In recent years, Apple has started giving the iPhone Pro models a significant chip upgrade to close the performance gap between the phones, but this year they all have the same starting point: the A18 chipset. The iPhone 16 Pro devices have the A18 Pro, which has a larger CPU cache and an extra graphics core for slightly better overall performance. Still, in my benchmark tests, the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus were just behind the Pro and still more powerful than any other phone on the market.
I have played AAA games like The Evil Resident And Assassin’s Creed MirageAlthough I did experience a few more stutters than the Pro models (and just as many crashes, though that may be because I’m running the developer beta of iOS 18.1). I’d like to note that these games are currently at the pinnacle of graphical fidelity, so I deliberately stress-tested them. Most of the titles you’ll play will run perfectly. This year’s Pro models have improved thermal performance, but Apple has made some tweaks to improve heat dissipation on the standard iPhones as well, and I haven’t noticed the phone getting noticeably hot.
More importantly, every iPhone 16 model will be capable of running Apple Intelligence, the suite of artificial intelligence features that will arrive in an update in October. I’ll look at exactly what’s in Apple Intelligence in my iOS 18 guideand has extensively reviewed current experience in my iphone 16 pro reviewThere are some useful everyday features, like real-time transcription in Voice Notes or call recording, but we’ll have to wait until Apple delivers them in full.
Battery life is a highlight. I got better battery life on the iPhone 16 Plus than the Pro Max, getting over seven hours of screen-on time with 36 percent left at 1 a.m. The iPhone 16 wasn’t far behind, giving me six hours of screen-on time with about 20 percent left. And that’s with a mix of Instagram scrolling, photography, navigation, and streaming music. These devices will get you through a full day and beyond. Speaking of battery, that’s easier to replace on iPhone 16 and 16 Plus (not the Pro models) and iFixit gave it a 7/10 for overall repairabilityThis is a marked improvement over previous years.
It’s a shame Apple hasn’t updated the charging port specs. When Apple switched to USB-C last year, it kept the same data transfer speed for the iPhone 15—480 megabits per second. The Pro, on the other hand, with USB3 speed up to 20 gigabits per second. This is a big (and unnecessary) difference, but it only matters if you find yourself moving files from your iPhone to another device using a cable.
Good camera
Photo: Julian Chokkattu
The iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus both have their own cameras. I didn’t see any noticeable differences even in low light when shooting with the main camera and the ultra-wide camera. The Pro phone is superior in some areas, but the gap is quite small. Autofocus is new in the 12MP ultra-wide camera, so you can take close-up shots. I couldn’t stop taking close-up shots of my dog’s nose. Boop!
