First, let's offer a quick primer on what these new phones offer. The iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max are essentially the same smartphone in two different sizes. Both offer slightly larger screens than the last models, A18 Pro chips, iOS 18, no Artificial Intelligence out of the gate, updated cameras, and the new Camera Control.

The Xiaomi 14 Ultra has seriously impressed us with its camera quality, both as an everyday carry street photography camera phone and in its ability to capture pro-standard shots of Taylor Swift during her Eras tour.

An iPhone 16 Pro Max vs Pixel 9 Pro XL camera shootout carried out in a variety of indoor and outdoor lighting conditions has seen the iPhone declared the winner, albeit by a relatively slim margin. You might not get that impression when you first start reading the piece,

Apple's iPhones have always packed some of the best cameras you can get in a phone. So how does the new iPhone 16 Pro stack up against Google's best Pixel 9 Pro XL? I took them both out around the beautiful city of Edinburgh for a faceoff to find out.