The iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro are officially here, and as someone due for an upgrade, I’ve never been more torn on which one to get. Apple’s 2024 smartphone lineup continues to blur the lines between the basic iPhone and its Pro counterpart, with some of the biggest iPhone changes in years — including a new button for controlling your camera — coming to both at once.
Apple’s newest iPhones are up for preorder now and hit stores on Sept. 20 alongside the AirPods 4 and Apple Watch Series 10, so you’re probably wondering whether it’s time to cave and upgrade. Here’s everything you need to know about Apple’s latest bids for the title of best smartphone as well as some early hands-on impressions.
The iPhone 16 is one of Apple's most compelling basic iPhones yet, with handy Action and Camera Control buttons as well as a range of great colors.
The iPhone 16 Pro packs better cameras for shooting rich 4K/120fps video and a blazing-fast processor optimized for Apple Intelligence.
The basic iPhone 16 could steal the show this year
As far as looks go, the standard iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus are the clear winners of this year’s iPhone lineup. The phones’ matte aluminum finish still feels as great to the touch as it did last year, and their new vertically arranged camera lens layout makes the back of the phone look even sleeker and more symmetrical. The iPhone 16’s color options are some of my favorite Apple has ever offered; I can’t decide if I want to go with bold pink, a beautiful purplish blue dubbed Ultramarine or the attractive teal that perfectly matches my beloved New York Liberty’s uniforms. And yes, it still comes in black and white, if you must.
Colors are cool and all, but the big story around the basic iPhone 16 lies in the two new buttons sitting on its sides. For starters, the iPhone 16 inherits the Pro models’ Action button, which replaces the ring/silent switch that sat above the volume buttons on the left. This fully programmable key that can do things like activate your flashlight, start a voice memo or trigger a near-endless amount of other actions that you can set up in the Shortcuts app if you’re crafty enough. The Action button was previously exclusive to the iPhone 15 Pro, continuing the trend of the basic iPhone getting some of last year’s best Pro features.
But you won’t have to wait a year for Camera Control, which is a whole new way to take photos that’s debuting on the iPhone 16 and 16 Pro simultaneously. A long, pressure-sensitive button that sits at the bottom right of the phone (and top right in landscape mode), the Camera Control key lets you open your camera app in a single tap, take a photo with another quick tap and record a video by simply holding down the button. It’s designed to make snapping photos with your iPhone as instant as using a trusty point-and-shoot, and for the most part, it seems to succeed.
Using Camera Control for snapping quick photos and videos was as easy as advertised, but taking advantage of its more granular controls took some getting used to. You can perform two quick light taps to open up a mini camera menu, which lets you adjust things like zoom level, depth of field and Photographic Styles filters by simply sliding your finger left and right. It’s a great feature, though I found myself either pressing too lightly or too hard to properly open up this menu. I eventually got there with some practice, but it’s worth noting that Camera Control could come with a learning curve for some.
Speaking of cameras, the iPhone 16 is getting an upgraded 48-megapixel fusion camera alongside a new 12-megapixel ultrawide camera that finally brings the ultra-detailed macro mode to the basic iPhone. You can also capture spatial photos and videos (another feature that was previously Pro-exclusive) to view on the Apple Vision Pro, assuming you’re one of the few people who splurged $3,500 on one.
The iPhone 16 otherwise has the usual suite of performance and battery upgrades, including a faster A18 processor that helps power Apple Intelligence and lets you play proper triple-A games like Resident Evil 4 and Death Stranding without needing a Pro phone (sensing a trend here?). Apple also promises a “big battery boost” from this new chip, with the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus rated to last through up to 22 and 27 hours of video playback, respectively. By comparison, the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus are rated for 20 and 26 hours of respective run time — a difference we’re looking forward to testing in the real world for ourselves.
The iPhone 16 Pro is both a big and boring upgrade
After sitting through the iPhone 16 Pro’s reveal at Apple’s big launch event this week, my initial reaction was “That’s it?” However, as incremental of an update as this year’s high-end iPhone might seem at first glance, there are some pretty notable perks worth talking about.
