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Introduction
Hey friends hope you’re well, so here is the new iPhone 16 Pro, it has a larger 6.3″ display, the slimmest bezels of any Apple device, a new A18 Pro chip with Apple Intelligence and a haptic capture button that helps control the new Fusion cameras for better photos and videos.
As Apple claims every year, it’s the most advanced iPhone ever created, but let’s see what’s actually new here and if it’s worth buying. So, starting today and throughout the week I’ll test the new cameras, chipset, battery life in real world usage scenarios, compare it to both my iPhone 15 Pro, Google Pixel 9 Pro and then give you my honest opinion in this review.
So, I just picked up this phone on launch day and the lineup at the retail store was way busier than I expected, but now that I have the phones in my hands, I’m excited to put it through its paces. It’s a busy week ahead while we daily use this iPhone 16 Pro, so let’s get it unboxed.
Unboxing and Setup
Well, my first impression is it’s much of the same nothing here screams new iPhone and honestly from afar this phone still looks like an iPhone 14, iPhone 13 maybe even an iPhone 12 Pro from across the room. Okay side by side with the iPhone 15 Pro you can see it does have a slightly larger display by 0.2″ and in hand the 16 Pro is a touch heavier by 10 grams or 0.4 ounces.
This year this is the first time we do not get the classic Apple stickers in the Box. It’s a move to reduce plastic waste which I think is a good thing. Other than that, it’s just the braided USB-C Cable in here and for iPhones outside of the states you’ll still get a physical SIM card slot.
I got a silicon case with it in Stone Gray colour. I think this is a nice and clean combo the Stone-Gray pairs up quite nicely with the natural titanium, but there’s not too many choices anyway. Now that Apple has removed their leather and fine woven cases and now that this is all ready to go, I’ll be using this over the next 7 days and I’ll share my honest opinion and experience with the iPhone 16 Pro.
Capture Button
Starting with the cameras, so the first couple of days I stabbed hundreds of photos and videos, so I think I’ve got a pretty decent idea of how these new updated cameras stack up. I spent the weekend staying by the river, so it made for quite a nice backdrop to test the cameras and I’m really excited to share the results with you.
So, on paper the 16 pro has an updated 48-megapixel Fusion camera, a 12-megapixel two times telephoto camera and a brand new 48-megapixel ultra-wide camera bumped up from 12-megapixels from the previous 15 Pro.
If you’re wondering what the Fusion cameras are, it’s basically a software thing where your iPhone takes two different photos and then groups the pixels together, one focuses on detail and the other on light, so this isn’t exactly new.
What is new though is the ultra-wide camera and of course the new capture button here which was fun to use until it wasn’t. Here’s what I mean is that this is a sort of insert haptic button with a sapphire crystal coating. the button has a satisfying tap and click to it mimicking the physical shutter button of a dedicated camera.
A single press opens up the camera app, another click takes a photo, a click and hold start video recording while a light press activates camera controls like exposure and zoom by sliding back and forth. But after using the capture button for a few more days, I almost like by Instinct reverted back to the touchscreen to take photos, because it’s just more convenient and what we’re all used to and not all change is necessary right.
Not to mention if you’re right-handed and you’re gripping your phone in your right hand your palm naturally covers the capture button, so even though Apple says the new button is designed to be used both vertically and horizontally, it’s actually quite finicky to use vertically for right-handed users.
So overall the capture button reminds me of the iPhone 15‘s action button or even the MacBook’s touch bar previously. It’s initially a cool concept but looking back I think we can all agree that it’s not as useful as it’s marketed to be. For me the novelty factor of the capture button wore off pretty quickly and I have a feeling that most of you will probably go back to using the trusty touchscreen for photos anyway.
New Cameras and Photo Comparisons
Moving on let’s take a look at the photos coming out of the iPhone 16 Pro. So, testing the new ultrawide cameras against the previous iPhone 15 Pro and pixel 9 Pro fold, I do think the iPhone 16 Pro comes out on top, the increased megapixel show and there’s significantly more clarity compared to the ultra-wide shots on the other phones.
The blacks look deeper than the previous Ultra-wide shots on the iPhone 15 Pro and as someone that really enjoys using the ultra-wide cameras, this is a welcome upgrade. I was almost exclusively snapping ultra-wide photos, but interestingly if we pixel peep and compare it to the iPhone 15 Pro up close, the differences are less obvious.
