Why your Pro Max needs a different screen protector than your Pro

Four phones behind one number

Apple sells several iPhones under one number, and the suffix is what tells them apart. Apple's own list of models gives the screen sizes plainly. The iPhone 16 has a 6.1-inch display, the iPhone 16 Plus 6.7 inches, the iPhone 16 Pro 6.3 inches and the iPhone 16 Pro Max 6.9 inches.

Those gaps look small on paper. On glass they are the difference between a sheet that reaches the edge of the display and one that stops a few millimeters short, or hangs over the frame. A screen protector is cut to one outline, so it fits one size of screen.

The same size is not the same glass

It works the other way too, and that is where people get caught. Apple measures screens as a rectangle and gives the figures in a footnote. By that measure the iPhone 17 Pro, the iPhone 17 and the iPhone 16 Pro all come out at 6.27 inches. We cut one glass for exactly those three phones, and you will find it on the iPhone 16 and iPhone 17 pages.

The same footnote puts the iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPhone 15 Plus and iPhone 14 Pro Max at 6.69 inches. Even so, each of them is its own fit in our catalog. The same footnote says the corners are rounded and the actual viewable area is less than the rectangle, so a match in inches is no promise of a match in outline. The fits list on each product is what counts.

The Dynamic Island and the top edge

Apple describes the iPhone 14 Pro screen as having the Dynamic Island and the iPhone 14 screen without it, and lists both at 6.1 inches. The iPhone 16e is the same story: a 6.1-inch display, no Dynamic Island in Apple's description. The top of the screen is shaped differently on each, and the glass follows that shape.

So an iPhone 14 glass and an iPhone 14 Pro glass are separate fits in our catalog, even with the same number of inches. Put the wrong one on and the top edge sits where the phone does not expect it, often leaving bare screen at the top or a cutout in the wrong place.

Plus, Air and the standard model

The Pro and Pro Max get the attention, but the same logic holds lower in the range. The iPhone 16 Plus and the iPhone 16 Pro Max are both large phones, at 6.7 and 6.9 inches in Apple's list, and they take different glass. The iPhone Air sits at 6.5 inches, a size no other current iPhone shares, so it has its own glass and its own combo set with a camera lens cover.

At the other end, the standard models often pair up with an older Pro. Apple's footnote puts the iPhone 16, iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 and iPhone 14 Pro at 6.12 inches, and we cut one glass for the iPhone 16 and the iPhone 15 together. The iPhone 15 Pro and the iPhone 15 Pro Max each have their own single glass, sold with an installation frame.

None of this is worth memorizing. What matters is the habit: read your Model Name, then read the fits list, and buy only when the two match.

Camera bumps decide the lens covers

The back of the phone matters as much as the front if you add camera lens covers. From the iPhone 14 Pro to the iPhone 17 Pro Max, Apple lists three back cameras on every Pro and Pro Max, and two on the standard and Plus models. On the iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max, the three cameras sit in a plateau that runs from side to side. The iPhone 16e has one.

A lens cover is shaped to the cameras it covers, so our combo sets are cut per phone. Our set for iPhone 16 Pro, for example, says plainly that it does not fit iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus or iPhone 16 Pro Max. The iPhone 17 Pro Max set excludes the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air. Browse the NEW'C camera lens protectors by model and the sets line up the same way.

How to be sure before you order

1. Open Settings, tap General, then About, and read the Model Name line.
2. Write the full name down, suffix included: Pro, Pro Max, Plus, Air or e.
3. Open the page for your iPhone number and find a product whose fits list names your model exactly.
4. If you also want lens covers, pick a combo set that names the same model.

Apple adds a second route if you prefer numbers. Next to Model Number in the same menu you see a part number, and tapping it shows the model number, which matches Apple's published list. For a phone that will not turn on, an iPhone 8 or later with a SIM tray has the model number printed inside the tray slot. Our guide to finding your phone model covers iPad, Galaxy and Pixel too.

What a Pro Max box holds

Our combo set for iPhone 17 Pro Max holds two glass screen protectors, two camera lens covers and an installation tool, cut for the 6.9-inch screen. Our single glass for iPhone 16 Pro Max comes with an automatic installation frame: you align it on the phone, press and release. Neither of them fits a Pro, and neither Pro set fits them.

If you own two iPhones in one household, a Pro and a Pro Max, order two separate products. It is tempting to buy one pack of three and share, but the spare glass only helps the phone it was cut for.

Privacy glass splits the same way. Our privacy set for iPhone 14 Pro Max, iPhone 11 Pro Max and iPhone XS Max is rated at 35 degrees by the box, while our sets for the other iPhones are rated at 28. When you move from a Pro to a Pro Max, the privacy glass changes along with the phone. The privacy glass guide lists each set with the iPhones it fits.

Every glass from the NEW'C team is cut for the models named on it, one outline at a time.