The iPhone 16 Professional Max is our new battery life champion, lasting greater than 25 hours on a single cost. However how does it fare with regards to a little bit of astrophotography?
I grabbed Apple’s most premium current-generation iPhone 16 and in contrast it to the lately launched Pixel 9 Professional XL (Google’s greatest smartphone providing). The query is, which one is greatest at taking moon footage? Let’s examine if one actually outshines – or ought to I say, Eclipses – and the opposite is a photograph of one of the breathtaking celestial our bodies.
iPhone 16 and 16 Plus evaluation: So cute you will purchase “low-cost”
iPhone 16 Professional Max vs. Google Pixel 9 Professional XL: Moon shot
Consultants in cellular astrophotography advocate utilizing quite a lot of tools to greatest seize the moon, together with a tripod to stabilize your gadget, binocular lenses or a small telescope for a clearer view of the lunar floor, and even paid apps to fine-tune your digital camera settings.
Nonetheless, I opted for minimalism and used each the iPhone 16 Professional Max and the Google Pixel 9 Professional XL — with out the beneficial tools – to take images of the Moon. I wished to see what everybody may do with their very own built-in capabilities, relying solely on their native digital camera techniques and software program.
iPhone 16 Professional Max
Let’s begin with Apple’s gadget. It contains a triple-lens system on the again, together with a 48MP wide-angle digital camera, a 48MP ultra-wide-angle sensor, and a 12MP telephoto lens.

iPhone 16 Professional Max
Picture credit score: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable
Nonetheless, none of those {hardware} specs are significantly necessary since we depend on the iPhone 16 Professional Max’s digital zoom, which makes use of software program for zoom capabilities past 5x.
And I positively wanted much more than 5x zoom to see the moon in all its glory. In actual fact, I zoomed in to the max — 25x, to be actual — to seize the waxing gibbous moon on the iPhone 16 Professional Max.
I additionally adjusted the publicity to tone down the surplus brightness, revealing extra of the lunar floor, craters, and construction for a clearer, sharper picture.
Right here is the perfect shot:

Shot of the waxing gibbous moon with the iPhone 16 Professional Max
Picture credit score: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable
Regardless of the restrictions of smartphone pictures, particularly within the astronomy area, the iPhone 16 Professional Max carried out fairly properly – I give it 5.5 out of 10. The picture captured some particulars of the moon’s craters and floor construction and confirmed its pure shadows and contrasts.
Mashable Pace of Mild
Unsurprisingly, there may be some blurring across the edges of the moon because the iPhone 16 Professional Max tries to stability the publicity within the darker areas, however total it is extra pronounced than I believed it could be.
There have been worse pictures although. Under you may see a few of my failures.

Picture credit score: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable

Picture credit score: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable
Google Pixel 9 Professional
I anticipated the Pixel 9 Professional XL – outfitted with a 50MP wide-angle digital camera, a 48MP ultra-wide-angle lens, and a 48MP telephoto sensor – to excel on this take a look at, because it blew us away when testing the improved Tremendous Res zoom, which maxes out at 30x.
However irrespective of how a lot I fiddled with the digital camera settings, I could not get something significantly better than this shot:

Picture of the moon with Google Pixel 9 Professional XL
Picture credit score: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable
Is that the moon or a fireball racing by means of the sky? That is a 4.5 out of 10.
I even tried utilizing the Pixel 9 Professional XL’s Night time Sight function, however that did not considerably enhance the photograph.

Moon captured with Pixel 9 Professional XL’s Night time Sight
Picture credit score: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable
I experimented with publicity ranges and performed round with the zoom setting to discover a “candy spot”, however to no avail.
In comparison with the iPhone 16 Professional Max, distinction is missing, and the night time sky seems darkish grey. There may be additionally a stronger halo impact, which additional impacts the sharpness and readability of the picture. The sunshine appears too intense, washing out the finer particulars of the moon.
Possibly there’s a particular setting requirement for moon pictures on the Pixel 9 Professional XL to attain this good Sky shot – however I could not spot it throughout my time with the Google cellphone.
For “enjoyable” I additionally took a photograph of the moon with my Galaxy S24 Extremely.

Moon shot of Samsung Galaxy S24 Extremely
Picture credit score: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable
However this shot might be controversial. Why? Samsung is accused of AI tips To Make moon images look higher than they are surelyThe Korea-based firm denies these allegations.
Which moon shot did you want greatest? Tell us within the feedback beneath.
The iPhone 16 Professional Max is now out there for pre-order for $1,199.