In recent years, Apple has given its iPhone Pro models significant chip upgrades, widening the performance gap between its phones, but this year all models start from the same starting point: the A18 chipset. iPhone 16 Pro devices come equipped with the A18 Pro, which means a larger CPU cache size, higher graphics scores, and slightly better overall performance. That said, in my benchmark tests, the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus fall slightly behind the Pro, but are still more powerful than any other smartphone on the market.
I played AAA games like Resident Evil and Assassin’s Creed Mirage and experienced a bit more stuttering than the Pro model (as well as crashes, but that may be because I was running a developer beta of iOS 18.1). I should point out that these games are currently at the highest level of graphical fidelity, so I purposely stress tested them. Most of the titles I play run flawlessly. This year’s Pro models have improved thermal performance, but Apple has also made some tweaks to improve heat dissipation over the standard iPhone, and I didn’t notice the phone getting noticeably hotter.
More importantly, all iPhone 16 models will be able to run Apple Intelligence, a suite of artificial intelligence features coming in an update in October. Our iOS 18 guide explains exactly what’s included in Apple Intelligence, and our iPhone 16 Pro review gives an extensive assessment of the current experience. There are some useful day-to-day features, like real-time transcription of voice memos and call recording, but you’ll have to wait until Apple offers the full kit.
Battery life scores highly. The iPhone 16 Plus outlasted the Pro Max, reaching over 7 hours of screen-on time with 36% remaining at 1am. The iPhone 16 wasn’t far behind, reaching 6 hours of screen-on time with about 20% remaining, combining doomscrolling on Instagram, taking photos, navigating, and streaming music. These devices should last you more than a full day. Speaking of batteries, the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus (not the Pro models) are easy to replace, with iFixit giving them an overall repairability rating of 7/10, a significant improvement over previous years.
It’s a shame Apple didn’t update the specs for the charging port. When Apple switched to USB-C last year, the iPhone 15’s data transfer speeds remained at 480 megabits per second, while the Pro’s USB3 speeds max out at 20 gigabits per second. That’s a big (and unnecessary) difference, but it only matters if you’re moving files from your iPhone to another device via cord.
Good camera
Photo: Julian Choccato
The iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus are neck and neck in the camera department. I didn’t notice a huge difference in low light when shooting with the main camera or the ultra-wide. The Pro phone does a little better, but it’s only by a small margin. The 12MP ultra-wide has new autofocus and can take macro photos. I can’t stop taking close-up photos of my dog’s nose. Boo!
