I’m now fully committed to my iPhone 16 Pro Max. I shipped the older iPhone 11 Pro Max to the exchange center via UPS Ground early Monday; the digital equivalent of Cortés burning his ships. There’s no going back.

Here are some of the features I find worthwhile.

Mobile Radio

The primary requirement for any smartphone is the mobile radio. Without a working mobile radio, calls can’t be reliably  made, text messages can’t be sent or received, and any app that requires a mobile radio in place of WiFi when away from a WiFi access point will not work. The failing radio led to dropped calls and a mode where every other subsequent call would immediately fail. I could reset the radio by putting the iPhone into airplane mode, and then immediately taking it out. That reset the radio and it worked for a time until the next failure. Since transferring from the 11 to the 16 and enabling the 16, I haven’t had a single dropped call or failed text message.

Apple Car Play

Another problem that developed with the 11 and appears to be corrected with the 16 is the physical connection between the iPhone and my 2020 Acura MDX that allows Apple Car Play to function. The connection is simple enough; plug in the iPhone and start the car, or start the car and plug in the iPhone. In either case the two connect and work together, allowing me to use Apple Maps to help navigate while I drive, and to answer incoming phone calls. A problem began to appear with the 11 in which, in certain random occasions the two failed to connect and sync. The only way to correct that problem was to restart the Acura, which in effect rebooted the Acura’s on-board computer and seemed to allow proper connection and synchronization. The iPhone 11 used the iPhone’s older Lightening connection, while the iPhone 16 uses USB-C. I’d tried a number of Lightening cables, including a new one, but the occasional issue would still present itself. With the iPhone 16 and its USB-C cable, I’ve had no more issues.

Siri

I have never been a fan of Siri, choosing to disable and ignore it whenever possible. The only time I would try to use Siri was to dial a phone number while driving. When I tried it with the 11 there was a fairly good chance Siri would either pick the wrong number or else just fail silently. Thus, ignoring Siri and never using it. I tried that same task with the 16 and was surprised on two counts; first, it works reliably and consistently, and second, when Siri isn’t sure Siri asks explicitly did I ask to call so-and-so, which allows me to correct and train Siri. Siri on the 16 no long fails silently. As a consequence I’ve left Siri operational. I may try other Siri-related tasks in the future.

I don’t know if Apple Intelligence is helping with Siri, of if Siri backend code has been refined, or if the  16’s processor(s) are allowing for better performance. Perhaps a bit of all three.

Battery

The primary reason for purchasing the iPhone 11 Pro Max in 2019 was because it had the largest battery of any of those iPhones, and the largest to date at that point in time. I needed that large battery to minimize any “charge anxiety” with having the phone with me at all times. The battery did indeed have a long life between charges and regular to heavy use of the 11. The battery chemistry and charging circuitry in the 11 were so good that five years later, when I finally let it go, the battery still had 86% of its maximum capacity.

I’d like to offer a side observation about iPhone battery life and charging habits. All the “advice” that’s out on the web about smartphone battery life and how to conserve it has been wrong from the beginning. I’ve always charged my battery to 100%, and I’ve always had it plugged into something that kept it topped up. When using my iPhone with my Acura for Apple Car Play, the iPhone is always physically plugged into the car, and the car was always providing power to the iPhone. My only complaint about the battery on the 11 was how long it took to charge the 11 at some points. Other than that battery life was just fine.

If anything, the iPhone 16 battery is even better. Obviously it’s brand new, the battery construction and chemistry have advanced over the last five years, and I’m sure the iPhone 16’s charging circuitry has been further refined. I’ve noticed the iPhone 16 keeps its charge a very long time, especially at 100%, and when I do plug it in, the iPhone 16 charges back to 100% far more quickly than the iPhone 11 Pro Max did. The battery on the iPhone 16 has me back to just carrying it around rather than keeping it in a charger for the most part. I drop the iPhone 16 in a charger only when I need to, or at night when I sleep.

Various Conclusions

Because of the five year span between the iPhone 11 and the iPhone 16, the iPhone 16 shows considerable refinement in the requirements I care about. I expected this considering the price as well as the passage of time.

I started using iPhones with the iPhone 6, and for the next one to two years until the iPhone 8, I was on Apple’s update plan. That lasted until the iPhone 8, where I fell out of the plan, keeping it longer than intended.

When I purchased my iPhone 11 Pro Max, I gave my wife my iPhone 8 Plus, who then gave her iPhone 7 Plus to our youngest daughter, who’s iPhone 5s was dying. We kept our 2019 phones until my youngest daughter had to purchase a replacement last year, and then my wife and I replaced our respective phones this year.

In our family iPhone usage pattern is clear; use the iPhone until it literally starts to fail in some important feature, then purchase a replacement. In my case that was five years, six years for my wife, and almost seven years for my youngest daughter. I’ve read that iPhone customers are keeping their iPhones, on average, three years between updates. My family goes well beyond that.

But — if the radio and lightening communications hadn’t begun to show signs of intermittent failure, I would be using the iPhone 11 still. And before someone pipes up about “planned obsolescence,” stop right there. Smartphones in general are tiny and packed full of highly complex electronics. Sooner or later wear and tear from constant physical handling will take its toll, resulting in what I experienced with the iPhone 11 towards the end. Based on my experience I expect to keep the iPhone 16 Pro Max for another five years, if not even long. In the mean time I’m enjoying a new iPhone that is operating in such a way as to become transparent to me in my day-to-day use of the device. I think that’s wonderful.