Apple iPhone Air vs iPhone 16 Pro Max
83
out of 100
VS
88
out of 100
Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.5-inch Apple iPhone Air (with Apple A19 Pro) that was released on September 9, 2025, against the Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max, which is powered by Apple A18 Pro and came out 1 year and 1 month before. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.
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Key differences
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone Air
- 47% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (2568K versus 1750K)
- Has 50% more RAM: 12GB versus 8GB
- Newer Bluetooth version (v6.0)
- The phone is 1 year and 1 month newer
- Weighs 62 grams less
- 15% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 4044 and 3507 points
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max
- The rear camera has a 5x optical zoom
- Comes with 1536 mAh larger battery capacity: 4685 vs 3149 mAh
- Shows 57% longer battery life (35:01 vs 22:15 hours)
- Delivers 80% higher peak brightness (1790 against 993 nits)
- Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
- Has a 0.4 inch larger screen size
- Stereo speakers
Review
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
Select your primary usage scenario to get a more accurate DeviceFacts Score
Value for money (Beta)
Tests and specifications
Comparison table of technical specifications and testsDisplay
| Type | OLED | OLED |
| Size | 6.5 inches | 6.9 inches |
| Resolution | 1260 x 2736 pixels | 1320 x 2868 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 19.5:9 | 19.5:9 |
| PPI | 460 ppi | 460 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | 120 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | Yes (1-120 Hz) | Yes (1-120 Hz) |
| Max rated brightness | 3000 nits | 2000 nits |
| Max rated brightness in HDR | 1600 nits | 1600 nits |
| HDR support | Yes, Dolby Vision | Yes, Dolby Vision |
| Screen protection | Ceramic Shield 2 | - |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 88.9% | 92.3% |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
- DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
| RGB color space | 99.8% | 99.6% |
| PWM | 240 Hz | 240 Hz |
| Response time | 1 ms | 1 ms |
| Contrast | ∞ Infinity | ∞ Infinity |
Screen space comparison
iPhone 16 Pro Max
6.9″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 18.1 in2
iPhone Air
6.5″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 16.1 in2
~12% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 156.2 mm (6.15 inches) | 163 mm (6.42 inches) |
| Width | 74.7 mm (2.94 inches) | 77.6 mm (3.06 inches) |
| Thickness | 5.6 mm (0.22 inches) | 8.25 mm (0.32 inches) |
| Weight | 165 g (5.82 oz) | 227 g (8.01 oz) |
| Waterproof | IP68 | IP68 |
| Rear material | Glass | Glass |
| Frame material | Metal | Metal |
| Colors | White, Black, Gold, Blue | White, Black, Silver, Gold |
| Fingerprint scanner | No | No |
| Repairability | Average (2.85/5) | Average (2.83/5) |
| Drop resistance | Very good (B) · 180 drops | Good (C) · 90 drops |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Apple A19 Pro | Apple A18 Pro |
| Max clock | 4260 MHz | 4040 MHz |
| CPU cores | 6 (2 + 4) | 6 (2 + 4) |
| Architecture | - 4 cores at 2.6 GHz: - 2 cores at 4.26 GHz: |
- 4 cores at 2.42 GHz: Sawtooth - 2 cores at 4.05 GHz: Everest |
| Manufacturing | TSMC | TSMC |
| Lithography process | 3 nanometers | 3 nanometers |
| Neural processor (NPU) | Apple Neural Engine | Neural Engine |
| Graphics | 5 core Apple GPU | 6 core Apple GPU |
| GPU shading units | 768 | 640 |
| GPU clock | 1620 MHz | 1490 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~2488.3 GFLOPS | ~2289 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
| Compute Score (GPU) | 37743 | 33340 |
| Single-core score | 4044 | 3507 |
| Multi-core score | 11101 | 8789 |
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
| CPU | 1060952 | 508577 |
| GPU | 645582 | 540541 |
| Memory | 312956 | 191233 |
| UX | 549219 | 509980 |
| Total score | 2568709 | 1750331 |
| Samples | Less than 3 | [4 tests] |
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
| Stability | - | 74% |
| Graphics test | - | 13 FPS |
| Graphics score | - | 1718 |
3DMark Solar Bay
| Graphics test | - | 28 FPS |
| Section 1 | - | 34 FPS |
| Section 2 | - | 29 FPS |
| Section 3 | - | 21 FPS |
| Graphics score | - | 7448 |
Recent User Tests
Apple iPhone Air
No benchmark results yet
Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-09-23 -> Rappzzzz | AnTuTu 11 | 2043169 |
| 📘 2026-09-20 (thuanday) | AnTuTu 11 | 2043169 |
| 📘 2026-09-17 (Jonibek) | AnTuTu 11 | 1692383 |
| 📘 2026-07-21 (l1tsemerr) | AnTuTu 11 | 1650968 |
| 📘 2026-04-27 -> hoduyhaodzso1tg | Battery life | SOT 12:58 / – |
Memory
| RAM size | 12 GB | 8 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR5X | LPDDR5X |
| Channels | 4 | 4 |
| Storage size | 256 GB | 256 GB |
| Storage type | NVMe | NVMe |
| Memory card | No | No |
Software
| Operating system | iOS 26 (Can be upgraded to iOS 27) | iOS 18 (Can be upgraded to iOS 27) |
| OS size | 27 GB | 18 GB |
| OS updates | 7 years | 7 years |
| Security updates | 7 years | 7 years |
