Apple iPhone 16 and 16 Plus

Review of everything Apple iPhone 16 and 16 Plus

It’s a good time for Apple’s introductory iPhone, indeed if its AI is MIA.

over the once many times, Apple’s standard iPhone looked a little neglected. The Pro models got new chipsets, camera features, and a customizable Action Button, while the standard models made do with the leavings.

But this time, effects are different the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus played catch- up, and the gap between these phones and the Pro models is n’t as wide as it formerly was.

That matters a lot, especially on the further introductory models. However, also I suppose there’s an easy answer this time around go for it, If you’ve been holding on to an aged iPhone for the once couple of generations wondering whether this is the time to upgrade. It’s a good time for the introductory iPhone, and it’s a good time to upgrade.

But this iPhone is still veritably much a work in progress. For starters, Apple Intelligence is apparently a major element of this phone’s software, and it’s just not available at launch. It’s out in beta now, and some features will begin to transport coming month with iOS 18.1 — still pronounced as “ beta. ” But it’s not on the phone I’m reviewing, which is running 18.0, and thus, it’s not part of this review.

I also have mixed passions about the Camera Control, a new button on both the Pro and regular iPhone 16 models that allows you to launch the camera, take prints, and acclimate some settings. I appreciate that it is n’t aPro-exclusive point, and boy, do I love a button. But in practice it was difficult to use and I mostly forgot about it.

But the point is that the programs are good.. This time’s chipset is in the same family as the one on the Pro models, which means they’ll probably be on roughly the same software update schedule. The camera itself is as able as ever, and the phone tackle itself looks great — Apple’s using some impregnated colors again, thank God. And it still starts at$ 799, so anything added this time just feels like a nice- to- have. Indeed if Apple Intelligence noway vessels, you’d still have a good iPhone in your hands.

There’s one particularly conspicuous tackle point missing from this, a high- end phone in the time 2024 a high refresh rate screen. Only the Pro phones get smoother creation displays that go up to 120Hz, while the 16 and 16 Plus are stuck in 60Hz. By now, it’s a standard point on ultramodern smartphones from the midrange on over, and the iPhone looks awfully dated without it.

On principle, it’s prickly that Apple does n’t offer this on the introductory models, but in reality, how important that bothers you is entirely particular. I use phones with 120Hz defenses for utmost of the rest of the time, and it’s always jarring for the first many twinkles when I switch back to a 60Hz screen. But I get used to it enough snappily, and I only notice the further stuttered scrolling when I suppose about it. Some people will find this an unwarrantable elision, and they’re presumably right. Some people will be impeccably happy with a 60Hz screen, and they’re also right. Everyone differently exists nearly between the two.

The 16 and 16 Plus also miss out on the always- on display offered on the Pro models. I like being suitable to regard at my announcements and my wallpaper when the iPhone is idle, so I miss having the always- on display on the 16. Still, I know a lot of people who do n’t like it, so on balance, it’s no great loss then.

Now, if anyone is on the record as a full- fledged button supporter, it’s me. I ca n’t get enough of ‘em. So, consider my joy to have two new buttons on this phone - the action button can be from the 15 Pro and the new camera controls. I use the Action Button to open the app I use to subscribe my sprat out of daycare. generally, I've to bobble around looking for the app while there’s another parent in a rush staying behind me, so it soothes my anxious brain every time I press that button. You can program it to do all kinds of effects if you’re willing to learn the ways of Shortcuts. But for the rest of us, it’s enough straightforward to collude it to open a specific app and leave it at that.

I wish I had better effects to say about the Camera Control. Believe me, I wanted to like it. I’ve used it a bunch, and I plan to keep trying it, just in case I’m missing commodity. But so far, I’m not impressed. It’s an factual button, and completely pressing it'll launch the camera app. Once you’re there, another full press will take a print. It’s also a capacitive control with haptic feedback — smoothly pressing it'll bring up exposure settings that you can acclimate by moving your cutlet along the control.

Unexpectedly, that’s the action I’m most comfortable with. It’s pressing the factual button and firing the shutter I’m floundering with. The medium feels too stiff to me, and no matter how hard I try to support the phone, I end up shaking the whole device every time I take a picture. And if I loiter on that light press too long, I end up changing the exposure compensation or some other setting inadvertently. I've to take my focus down from the moment and suppose about pressing a damn button, and at that point, what are we indeed doing then?

