Typically there’s a way of disenchantment about one or different of the vary of iPhones after they’re introduced. Why hasn’t the common iPhone obtained among the particular options reserved for the Professional? Why is the Professional so costly? This yr’s iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus shut the hole between common and Professional like by no means earlier than. So, must you purchase one?
You possibly can learn my evaluation of the iPhone 16 Professional and iPhone 16 Professional Max here.
Apple iPhone 16 in 5 colours.
iPhone 16 And iPhone 16 Plus: The Variations
This can be a quick part, pricey reader, as a result of the 2 iPhones which don’t have Professional of their identify are virtually similar. The identical processor, options, apps, {hardware} capabilities, cameras and even the identical colours within the vary.
There are three variations, all of them necessary. First, the dimensions. Would you relish the additional huge display screen on the iPhone 16 Plus (6.7 inches) in comparison with the iPhone 16 (6.1 inches)? Or would you somewhat have the smaller cellphone so it suits your hand higher, and squeezes right into a trouser pocket with out stretching it a lot? In case you’re considering of going for the Plus, do your self a favor and take a look at it in your hand first. It’s the identical measurement as final yr’s iPhone 15 Plus.
The second distinction is the battery life. As you’ll see, all this yr’s iPhones have greater batteries—hurrah!—and longer battery life. It’s good on the iPhone 16 and even higher on the iPhone 16 Plus. In case you’re a heavy person, chances are you’ll take into account the Plus.
And thirdly there’s the value. There’s a $100 premium to cowl that greater display screen and longer battery life.
Past that, all the things’s the identical on each handsets.
iPhone 16 And iPhone 16 Plus: Design
Apple iPhone 16 in pink and ultramarine.
Some individuals expressed concern that the colours of the iPhone 15 had been too quiet to be fascinating. It’s as if Apple took that to coronary heart as a result of this yr’s are a lot brighter. Black is obtainable, as is white, if you happen to don’t wish to make a shiny assertion. However the different three colours are head-turners: a luscious however understated teal, a heartwarming pink and, my favourite, a feisty blue referred to as ultramarine.
These are among the finest, most eye-catching colours the iPhone has ever sported and completely different sufficient from one another to imply you’ll doubtless discover one you want, although I miss the truth that yellow is absent this time round.
The entrance of the iPhone is now protected by an improved model of Ceramic Protect, designed to be higher than ever to guard your cellphone if you happen to drop it. The iPhone 16 Professional has this, too.
One factor that hasn’t modified is the show, which stays a 60Hz refresh fee display screen. Loads of different producers have put shows with quicker or dynamic refresh charges into extra reasonably priced telephones, however Apple retains its finest shows, utilizing one thing it calls ProMotion, completely for the Professional collection. At some point, maybe.
On the again, the 2 cameras now sit one above the opposite as a substitute of vertically. The large lenses look imposing and are on a shiny digital camera island, in opposition to the matte end of the remainder of the again.
The brand new look to those iPhones features a function from the iPhone 15 Professional: the mute/ring swap on each common iPhone till now has been changed with the extra adaptable Motion Button which can be utilized for all types of issues, together with muting the ring. You possibly can select to start out voice memos or launch the digital camera, as an illustration.
However chances are you’ll not wish to assign that as a result of the brand new Digicam Management is sensible. While you take a photograph in panorama orientation, if you happen to’re right-handed as I’m, you’ll doubtless tip the cellphone to the left. In that case, the brand new button is true the place you need it: on what’s now the highest edge, simply the place your index finger naturally rests. Really, the button is in simply the best place while you’re capturing in portrait orientation, too. Whereas we’re right here, let’s get into the cameras.
iPhone 16 And iPhone 16 Plus: Cameras
The brand new Digicam Management on iPhone 16 collection.
You possibly can really feel the Digicam Management even when the iPhone is in your pocket: press it as soon as as you are taking it out and it’s able to snap with the second press. Genius. A lightweight double-press (and you’ll be actually light right here as it’s a button with capacitive capabilities in addition to mechanical) will carry you to new features for better management, whereas sliding your finger allows you to zoom. It’s an outstanding new approach to shoot video and take nonetheless photographs.
A lot for the way you utilize the button, how good are the cameras themselves? To begin with there’s now an anti-reflective coating on each lenses, which may cut back digital camera flare. That’s good earlier than we get to the cameras and their capabilities.