There’s also more to this upgrade than just a new Ultra-wide lens, something Apple glossed over is the tetra prism lens seen in the iPhone 15 Pro Max. It’s now added to the iPhone 16 Pro, so this means the three times optical zoom that we saw in the iPhone 15 Pro is now replaced with a five times optical zoom and it’s pretty damn good. It can now hold up against the Google pixel 9 Pro.
The 16 Pro gets to the subject very closely from the ultra-wide camera to the standard camera to the two times and then five times Zoom. For comparison the iPhone 15 Pro’s maximum three time zoom looks very good, but I will say I think the pixel 9 Pro Fold’s five time zoom and overall shot aesthetic remains more lifelike and appealing, so the pixel 9 cameras still hold its own.
It’s also worth mentioning that the iPhone 16 Pro camera sensor reads data twice as fast, so when I snapped a large 48-megapixel Pro Raw photos, it was instant with zero shutter lag whereas the iPhone 15 Pro takes a second or two to process the image.
I also really enjoyed and appreciated the new photographic styles feature, so this is where you can fine-tune tone, colour and intensity before you actually take a photo in camera and it’s quite enjoyable to use. So, I played around with it quite a lot and I really enjoyed it.
You can actually change this in post along with changing it while you’re taking the photo, so yeah, it’s essentially a filter you can achieve the same result on Adobe Lightroom for example, but it is really nice to have on your phone and the UI looks pretty good. It’s really easy to use, it’s also a lot of fun to use and yeah, I think the photos that came out with these photographic styles look pretty pleasing to the eye. Okay, so it’s clear that the ultra-wide camera is a decent step up.
Video Tests
But what I found to be even more impressive is video quality, so the video is now shot in the new 4k 120 frames per second Dolby Vision mode and I frankly think it’s really stunning. Recording the clips and playing it back on my phone initially I was really impressed let alone replaying it back on my desktop computer.
I played the footage in slow motion to see how well 4K 120 frames works on this phone, but even when played back at normal speeds it looks incredible. Dolby Vision HDR brings an unbelievable colour vibrancy, contrast and brightness to videos recorded.
Audio in video has also improved with the four new microphones that give the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max the ability to capture spatial audio in videos and even adjust the sound stage after the video is recorded. Personally, I could only tell the difference when I had a good set of headphones on or with the air pods pro. Spatial audio is noticeable on the video shot on the 16 Pro and there’s a lower noise floor that produces truer to life sounds.
I was also curious to hear if the four new microphones mean better voice Calls and good news is they actually do. There’s slightly more tone Clarity during FaceTime calls in comparison to the 15 Pro and voice isolation is top-notch according to the people that I was talking with over the phone.
The other new and noteworthy video feature has to do with the A18 Pro chip. It now contains what is known as an image signal processor or ISP and it allows you to do frame by frame colour grading in 4k Dolby Vision 120 frames per second. I can’t imagine how many will be using this feature, but it is a great feature for videographers, creators and it helps.
This phone lives up to its “Pro” title, so overall the video is seriously impressive and while not a huge leap forward, it’s absolutely a step up from the 15 Pro and I personally think it Remains the best phone on the market for video.
Daily Use, Design, Display
So, moving on to its design, using this phone in the following days I am enjoying the slightly larger 6.3 in display. Not only is it larger but thankfully the pixel density is the same as the iPhone 15 pro at 460 pixels per inch, so even with the increased screen size it’s still as sharp as the smaller 15 Pro display.
It reaches 2,000 nits of eye watering brightness and now also dims all the way down to one nit for the always on display feature. Then there are the bezels which Apple says are the slimmest bezels on any Apple device. They are visibly thinner and looks great, but there have been Bezel-less displays and even wraparound displays on Android phones for plenty of years. So, like the claim of the slimmest bezel on any Apple device ever sounds cool but it’s really not that big of a deal.
Meanwhile the titanium build is great and durable as always just like on the iPhone 15 Pro, so if you’re upgrading to this from a 14 Pro or even an earlier phone, you’ll appreciate the lighter and more durable build.
I believe all I iPhone 16 Pros outside the US still ship with a physical SIM tray along with e-SIM compatibility, but yeah, the design overall is still great and it works well. But it is aging and it would be great to see a breath of fresh air and Innovation with its design.
A18 Pro Performance
Under the hood there is the new A18 Pro chip. It’s the second generation build on the smaller 3nm base and over the week of use it’s definitely more refined and more efficient than the iPhone 15 Pro which was already so efficient. So yeah, this phone is pretty incredible. On Geek bench 6 we’re seeing a 12 to 14% performance bump from the iPhone 15 Pro to the 16 Pro in both single and multi-core and GPU performance. The iPhone is now hitting benchmark scores that are very close to the M1 MacBook’s performance and that’s just ridiculous.