Having the best iPhone camera is typically the reason to get an iPhone Pro, and that’s looking like the case again this year. The iPhone 16 Pro’s camera loadout — which is led by a new 48-megapixel fusion camera — can now capture 4K video at 120 frames per second (fps), which allows for rich, movie-esque video that you can slow down to as low as 24 fps for the kind of dramatic slo-mo you usually need to watch a cheesy action movie to enjoy. There’s also a 48-megapixel ultrawide camera (upgraded from 12 megapixel) for better wide-angle and macro shots, and you’ll now get the same detailed 5x telephoto zoom on both the 16 Pro and Pro Max; that means no more splurging for the most expensive iPhone if you want great zoom.
The sharp Super Retina XDR displays on both Pro models have gotten even bigger for this year, with the iPhone 16 Pro now at 6.3 inches and the iPhone 16 Pro Max rocking a nice 6.9-inch display, the latter of which is the largest ever on an iPhone. Despite these bigger screens, the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max didn’t look or feel unbearably huge compared to last year’s models, thanks in part to some design optimizations (like thinner bezels) and that same ultralight titanium construction as before. Unfortunately, Apple continues to save its most fun colors for the cheaper iPhones, with the 16 Pro series being offered in Black Titanium, Natural Titanium, White Titanium and a new, admittedly slick Desert Titanium that has a goldish frame. I don’t think I’m alone in saying that people enjoy more than various shades of silver and gold!
Naturally, the new A18 Pro chip packed inside promises the best performance on an iPhone, with improved ray tracing for even more immersive gaming. You can expect up to 27 hours of video playback on the iPhone 16 Pro and up to 33 hours on the Pro Max, the latter of which Apple is calling its longest-lasting iPhone ever.
What’s the deal with Apple Intelligence?
Both the iPhone 16 and 16 Pro will be among the first phones to support Apple Intelligence when it starts rolling out in beta next month, giving you access to the company’s take on generative AI features designed to make your life a little easier. We’ve found these kinds of perks to be hit or miss on other devices, but based on the Apple Intelligence features we’ve seen and tried, Apple at least seems to have a more practical approach to AI than some competitors.
Apple Intelligence includes a reworked Siri that you can talk to more conversationally when making voice or text queries, as well as versions of common AI tricks such as the ability to summarize long documents, rewrite a text message to be more professional or casual and generate silly images and emoji to send to friends. These features don’t do much for me, but I am intrigued by the option to, say, summarize a long email chain to catch up on the conversation, find a specific photo or video by simply typing in a text prompt and take a photo of a concert flyer and have it instantly added to my calendar.
While both iPhone 16 models (as well as the iPhone 15 Pro range) will support Apple Intelligence, the 16 Pro and Pro Max have a few exclusive perks. That includes enhanced Voice Memos, which uses the Pro’s advanced mics to let you layer voice notes on top of one another — perfect for musicians who want to add vocals on top of a guitar idea or tack on some harmonies. As someone who spends most of his free time making music (and has an ungodly amount of song ideas sitting in his Voice Memos), this is the one announcement during Apple’s keynote that legitimately made my jaw drop.
The takeaway
The temptation to just hit preorder on a nice Ultramarine iPhone 16 Plus is extremely strong right now. Between its gorgeous colors, promising performance and battery life, and Pro-level parity with features like the Action button and Camera Control, the basic iPhone has never looked more appealing. But there are a small handful of features that might keep me locked into the Pro camp.
As I’ve written about in the past, the ultrasmooth ProMotion screens on Apple’s Pro phones make it hard to go back to a regular ol’ 60Hz display. The 16 Pro’s cameras are obviously going to be my best bet when I’m capturing concert clips or photographing products for work, and the aforementioned Voice Memos upgrade could be a true game changer for the many hours I spend laying down song ideas.
I’ll have a much better idea of what new iPhone to get — for both myself and for you — once we put these new phones through our rigorous review process, so stay tuned for more.
