The 13 Pro Max still feels fast, takes excellent photos, and easily lasts all day on a full charge even at 88% battery health. The usual improvements you expect from a new iPhone—faster processor, better cameras, longer battery life—would be lost on me in day-to-day use.

It's not surprising that the largest smartphones by the likes of Apple and Samsung have the longest battery lives, because they have the biggest batteries — but new testing shows that the iPhone 16 Pro Max beats them all.

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).