In recent years, Apple has started giving the iPhone Pro models a significant chip upgrade to widen the performance gap between the phones, but this year they’re all based on the same starting point: the A18 chipset. The iPhone 16 Pro devices come with the A18 Pro, which has larger CPU cache sizes and an additional graphics score for slightly better overall performance. Still, the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus fall just behind the Pros in my benchmark tests and are still more powerful than any other phone on the market.
I have played AAA games like resident Evil And Assassin’s Creed Miragealthough I did experience a few more stutters than on the Pro models (and just as many crashes, though that could be because I was running a developer beta of iOS 18.1). I should point out that these games are currently the cream of the crop in terms of graphical fidelity, so I’m deliberately stress testing them. Most titles you’ll play will run perfectly. The Pro models this year have improved thermal performance, but Apple has also made some tweaks to the standard iPhones to improve heat dissipation, and I haven’t noticed the phones getting significantly hotter.
More importantly, every iPhone 16 model will be able to run Apple Intelligence, the suite of artificial intelligence features that will arrive in an update in October. I go into detail about what’s included in Apple Intelligence in my iOS 18 guide, and I’ve thoroughly evaluated the current experience in my iPhone 16 Pro review. There are some helpful everyday features, like real-time transcriptions in voice memos or call recordings, but we’ll have to wait for Apple to release the full kit.
Battery life is a high. I got better battery life on the iPhone 16 Plus than the Pro Max, reaching over 7 hours of screen time with 36 percent charge remaining at 1 a.m. The iPhone 16 is no slouch, giving me 6 hours of screen time with about 20 percent charge remaining. And that’s with a mix of doomscrolling on Instagram, snapping pictures, navigating, and streaming music. These devices will get you through a full day and then some. Speaking of the battery, it’s easier to replace on the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus (not the Pro models), and iFixit gave it a 7/10 for overall repairability, which is a huge improvement over previous years.
It’s a shame Apple didn’t release updated specs for the charging port. When Apple switched to USB-C last year, it kept the same data transfer speeds for the iPhone 15 – 480 megabits per second. The Pro, on the other hand, has USB3 speeds of up to 20 gigabits per second. That’s a massive difference (and an unnecessary one), but that only matters if you’re transferring files from your iPhone to another device using a cable.
Good cameras
Photo: Julian Chokkattu
The iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus hold their own when it comes to camera. I couldn’t see any notable differences even in low light when shooting with the main camera and the ultra-wide. The Pro phones edge them here and there, but the gap is small. Autofocus is new on the 12MP ultra-wide, so you can take macro photos. I can’t stop taking close-ups of my puppy’s nose. Boop!