Battery
| Capacity | 3149 mAh | 4685 mAh |
| Max charge power | 30 W | 30 W |
| Battery type | Li-Ion | Li-Ion |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Wireless charging | Yes (20 W) | Yes (15 W) |
| Reverse charging | Yes | Yes |
| Bypass charging | No | No |
| Fast charging | Yes (57% in 30 min) | Yes (46% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 1:33 hr | 1:57 hr |
| Battery cycles | 1000 cycles | 1000 cycles |
| Web browsing | 07:48 hr | 14:34 hr |
| Watching video | 17:33 hr | 22:01 hr |
| Gaming | 05:28 hr | 07:12 hr |
| Standby | 96 hr | 163 hr |
General battery life
Smartphones With Long Battery Life (#14th place)
Main camera
| Matrix | 48 megapixels | 48 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 8064 x 6048 | 8064 x 6048 |
| Zoom | Digital | Optical, 5x |
| Flash | Dual LED | Dual LED |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| 8K video recording | No | No |
| 4K video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 120FPS |
| 1080p video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 120FPS |
| Slow motion | 240 FPS (1080p) | 240 FPS (1080p) |
| Angle of widest lens | - | 120° |
| Lenses | 1) Standard: 48 MP |
1) Standard: 48 MP 2) Telephoto: 12 MP 3) Ultrawide: 48 MP 4) Depth |
| Camera features | - Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
- Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
| Image resolution | 48 MP | 48 MP |
| Aperture | f/1.6 | f/1.8 |
| Focal length | 26 mm | 24 mm |
| Sensor | Sony IMX904 | Sony IMX803 |
| Sensor size | 1/1.56" (≈ 0.64 inch) | 1/1.28" (≈ 0.78 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1 micron | 1.22 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| Image resolution | - | 12 MP |
| Aperture | - | f/2.8 |
| Focal length | - | 120 mm |
| Sensor | - | Sony IMX913 |
| Sensor size | - | 1/3.06" (≈ 0.33 inch) |
| Pixel size | - | 1.12 micron |
| Stabilization | - | Optical |
| Image resolution | - | 48 MP |
| Aperture | - | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | - | 13 mm |
| Sensor | - | Sony IMX972 |
| Sensor size | - | 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch) |
| Pixel size | - | 0.7 micron |
| Stabilization | - | Digital |
DxOMark main camera tests
Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
| Bokeh | 165 | 160 |
| Preview | - | 93 |
| Zoom | 109 | 130 |
| Samples | Photo samples of Apple iPhone Air from DxOMark | Photo samples of Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max from DxOMark |
Selfie camera
| Megapixels | 18 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 4896 x 3672 | 4032 x 3024 |
| Aperture | f/1.9 | f/1.9 |
| Focal length | 20 mm | 23 mm |
| Sensor | Sony IMX914 | Sony IMX714 |
| Sensor size | - | 1/3.6" (≈ 0.28 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1 micron | 1.12 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus | Phase autofocus |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| Video resolution | 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS | 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS |
| Depth sensor (TOF 3D) | Yes | Yes |
DxOMark front camera
| Photo | - | 149 |
| Video | - | 155 |
Connectivity
| Wi-Fi standard | Wi-Fi 7 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be) | Wi-Fi 7 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be) |
| 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 | 6.0 | 5.3 |
| Bluetooth features | LE | LE |
| USB type | USB Type-C | USB Type-C |
| USB version | 2 | 3.2 |
| USB features | - Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
- Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
| DisplayPort | No | Yes |
| GPS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, NAVIC | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, NAVIC |
| NFC* | Yes | Yes |
| Infrared port | No | No |
| Type of SIM card | eSIM | eSIM |
| Multi SIM mode | Standby | - |
| eSIM support* | Yes | Yes |
| Hybrid slot | No | No |
| 5G support | Yes | Yes |
Sound
| Speakers | Mono | Stereo |
| Headphone audio jack | No | No |
| FM radio | No | No |
| Dolby Atmos | Yes | Yes |
Speakers test
Max loudness
Other
| Category | Flagship | Flagship |
| Announced | September 2025 | September 2024 |
| Release date | September 2025 | September 2024 |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $999 | $1199 |
| Successor | - | - Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max |
| SAR (head) | - | 1.22 W/kg |
| SAR (body) | - | 1.45 W/kg |
| Sensors | - Barometer - 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 | Not included |
Further details
Notes on iPhone 16 Pro Max:
- The US version of the smartphone exclusively supports eSIM, while the international model features both a physical SIM slot and eSIM capability. In China, the device is available with dual physical SIM card slots only.
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.
Conclusion
If the camera, battery life, and sound are more important to you, then choose the Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max. But if the performance and gaming are more of a priority – go for the Apple iPhone Air.
Cast your vote
Total votes: 177