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Downsizing: Why on Earth did I switch from an iPhone Pro Max to the iPhone 16?

By Peter Kostadinov

Published: Feb 06, 2025, 7:43 AM

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This article may contain personal views and opinion from the author.

iPhone 13 Pro Max and iPhone 16 held in hand

Why would anyone switch from an iPhone Pro Max to a regular iPhone? I had to ask myself the same question when I made the switch a couple of weeks ago, and I already have a couple of clear-cut answers for myself.

I've been a vocal advocate and year-long user of the iPhone 13 Pro Max ever since it was launched in 2021 and always returned to it regardless of what device I had in for a review every other week. However, as 2025 came along, I forced myself to shake things up and switch the ol' daily driver to a fresh new iPhone 16.

Ironically, just a couple of months ago I was pretty convinced that there were zero reasons to upgrade from the iPhone 13 Pro Max, which I still believed to be a pretty adequate ex-flagship, yet here I am holding an iPhone 16 in my pocket.

Usually, such an upgrade path would quickly be labeled a "downgrade" by even the most open-minded Apple fans, but here we are.

Let me guide you through the ups and downs of switching from an aging top iPhone to the most affordable standard new model in the iPhone 16 range.

Screen refresh rate: Zero issues, surprisingly

Back when I was using the buttery-smooth 120Hz iPhone 13 Pro Max, I thought that I would never be able to go back to a phone with a 60Hz refresh rate.

Not even two days in with the iPhone 16, and my mind didn't even register the display "downgrade". Sure, some apps really do appear choppier, especially when scrolling through long lists, but it doesn't take long to rewire your brain to get accustomed to the lower refresh rate on the iPhone 16.

Yes, I agree that putting a 60Hz screen on a phone released in 2024 and intended to be used well until the end of the decade is a major crime against tech humanity. Aside from the audacity of the act itself, I don't really find a problem with the smoothness of the iPhone 16 display.

The Action Button is a bigger nuisance than expected

Previously, with the standard ring switch on the iPhone 13 Pro Max, I could quickly and effortlessly flick between the silent and ring modes. I could do that without even looking at the phone, with my arm and hand twisted at a nearly impossible angle, at any time of the day-night cycle. I could even quickly check if my phone were set to silent by simply feeling the position of the switch with my fingertips, no need to look at the display. If there was one universal iPhone feature that translated superbly between generations, it was that ubiquitous switch.

Although I thought I'd love the new Action Button, I actually hate it. Yes, there's a lot of potential for personalization and mapping custom activities and apps to this button, but nothing beats the standard mute/ring functionality. At the same time, from a usability perspective, my quality of life has deteriorated.

For example, when I'm watching YouTube videos in landscape mode, I always mistake the Action Button for the volume up key, which has never happened before when I was using the iPhone 13 Pro Max. Additionally, if your phone's in your pocket, you can no longer touch the side to know if it's set to ring or be silent. You must now press the button and count the haptic vibrations, a single one for ring and multiple for silent.

I've used the Camera Control button once

I just checked my Photos app, and it turns out I've taken 155 photos and videos in January 2025. Can you guess how many of these were with the new Camera Control button? I can tell you the exact tally––four pictures and one video, and that's because my hands were wet.

I simply can't bring myself to use the new Camera Control button for a combination of reasons.

Chief among these is the non-ergonomic positioning of the button, which is too low when held in portrait mode and too much towards the middle of the phone when held in landscape mode. You can blame it on my large hands, but I blame it on Apple for placing this new hardware element in such an awkward place.

Muscle memory also has a lot to play here. We've been snapping pictures and interacting with camera app interfaces with our fingers for more than a decade and a half, becoming second nature to most who predominantly rely on their phones. The Camera Control doesn't feel particularly intuitive in that sense, as it hides even simple actions and changes between multiple unintuitive taps, swipes, and clicks.

Hard pass on the new button.

Apple Intelligence is a major disappointment

Apple hasn't rolled out the most intriguing Apple Intelligence feature yet, but I'm already totally done with the company's foray into artificial intelligence.

The new Writing Tools are a major meh, Genmoji and Image Playground were fun for a total of 40 minutes combined, and Visual Intelligence with the Camera Control button is too little, too late. The ChatGPT integration for Siri is the path of least resistance for Apple, a cover-up of its impotent and useless smart assistant.

Sure, apparently, a smarter and significantly more capable Siri will soon be available with the iOS 18.4 software update. Features like personal context, on-screen awareness, and complex cross-app interactions will be coming to Apple's smart assistant, but I am bearish about the potential improvements to the assistant.

Apple has burned us before, overpromising and underdelivering, especially when it comes to Siri. I have an inkling the assistant will remain the middleman between me and the AC units at my home, responsible for turning them on and off.

I'm surprised the most obvious difference is the biggest one

Just like a four-year-old, I keep getting surprised by the most obvious things these days, and one of the most shocking upgrades that the iPhone 16 reintroduced in my life is the boon of a compact phone. Shocking, I know.

After lumping around an iPhone 13 Pro Max for years and being used to its large size, switching to an iPhone 16 was a revelation. Phones can be compact and lightweight (who would have thought, right!) and there's no need to put up with the large and tedious size of something you use multiple days every day.

Sure thing, I've sacrificed a couple of inches of screen real estate and the battery life might be slightly worse, but that also led to an attitude adjustment: now I spend slightly less time on my phone, which is a big plus.

One less camera but zero regrets

By downsizing from the iPhone 13 Pro Max to the iPhone 16, I technically lost access to a whole telephoto camera. A world-ending cataclysm for some, a minor inconvenience for me. In any case, the 2X sensor-cropping option on the iPhone 16 kind of made up for the lack of an optical 3X telephoto zoom.

At the same time, the iPhone 16 takes slightly better photos and videos and lets you capture both live photo and portrait data, which is a great feature for me. The new Photographic Styles are cool and neat, but not something significant.

Conclusion: Should you go down the illogical upgrade process?

Yes and no.

For me, this experience proved you shouldn't get too complacent with what you're used to and shouldn't settle comfortably for too long.

Did I love everything with the iPhone 16? No, not at all, but I didn't love many aspects of the iPhone 13 Pro Max either, so things kind of even out.

After using a large iPhone for such a long time, it's normal to go with the much newer successor model, but… it doesn't have to always be this way.

Free will is still available to us all, so falling "victim" to standard stereotypes can be easily avoided.

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Peter, an experienced tech enthusiast at PhoneArena, is captivated by all things mobile. His impartial reviews and proficiency in Android systems offer readers valuable insights. Off-duty, he delves into the latest cryptocurrency trends and enjoys sci-fi and video games.