iPhone Pro Max · four generations
Only two things changed every year.
Between the iPhone 15 Pro Max and the 18 Pro Max, only the chip and the battery improved in every generation. The ultra wide caught up at the 16, the telephoto and the front camera at the 17, and the 18 kept those sensors but gave the main camera a variable aperture, the first of the four to have one.
What changed, generation by generation
Chip, memory, cameras and battery, side by side.
iPhone 15 Pro Max
iPhone 16 Pro Max
iPhone 17 Pro Max
iPhone 18 Pro Max
Chip
A17 Pro
A18 Pro
A19 Pro
A20 Pro
Memory
8 GB
8 GB
12 GB
12 GB
Main camera
48MP
48MP
48MP
48MP
Ultra Wide
12MP
48MP
48MP
48MP
Telephoto
12MP
12MP
48MP
48MP
Front camera
12MP
12MP
18MP
18MP
Optical zoom in
5x10x range
5x10x range
8x16x range
8x16x range
Main aperture
ƒ/1.78
ƒ/1.78
ƒ/1.78
ƒ/1.48–ƒ/4.0variable
Video playback
29h
33h
39hUnited States, Japan37hChina, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Australia, United Kingdom, Germany
45hUnited States, Japan43hChina, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Australia, United Kingdom, Germany
Where this comes from
Specifications
support.apple.com/<locale>/<article> and apple.com/<market>/iphone/compare/Memory
www.ifixit.com/Guide/iPhone+16+Pro+Chip+ID/177358Memory
www.macrumors.com/2023/09/12/iphone-15-pro-models-have-8gb-ram/Memory
www.macrumors.com/2025/09/09/iphone-17-pro-iphone-air-ram-amounts/Memory
www.macrumors.com/2026/09/09/iphone-18-pro-and-pro-max-ram/Last updated 2026-09-13