It’s a shame that we can’t do more with all this power and I wish that Apple users had something similar to Samsung’s Dex, because with an iPhone desktop mode, an Airplay enabled Monitor and a Bluetooth keyboard, we’d have a legitimate mobile computer setup. I doubt Apple would allow this though, because you know it seriously impact the sales of iPads and maybe even Macs.
But aside from benchmark numbers I think we all know that flagship phones are plenty powerful and the extra boost in computing power isn’t a life-changing difference for like 99% of users who do browsing, gaming and just general use.
Throughout the week was about as smooth and stutter-free as you can get on a device that’s about as powerful as a laptop. But more useful on the A18 Pro chip is its thermal performance and efficiency which usually means better battery life and that’s something we could all use more of.
Battery Life
So, when it comes to battery life the first few days when I was putting the phone through its paces and taking plenty of videos and photos I averaged about 10 to 12 hours of use before The Battery fell flat. The last few days before this review though with more typical usage without taking hundreds of videos and photos I’m averaging 15 hours of real-world use and honestly that’s pretty incredible.
It marks a real step up from the iPhone 15 Pro’s battery life by about 15 to 20% and that’s thanks to the increased A18 chips efficiency and the larger body which houses a slightly larger 3582 mAh battery. This should easily last you a full day of use and for the first time the iPhone 16 Pro supports faster 25W charging from the previous 15W limit. So, now I get about half a charge in 30 minutes far from super-fast but hey it is faster.
Negatives
Now here are the few negatives I’ve experienced in the first few weeks with this phone. The first one is unfortunately Apple intelligence. I was excited to test it, but it ships half-baked on the iPhone 16 Pro, because the majority of the features won’t be released until the end of the year.
The Apple intelligence features that are available like summarized texts, proof reading or the new Siri are underwhelming. It currently feels like a normal Siri with an updated look and the ability to type to Siri rather than talk.
So, you know, for one of the biggest new features on this phone to not be available on launch is pretty disappointing particularly when Google’s Gemini AI and Samsung’s Galaxy AI are both widely available and they’re also both incredible offerings. But the good news here is when Apple intelligence fully rolls out, it’s not just exclusive to the new phones, it also works on the 15 Pro and the 15 Pro Max.
The second negative I experienced is overheating. So, even though the 16 Pro is designed with a new graphene thermal system, it runs quite warm in hand. Running intensive apps especially in a hot room or directly under the sun when I was staying by the Riverside the phone ran uncomfortably warm like noticeably warmer than my iPhone 15 Pro. It even popped up with the dreaded “iPhone needs to cool down” warning at one point.
I’m assuming that this is because the A18 Pro is just such a powerful chip and along with the new graphene thermal system, it seems to do too good of a job pushing heat outwards, but yeah it still overheats at certain points.
1 Week Later Thoughts
All right, so that’s my first week with the iPhone 16 Pro and here are my overall thoughts. There are some really great changes here that go beyond just a bigger display and a new capture button. The software, cameras, chipset microphones and even 5G modem are all noticeably improved in the iPhone 16 Pro.
There’s no denying this is a good phone, but at this point that’s a bare minimum coming from Apple. I think I speak for many of you when I say that I personally hope to see more Innovation coming out from Apple.
Sure, Apple intelligence will breathe fresh air into our iPhones and I’m absolutely looking forward to testing it properly in a separate review, but at the same time I reviewed the Pixel 9a month ago and Gemini AI is already incredibly well done. I just can’t help but feel like Google and other Android phones are representing better and better value.
But here’s what I will say and here’s my recommendation, if you’re eyeing the iPhone 16 Pro, if you don’t care about big Innovative changes and you just want a great reliable flagship phone with Incredible cameras and the best mobile videography the iPhone 16 Pro is exactly that.
If you’re also deep in the Apple rabbit hole and ecosystem the iPhone 16 Pro will probably still remain the best choice for you. But if you’re willing to dip your toes into a new ecosystem or you’re looking for a bigger leap from an iPhone 15, I think there’s never been a better time to explore amazing phones out there.
Otherwise, if your iPhone is still holding up nicely then the truth is the most logical choice is to continue using it.
So, that’s my review of iPhone 16 Pro. Let me know what you think about this phone in the comments bellow.
