Is the Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max still supported?
End-of-support date: September 2031.
Time until support ends
Our estimateSeptember 2031
Source: Apple's documentation · verified 2026-06-11
What happens when support ends
- 🔓 Security risk grows monthly. New vulnerabilities are discovered constantly; on an unsupported phone they are never fixed. Banking, payments, email, and password apps become progressively riskier.
- 📱 Apps drop off. Developers raise their minimum OS requirements over time — first you lose updates to apps, then the apps themselves.
- 💸 Resale value falls fast.The market prices support: once a phone leaves a manufacturer's update list, its used value drops sharply and keeps falling.
More questions about the iPhone 16 Pro Max
Is the iPhone 16 Pro Max still supported in 2026?
Yes — it launched in September 2024 and runs the latest iOS. We estimate updates until around September 2031 based on Apple's roughly-seven-year history; Apple's written legal minimum guarantees security updates to at least September 2029.
Is a used iPhone 16 Pro Max worth it in 2026?
At roughly $649 used with about 63 months of estimated support remaining, you pay around $10.30 per month of safe use for what was Apple's top phone nine months ago. That undercuts buying the iPhone 17 Pro Max new by a wide margin — just verify battery health is above ~85%.
Should I buy a used iPhone 16 Pro Max or a new iPhone 17 Pro Max?
The 17 Pro Max adds a bigger 5088mAh battery, 8x zoom, 12GB RAM, a year more support, and a warranty — for about $550 more than a used 16 Pro Max. If you keep phones 5+ years, the new 17 Pro Max justifies itself; for a 2-3 year hold, the used 16 Pro Max is the better deal.
Safer alternatives
All three carry a GREEN Safe-to-Buy badge today.
Data sources & last verified: this phone's support window comes from documented update history (estimate — see our methodology), last verified 2026-06-11. How we compute end dates.