A year ago I ditched my OnePlus 7T Pro (a phone that honestly held up way better than it had any right to) and switched to the iPhone 16 Pro Max. This isn’t a “here’s the spec sheet” review—this is my lived experience after 12 months, including what I love, what surprised me, and the one big reason the switch has been… kinda annoying. I’m literally filming the video on the iPhone in cinematic mode, because for sit-down chats and quick creator stuff, the camera quality is just stupidly good. The best part of iOS for me has been the creator-friendly stuff that just works: shooting Instagram stories without them looking like a pixelated screen recording, plugging in USB‑C wireless lav mics and being done, and feeling confident leaving the big camera at home on family trips. The Apple ecosystem also hit me harder than expected—using the iPhone alongside an iPad feels ridiculously fluid, and the AirPods Pro 2 noise cancellation is genuinely “what just happened to the world?” levels. But the big downside is Apple Intelligence. I bought this phone on the promise that AI features would be a core part of the experience, and a year later I’m still waiting for the stuff that was actually hyped. Some beta features are cool, but it’s hard not to feel a bit burned watching the next keynote knowing what was promised vs. what shipped.