairability Average (2.78/5) -
Drop resistance Good (C) · 90 drops -
Screen-to-body ratio

Performance

Chipset specifications of Apple iPhone 16 Plus and Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max
SoC
Chipset Apple A18 Apple A15 Bionic
Max clock 4040 MHz 3230 MHz
CPU cores 6 (2 + 4) 6 (2 + 4)
Architecture - 4 cores at 2.42 GHz: Sawtooth
- 2 cores at 4.05 GHz: Everest
- 4 cores at 2.02 GHz: Blizzard
- 2 cores at 3.23 GHz: Avalanche
Manufacturing TSMC TSMC
Lithography process 3 nanometers 5 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Neural Engine Apple Neural Engine
GPU
Graphics 5 core Apple GPU Apple GPU (5 cores)
GPU shading units 640 640
GPU clock 1490 MHz 1338 MHz
FLOPS ~1907 GFLOPS ~1712.6 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Apple iPhone 16 Plus and Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
Compute Score (GPU) 28158 21357
Single-core score 3256 2427
Multi-core score 8096 6142
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
1949745
CPU 585993 276639
GPU 563695 369897
Memory 218294 116764
UX 581763 390373
Total score 1949745 1153673
Samples [5 tests] [3 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Stability 76% -
Graphics test 12 FPS -
Graphics score 1582 -
3DMark Solar Bay
Stability - 75%
Graphics test 26 FPS 14 FPS
Section 1 31 FPS 19 FPS
Section 2 26 FPS 14 FPS
Section 3 20 FPS 9 FPS
Graphics score 6750 3785
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
Stability - 73%
Graphics test - 17 FPS
Graphics score - 2960
Sources: 3DMark [5], [6]

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Apple iPhone 16 Plus
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-07-18 (Aj)AnTuTu 111949745
📘 2026-04-23 (Ninety6Beast)AnTuTu 111995425
📘 2026-03-03 (Ninety6Beast)AnTuTu 111918031
📘 2026-02-20 (monolog)AnTuTu 112007786
📘 2026-02-14 (Mathachai)AnTuTu 111822701
Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-09-23 -> HotPowerAnTuTu 111184759
📘 2026-09-19 -> HotPowerGeekbench 6 GPU21284
📘 2026-09-19 -> HotPowerGeekbench 6 CPU2423 / 5985
📘 2026-09-12 (Simon)AnTuTu 111146332
📘 2026-08-11 (encore)AnTuTu 111335140

Memory

RAM
RAM size 8 GB 6 GB
Memory type LPDDR5X LPDDR4X
Memory clock - 2133 MHz
Channels 4 2
Storage
Storage size 128 GB 128 GB
Storage type NVMe NVMe
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system iOS 18 (Can be upgraded to iOS 27) iOS 15 (Can be upgraded to iOS 27)
OS size 18 GB 13 GB
OS updates 7 years -
Security updates 7 years -

Battery

Capacity 4674 mAh 4352 mAh
Max charge power 30 W 23 W
Battery type Li-Ion Li-Ion
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (15 W) Yes (7.5 W)
Reverse charging Yes No
Bypass charging No No
Fast charging Yes (55% in 30 min) Yes (42% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:39 hr 1:46 hr
Battery cycles 1000 cycles -
Battery life tests
Web browsing 15:57 hr 11:16 hr
Watching video 21:26 hr 17:03 hr
Gaming 07:34 hr 06:41 hr
Standby 148 hr 136 hr
General battery life
34:32 hr

Main camera

Matrix 48 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 8064 x 6048 4032 x 3024
Zoom Digital Optical, 3x
Flash Dual LED Dual LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K video recording No No
4K video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
1080p video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
Slow motion 240 FPS (1080p) 240 FPS (1080p)
Angle of widest lens 120° 120°
Lenses 1) Standard: 48 MP
2) Ultrawide: 12 MP
1) Standard: 12 MP
2) Telephoto: 12 MP
3) Ultrawide: 12 MP
4) Depth
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
Standard lens
Image resolution 48 MP 12 MP
Aperture f/1.6 f/1.5
Focal length 26 mm 26 mm
Sensor - Sony IMX703
Sensor size 1/1.56" (≈ 0.64 inch) 1/1.66" (≈ 0.6 inch)
Pixel size 1 micron 1.9 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
Stabilization Optical Optical
Telephoto lens
Image resolution - 12 MP
Aperture - f/2.8
Focal length - 77 mm
Sensor - Sony IMX713
Sensor size - 1/3.4" (≈ 0.29 inch)
Pixel size - 1 micron
Stabilization - Optical
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution 12 MP 12 MP
Aperture f/2.2 f/1.8
Focal length 13 mm 13 mm
Sensor - Sony IMX772
Sensor size - 1/3.4" (≈ 0.29 inch)
Pixel size 0.7 micron 1 micron
Stabilization Digital Digital

DxOMark main camera tests

Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
Bokeh - 75
Preview - 81
Zoom - 119
Samples - Photo samples of Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max from DxOMark

Selfie camera

Megapixels 12 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 4032 x 3024 4032 x 3024
Aperture f/1.9 f/2.2
Focal length 23 mm 23 mm
Sensor Sony IMX714 Sony IMX514
Sensor size 1/3.6" (≈ 0.28 inch) 1/3.6" (≈ 0.28 inch)
Pixel size 1.12 micron 1 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS
Depth sensor (TOF 3D) Yes Yes
DxOMark front camera
Photo - 128
Video - 143

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 7 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be) Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax)
Wi-Fi features - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
- Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
Bluetooth version 5.3 5
Bluetooth features LE LE, A2DP
USB type USB Type-C -
USB version 2 2
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
- Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
DisplayPort Yes -
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS
NFC* Yes Yes
Infrared port No No
Network
Number of SIM* - 1
Type of SIM card Nano Nano
eSIM support* Yes Yes
Hybrid slot No No
LTE Cat* - 18
5G support Yes Yes

Sound

Speakers Stereo Stereo
Headphone audio jack No No
FM radio No No
Dolby Atmos Yes Yes
Speakers test
Max loudness

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced September 2024 September 2021
Release date September 2024 September 2021
Launch price (MSRP) $899 $1100
Successor - - Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max
SAR (head) 1.24 W/kg 0.99 W/kg
SAR (body) 1.33 W/kg 0.98 W/kg
Sensors - Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Face recognition sensor
- Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Face recognition sensor
Bundled charger Not included -
Further details
Notes on iPhone 16 Plus:
    - In the USA, the smartphone only supports eSIM, while the international model has 1 physical slot + eSIM. In China, a model with only two physical SIM cards is available.
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.

Conclusion

After analyzing all the data, we think that the Apple iPhone 16 Plus is definitely a better buy.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
79 (51.3%)
75 (48.7%)
Total votes: 154

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