Over the previous few years, Apple’s customary iPhone appeared a bit of uncared for. The Professional fashions acquired new chipsets, digicam options, and a customizable Motion Button, whereas the usual fashions made do with the leftovers.
However this yr, issues are totally different: the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus performed catch-up, and the hole between these telephones and the Professional fashions isn’t as broad because it as soon as was.
That issues loads, particularly on the extra primary fashions. If you happen to’ve been holding on to an older iPhone for the previous couple of generations questioning whether or not this is the yr to improve, then I feel there’s a straightforward reply this time round: go for it. It’s a very good yr for the essential iPhone, and it’s a very good yr to improve.
However this iPhone remains to be very a lot a piece in progress. For starters, Apple Intelligence is supposedly a serious part of this telephone’s software program, and it’s simply not accessible at launch. It’s out in beta now, and a few options will start to ship subsequent month with iOS 18.1 — nonetheless marked as “beta.” But it surely’s not on the telephone I’m reviewing, which is working 18.0, and due to this fact, it’s not a part of this assessment.
I even have combined emotions in regards to the Digicam Management, a brand new button on each the Professional and common iPhone 16 fashions that means that you can launch the digicam, take pictures, and modify some settings. I respect that it isn’t a Professional-exclusive function, and boy, do I really like a button. However in observe, I discover it laborious to make use of and have largely been ignoring it.
However the factor is, the foundational stuff is sweet. This yr’s chipset is in the identical household because the one on the Professional fashions, which suggests they’ll doubtless be on roughly the identical software program replace schedule. The digicam itself is as succesful as ever, and the telephone {hardware} itself appears to be like nice — Apple’s utilizing some saturated colours once more, thank God. And it nonetheless begins at $799, so something added this yr simply looks like a nice-to-have. Even when Apple Intelligence by no means ships, you’d nonetheless have a very good iPhone in your fingers.
There’s one significantly conspicuous {hardware} function lacking from this, a high-end telephone within the yr 2024: a excessive refresh fee display screen. Solely the Professional telephones get smoother ProMotion shows that go as much as 120Hz, whereas the 16 and 16 Plus are caught in 60Hz. By now, it’s a normal function on trendy smartphones from the midrange on up, and the iPhone appears to be like awfully dated with out it.
On precept, it’s irritating that Apple doesn’t provide this on the essential fashions, however in actuality, how a lot that bothers you is totally private. I take advantage of telephones with 120Hz screens for a lot of the remainder of the yr, and it’s at all times jarring for the primary jiffy after I swap again to a 60Hz display screen. However I get used to it fairly shortly, and I solely discover the extra stuttered scrolling after I give it some thought. Some individuals will discover this an inexcusable omission, and so they’re in all probability proper. Some individuals shall be completely proud of a 60Hz display screen, and so they’re additionally proper. Everybody else exists someplace between the 2.
The 16 and 16 Plus additionally miss out on the always-on show supplied on the Professional fashions. I like with the ability to look at my notifications and my wallpaper when the iPhone is idle, so I miss having the always-on show on the 16. Nonetheless, I do know lots of people who don’t prefer it, so on steadiness, it’s no nice loss right here.
Now, if anybody is on the document as a full-fledged button supporter, it’s me. I can’t get sufficient of ‘em. So, think about my delight at having two new buttons on this telephone — the programmable Motion Button from the 15 Professional and the brand new Digicam Management. I take advantage of the Motion Button to open the app I take advantage of to signal my child out of daycare. Normally, I’ve to fumble round in search of the app whereas there’s one other father or mother in a rush ready behind me, so it soothes my anxious mind each time I press that button. You may program it to do every kind of issues in the event you’re keen to be taught the methods of Shortcuts. However for the remainder of us, it’s fairly simple to map it to open a selected app and depart it at that.
I want I had higher issues to say in regards to the Digicam Management. Imagine me, I needed to love it. I’ve used it a bunch, and I plan to maintain making an attempt it, simply in case I’m lacking one thing. However to date, I’m not impressed. It’s an precise button, and totally urgent it’ll launch the digicam app. When you’re there, one other full press will take a photograph. It’s additionally a capacitive management with haptic suggestions — frivolously urgent it’ll deliver up publicity settings that you could modify by shifting your finger alongside the management.
Surprisingly, that’s the motion I’m most comfy with. It’s urgent the precise button and firing the shutter I’m scuffling with. The mechanism feels too stiff to me, and regardless of how laborious I attempt to help the telephone, I find yourself shaking the entire gadget each time I take an image. And if I linger on that mild press too lengthy, I find yourself altering the publicity compensation or another setting inadvertently. I’ve to take my focus away from the second and take into consideration urgent a rattling button, and at that time, what are we even doing right here?
I do like utilizing it to launch the digicam, however as soon as I’ve finished that, I’ve largely gone again to utilizing the onscreen shutter. I’m additionally utilizing the capacitive management for publicity compensation, however I can’t assist feeling that I’m underutilizing one among this telephone’s fancy new options. If this button had one job as a substitute of two, it will be extra intuitive. Nonetheless, I now have a devoted button to launch the digicam and a capacitive publicity comp dial for the digicam, and I can’t complain about that in any respect. I simply want the twin features of this button labored higher collectively.
