The iPhone 16 Pro offers a number of upgrades that everyday users will appreciate. Aside from the new powerful and efficient A18 Pro processor, Apple has (at least on paper) fixed some outstanding issues with the new Pro lineup. This makes it one of the biggest Pro iPhone upgrades in years.

Also: Everything Apple announced at the iPhone 16 event: AirPods, Apple Watch Series 10, AI, more

The last two standout features Apple introduced on the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro were Dynamic Island and Action Button. Although Apple has introduced a hero feature every year, the iPhone 14 Pro became unergonomic due to extra weight and a flat edge design.

The problem was addressed to some extent by using titanium on the iPhone 15 Pro. However, two problems have plagued the Pro iPhones for years that have finally been fixed with the 16 Pro.

Better battery life and a significant camera upgrade

The biggest issues with the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro were subpar battery life and lens flare, and Apple seems to have focused on those issues with the iPhone 16 Pro series. Apple says the iPhone 16 Pro series has the “best battery life of any iPhone.” That’s a bold claim, especially considering that my iPhone 15 Pro’s battery life was average at best.

I use my phone very frequently and have to charge it twice a day. The last iPhone that offered all-day battery life (and a little more) was the iPhone 13 Pro Max. It remains the benchmark for phone battery life for me to this day. If the iPhone 16 Pro Max can even come close to that performance, that would be fantastic.

Also: iPhone 16 Pro vs. iPhone 14 Pro: Is it worth upgrading?

The new 3nm A18 Pro processor has the same structure with two performance cores and four efficiency cores, but Apple claims it offers 15% more CPU performance and 20% more graphics performance while being more efficient than the A17 Pro. I still have doubts about how it would perform in everyday use, but I have high hopes.

The iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro lineup also fixes another iPhone-specific issue: lens flare. Apple didn’t talk about it on the event stage, but the new iPhones come with an anti-reflective coating that’s designed to mitigate this effect when the camera is pointed at a direct light source. It’s a long-standing issue that has affected the overall quality of my bonfire and Diwali photos, but I’ll put the anti-reflective coating to the test.

Developer-focused features are a welcome addition

The iPhone 16 Pro series is the most professional camera system you can get in a phone. It features an improved camera system with a new 48MP Fusion Camera, an updated 48MP ultra-wide camera, and the same 12MP telephoto camera with 5x optical zoom on both devices. You can also now take 48MP macro shots and record 4K Dolby Vision videos at up to 120 frames per second (including slow-motion videos).

Apple claims to offer real-time color correction with the new Photographic Styles feature. I’ve used various photographic styles on the previous two iPhones, but this is an updated version that lets you locally adjust colors, highlights, and shadows in real time.

Also: I want to be happy about the new camera button on the iPhone 16, but I can’t (at the moment)

The iPhone 16 Pro also comes with a new camera control button that is more than just a shutter control button. As a traveler, I already love this feature. You can launch the camera with a tap, click a photo, record a video, and adjust parameters like zoom, exposure, depth of field in portrait mode, and more with swipes. This declutters the viewfinder, giving you more space for image composition.

The camera control button also includes a “visual intelligence” feature that lets you learn more about objects and places you see just by taking a photo of them. It’s like a mix of Google Lens and Circle to Search, and will go live with the Apple Intelligence beta in the US in October

Physical improvements to the iPhone 16 Pro

I accidentally dropped my iPhone 15 Pro a few times – and it didn’t end well. During my year-long test without a case, the back didn’t get scratched, but the titanium started to flake off around the edges. The iPhone 16 Pro is made from Grade 5 titanium for better durability. In addition, the Ceramic Shield display is said to be twice as strong as before – making the new iPhones a lot tougher.

I’m also looking forward to using the larger 6.3-inch display on the iPhone 16 Pro. I like big screens, but I opted for the 6.1-inch iPhone 15 Pro because Apple’s Pro Max iPhones are wider than the competition, making them unwieldy. The 6.3-inch display is the perfect form factor.

Also: All iPhone 16 models compared: Which new iPhone should you buy?

Now it’s more tempting because Apple isn’t limiting its best camera system to the Pro Max model. Unlike last year, both the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16s have the same camera system. The larger size also allowed Apple to pack in more battery capacity.

Apple Intelligence will be at the heart of the iPhone 16 Pro’s feature set when it comes out, although it will also be available on the iPhone 15 Pro. However, the 16 Pro’s hardware is quite a step forward, making it a solid upgrade this year.