I do like using it to launch the camera, but formerly I’ve done that, I’ve substantially gone back to using the onscreen shutter. I’m also using the capacitive control for exposure compensation, but I ca n’t help feeling that I’m underutilizing one of this phone’s fancy new features.However, it would be more intuitive, If this button had one job rather of two. Still, I now have a devoted button to launch the camera and a capacitive exposure presentation dial for the camera, and I ca n’t complain about that at all. I just wish the binary functions of this button worked better together.

I've to take my focus down from the moment and suppose about pressing a damn button

And while we're on the camera app, let's talk about photo styles. Flash back those? They’re like pollutants for the iPhone camera, but they’re applied during prisoner. On the iPhone 16 series, you’ll have a whole new range of custom settings to help you telephone in the photographic style you like. You can go into the weeds of how this works in our iPhone 16 Pro review, but at a high position, they let you acclimate color cast — in service of warmer or cooler skin tones — as well as brilliance and contrast. However, also this is the point for you, If you’re one of the numerous people who suppose that iPhone prints look overprocessed recently.

I’ve landed on a style that I like, but it was n’t easy getting there. To set a photographic style as your new dereliction, you need to go into the system settings menu and go through a setup process where you audition four of your prints in the new style.However, it’ll reset to standard when you leave, If you just pick a new style in the camera app itself. This is a different geste than on former iPhones, and it confused the hell out of me at first.

And then’s the bad news you need to shoot in HEIF to use the new styles. HEIF is a accursed train format that no other company loves as important as Apple. utmost of the time, your HEIF images will be converted to JPEG when transferring them outside of the Apple ecosystem, but inescapably, one day you’ll have the mischance of trying to open a. heic train on anon-Apple device and be met with nothing but sadness. I generally avoid shooting in HEIF, but the new photographic styles are so good that I’m willing to put up with the slapdash comity issue.

This position of inflexibility makes it kind of hard to estimate the camera itself. I’ve been shooting with a contrastier photographic style, which dials up murk in a way I like. Along with the brighter highlights saved by HDR tone mapping, you get an image with factual highlights and murk not a bunch of argentine mush scrunched into a standard dynamic range space. The camera will still go a little violent with blue skies in certain circumstances, but you could play around with the photographic style settings to telephone that down. I like my interpretation of the camera app, which may be different from your interpretation.

substantially, I’m thankful that the iPhone continues to deliver great prints in portrayal mode, and I’m always impressed by the videotape quality in cinematic mode, too. The 2x crop drone is fine in decent lighting, and it’s a handy focal length for portrayal shots. Having macro focus on the ultrawide lens is nice for the occasional close- up shot, too.

But the iPhone 16 uses a lower main image detector than its Pro peers, and its low- light image quality is n’t relatively as good. Image quality is fine if your subjects are n’t moving, but do n’t anticipate to get down with a lot if you’re trying to shoot pictures or moving subjects in dim light. And out of curiosity, I compared the 5x digital drone on the iPhone 16 with the 5x blowup lens on the 15 Pro Max. Predictably, the Pro Max blows it out of the water. There’s still no cover for good ‘ ol optic drone.

There are no surprises about the overall performance of the iPhone 16.The A18 chipset( and some fresh RAM — thanks AI!) handles diurnal tasks fluently. I can fire off portrayal mode prints about formerly a alternate; each bone has a little bit of erected- in buffering time, but I noway had to stay longer than that for the buffer to clear. Indeed if you noway use the AI features Apple is promising for this phone, getting the newer chipset is a palm for the regular iPhones this time and should keep this phone running easily well into the coming four or five times.

Indeed on the lower model, the battery keeps up all day. On a day of heavier use that included streaming KEXP with Strava using GPS in the background, I still had around 30 percent by bedtime.However, with its larger battery, you can stretch a single charge well into a alternate day, If you conclude for the 16 Plus. The real question will be how it keeps up a time or two down the line Apple’s recent track record then is n’t great.

It’s a good time for the introductory iPhones, and that has n’t been the case over the once many generations. It's not groundbreaking, it just needs to be understood, and it's clear that you shouldn't be trading anything with your iPhone 15 for. But if you’ve been on the hedge for a while about upgrading from an 11 or 12, also I suppose this is the time to go for it.

You’ll get a couple of new buttons to play with, and who knows, perhaps you’ll get along better with the Camera Control than I did. And if Apple Intelligence comes with a set of time-saving and stress-relieving features, this phone is ready for that, too.. But indeed if they no way arrive, you’re still getting some upgrades that count in the long run. It’s a catch-up time for the regular iPhone, and that’s a good time to upgrade indeed.