I’ve to take my focus away from the second and take into consideration urgent a rattling button
And whereas we’re within the digicam app, let’s speak about Photographic Kinds. Keep in mind these? They’re like filters for the iPhone digicam, however they’re utilized throughout seize. On the iPhone 16 collection, you’ll have an entire new vary of customized settings that can assist you dial within the photographic model you want. You may go into the weeds of how this works in our iPhone 16 Professional assessment, however at a excessive stage, they allow you to modify coloration solid — in service of hotter or cooler pores and skin tones — in addition to brightness and distinction. If you happen to’re one of many many individuals who suppose that iPhone pictures look overprocessed recently, then that is the function for you.
I’ve landed on a mode that I like, but it surely wasn’t straightforward getting there. To set a photographic model as your new default, it’s good to go into the system settings menu and undergo a setup course of the place you audition 4 of your pictures within the new model. If you happen to simply decide a brand new model within the digicam app itself, it’ll reset to plain if you depart. This can be a totally different conduct than on earlier iPhones, and it confused the hell out of me at first.
And right here’s the dangerous information: it’s good to shoot in HEIF to make use of the brand new types. HEIF is a cursed file format that no different firm loves as a lot as Apple. More often than not, your HEIF photos shall be transformed to JPEG when sending them outdoors of the Apple ecosystem, however inevitably, sooner or later you’ll have the misfortune of making an attempt to open a .heic file on a non-Apple gadget and be met with nothing however unhappiness. I normally keep away from taking pictures in HEIF, however the brand new photographic types are so good that I’m keen to place up with the stray compatibility challenge.
This stage of flexibility makes it form of laborious to judge the digicam itself. I’ve been taking pictures with a contrastier photographic model, which dials up shadows in a means I like. Together with the brighter highlights preserved by HDR tone mapping, you get a picture with precise highlights and shadows — not a bunch of grey mush scrunched into a normal dynamic vary area. The digicam will nonetheless go a bit of intense with blue skies in sure circumstances, however you would mess around with the photographic model settings to dial that down. I like my model of the digicam app, which can be totally different out of your model.
Largely, I’m grateful that the iPhone continues to ship nice pictures in portrait mode, and I’m at all times impressed by the video high quality in cinematic mode, too. The 2x crop zoom is ok in first rate lighting, and it’s a helpful focal size for portrait photographs. Having macro deal with the ultrawide lens is sweet for the occasional close-up shot, too.
However the iPhone 16 makes use of a smaller foremost picture sensor than its Professional friends, and its low-light picture high quality isn’t fairly pretty much as good. Picture high quality is ok in case your topics aren’t shifting, however don’t count on to get away with loads in the event you’re making an attempt to shoot portraits or shifting topics in dim mild. And out of curiosity, I in contrast the 5x digital zoom on the iPhone 16 with the 5x telephoto lens on the 15 Professional Max. Predictably, the Professional Max blows it out of the water. There’s nonetheless no substitute for good ‘ol optical zoom.
I’ve nothing stunning to report in regards to the iPhone 16’s general efficiency. The A18 chipset (and a few further RAM — thanks AI!) handles day by day duties simply. I can fireplace off portrait mode pictures about as soon as a second; each has a bit of little bit of built-in buffering time, however I by no means needed to wait longer than that for the buffer to clear. Even in the event you by no means use the AI options Apple is promising for this telephone, getting the newer chipset is a win for the common iPhones this yr and will preserve this telephone working easily nicely into the following 4 or 5 years.
Even on the smaller mannequin, the battery retains up all day. On a day of heavier use that included streaming KEXP with Strava utilizing GPS within the background, I nonetheless had round 30 % by bedtime. If you happen to go for the 16 Plus, with its bigger battery, you may stretch a single cost nicely right into a second day. The true query shall be the way it retains up a yr or two down the road; Apple’s latest observe document right here isn’t nice.
It’s a very good yr for the essential iPhones, and that hasn’t been the case over the previous few generations. To make certain, there’s nothing groundbreaking right here, and positively nothing you must commerce in your iPhone 15 for. However in the event you’ve been on the fence for some time about upgrading from an 11 or 12, then I feel that is the yr to go for it.
You’ll get a few new buttons to play with, and who is aware of, perhaps you’ll get alongside higher with the Digicam Management than I did. And If Apple Intelligence arrives and proves to be the time-saving, stress-easing set of options Apple insists will probably be, then this telephone shall be prepared for it. However even when they by no means arrive, you’re nonetheless getting some upgrades that matter in the long term. It’s a catch-up yr for the common iPhone, and that’s a very good yr to improve certainly.
Pictures by Allison Johnson / The Verge
Correction, September 18th: A earlier model of this text referred to a 5x telephoto lens on the iPhone 15 Professional; solely the 15 Professional Max has a 5x telephoto lens.