Apple iPhone 16 cameras.
These are largely just like final yr’s outcomes, although the principle digital camera has been renamed the Fusion digital camera this time round. There are new photographic kinds and in contrast to earlier than, you may change the consequences of those kinds after the occasion. So, if you happen to selected Dramatic however now suppose what you actually needed was Ethereal, you may swap.
In any other case, the 48-megapixel digital camera works because it did earlier than, providing a 2x optical zoom equal by cropping the central portion of the picture.
The Extremely Extensive digital camera is new, with a quicker aperture, now f/2.2 as a substitute of the earlier f/2.4 and it has greater pixels. This works higher in low mild, it’s claimed, and my assessments bear that out.
And it implies that now you may take macro pictures, beforehand a Professional unique. Whereas the iPhone 16 Professional can nonetheless declare to be higher, as that cellphone now has a 48-megapixel Extremely Extensive sensor, outcomes listed here are robust.
iPhone 16 And iPhone 16 Plus: Different Options
Audio Combine is a really cool additional: while you’ve shot some video and also you understand there was somebody speaking loudly within the background, ruining the ambiance, you may edit the video to take that voice out fully. It’s very helpful.
There’s a nice new app, the extremely helpful Passwords, that makes use of the information that was beforehand buried in Settings, and places it front-and-center in its personal app.
Talking of Settings, there’s one bizarre little change in that app, it’s now a lot more durable to seek out the Telephone setting. It was once in an inventory of key options like Bluetooth and wi-fi, but it surely’s now been downlisted to the apps part. I get that the necessity to make calls has declined however I’d nonetheless wish to entry these settings actually simply. An iPhone ought to nonetheless be about cellphone calls—the clue is within the identify.
iPhone 16 And iPhone 16 Plus: Efficiency
Final yr, the iPhone 15 had a hand-me-down processor from the iPhone 14 Professional. It was quick, however nowhere close to the velocity of the A17 Professional chip within the iPhone 15 Professional. That’s why solely the 15 Professional and 15 Professional Max can deal with Apple Intelligence.
Apple has created an all-new processor this yr, the A18 and a souped-up model referred to as the A18 Professional is within the iPhone 16 Professional. Sufficient of the numbers, the purpose is that the brand new chips are each designed for Apple Intelligence, and this may occasionally imply the 16 and 16 Plus obtained extra of a velocity enhance than they in any other case would have. Yet one more method the common iPhones have inched nearer to the facility of the Professional this yr.
In fact, a quick processor isn’t simply there for Apple Intelligence and it has advantages throughout the cellphone. Unsurprisingly, it’s a quick performer in each state of affairs, from that zero shutter lag on the digital camera to on the spot opening of menus throughout the board.
Apple Intelligence, the corporate’s tackle AI, will help with writing abilities, summarise emails or web sites, introduce a way more clever Siri and create distinctive emoji or photographs on the fly. However that’s coming later with the primary options arriving in October.
Meantime, there’s that improved battery life, which is so welcome. We almost all cost our telephones in a single day, so the minimal requirement is a full day’s utilization. The iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus ship this and extra.
Apple quantifies battery life in numerous methods, one among them being video playback. This yr’s telephones have two extra hours’ playback juice within the common measurement, and an enormous 5 extra hours on the Plus. I haven’t been watching video that a lot, you perceive, however I’ve been getting nice battery life on each handsets.
iPhone 16 And iPhone 16 Plus: Verdict
Apple iPhone 16 in ultramarine end.
Whereas there’s little doubt that the pricier Professional fashions of the iPhone 16 collection are higher, with improved and bigger shows, a 3rd digital camera, that attractive titanium construct and extra, this yr’s iPhone has lots in frequent with the Professional. To the extent that for many individuals, the Professional provides bells and whistles they’ll handle with out.
Extra cameras are nice, however keep in mind there’s a digital optical 2x telephoto zoom lens right here, and this cellphone can shoot macro for the primary time.
After which there are the locations the place the iPhone 16 overlaps with the 16 Professional fully: that cute new Digicam Management, improved photographic kinds, Audio Combine, the improved Ceramic Protect and, above all, the soon-to-arrive Apple Intelligence.
The iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus are nearer to their Professional cousins than ever. A lot in order that they’ve so most of the new and necessary options, that they’ve grow to be the optimum smartphone selection for everybody.
