Apple iPhone 16 Pro review: small camera update, big difference

The iPhone 16 Pro is 1 of the astir unfinished products Apple has ever shipped. Almost each of its item features will get successful early package updates that will agelong good into adjacent twelvemonth earlier they’re here. That’s large stuff, for illustration the caller Apple Intelligence AI features the institution says will commencement slow arriving successful October, and small stuff, for illustration the complete functionality of the caller Camera Control fastener connected the side.

Even really insignificant things, for illustration that caller Siri animation that inspired the tagline “It’s Glowtime” for the phone’s motorboat event? Not present yet. You get the aforesaid aged Siri bubble arsenic ever until Apple Intelligence arrives.

The difficult norm of reviews astatine The Verge is that we ever reappraisal what’s successful the container — the point you tin bargain correct now. We ne'er reappraisal products based connected imaginable aliases the committedness of package updates to come, moreover if a institution is putting up advertisements advertizing those features, and moreover if group are playing pinch those features successful developer betas correct now. When Apple Intelligence ships to the public, we’ll reappraisal it, and we’ll spot if it makes the iPhone 16 Pro a different benignant of phone.

Until then, the iPhone 16 Pro we’re reviewing coming is an incremental update — it’s mostly a group of very bully but yet insignificant changes to the iPhone 15 Pro. It’s difficult to make the lawsuit for an upgrade correct now: location is almost nary logic to upgrade to the 16 Pro aliases 16 Pro Max from the 15 Pro aliases 15 Pro Max — particularly since the 15 Pros are the only older iPhones that will get Apple Intelligence erstwhile it arrives. And if you person an older Pro phone, it’s worthy waiting to spot if Apple Intelligence is immoderate bully earlier you upgrade; there’s nary logic to propulsion money astatine hardware conscionable to support unproven software.

All that said, the iPhone 16 Pro does incorporate 1 highly notable camera update, and it’s a bully 1 — though it’s astir apt not what you think. So let’s commencement there.

There are 2 large changes to the iPhone 16 and 16 Pro cameras: the caller Camera Control button, and a caller group of controls for really images are processed. The fastener itself is simply a hybrid: you tin property it down each the measurement to return a photo, aliases springiness it a ray property to trigger a haptic click and bring up a mounting for illustration zoom aliases exposure, which you tin set pinch a swipe. A double ray property lets you move betwixt those settings. (You tin set the unit sensitivity of the haptic property successful the accessibility settings, which is nice, though I recovered the default to beryllium conscionable fine.)

By default, a azygous click opens the camera erstwhile the telephone is unlocked, and different takes a photo. It’s beautiful nosy to flip the telephone connected its broadside and sprout pinch the fastener for illustration a normal camera, though the beingness fastener is simply a spot stiff — a fewer Verge staffers recovered themselves moving the telephone somewhat erstwhile pushing each the measurement down to return a photo, though I thought it was fine.

I recovered myself accidentally opening the camera a batch astatine first since I’m left-handed and the fastener is placed wherever my fingers thin to remainder erstwhile I clasp the phone. You tin group it to require a double-click, and that solved the problem for me. You tin besides group the fastener to unfastened third-party camera apps; it useful good pinch the caller type of Halide that’s been updated to support that functionality.

The logic Apple calls it “Camera Control” and not conscionable “shutter button” is the capacitive controls connected the top, which should ideally fto you set various settings pinch a speedy swipe. I was really hoping I’d find myself utilizing the capacitive controls to set things for illustration vulnerability and focal length, but it’s each a spot fiddly switching betwixt everything pinch the ray presses and acold excessively easy to extremity up changing things you weren’t intending to. The full point would beryllium greatly improved if a 2nd ray property dismissed the control; erstwhile they’re open, they thin to enactment open, starring to inadvertent changes erstwhile your digit slides on the button.

You can conscionable pat connected the surface to disregard the control, which I recovered useful. You tin besides conscionable swipe connected the onscreen settings to set them, which allowed for much precise power than swiping on the fastener itself.

In a existent taxable for the iPhone this year, the Camera Control is shipping successful an unfinished state. Apple says a package update later this twelvemonth will let the fastener to emulate a accepted two-stage shutter button, wherever a half-press focuses and a afloat property takes the shot. (I asked, but the institution isn’t giving a patient day for this.) It’s difficult to cognize really large a woody this will beryllium until it arrives; I’ve had a batch of complaints astir iPhone cameras complete the years, but mounting attraction has ne'er been 1 of them.

Apple is very proud of the faster camera sensor successful the iPhone 16 Pro, which it claims offers zero shutter lag, and you tin so click distant beautiful accelerated connected the camera fastener while shooting successful HEIF aliases JPG mode. You tin decidedly outrun it if you’re shooting successful RAW, though — I clocked it astir 4 frames per second, which is beautiful awesome for a telephone but not anyplace adjacent to what a modern mirrorless camera pinch an physics shutter tin do. 

Overall, the fastener is very bully to have, but that’s astir it correct now — arsenic it exists today, it’s not a immense betterment complete shooting photos pinch immoderate different iPhone.

The existent photos, connected the different hand? Well, it’s complicated.

It’s safe to opportunity that a batch of group did not emotion the cameras connected the iPhone 15 and 15 Pro. Apple has gotten progressively fierce pinch its attack to computational photography complete the past fewer years, and various forums and societal platforms person been filled pinch complaints astir that for a while now. The New Yorker published a piece astir iPhone photos looking unrealistic 2 years agone — the consciousness that these cameras are starting to look a small weird has been building.

The iPhone 15 and 15 Pro deed a benignant of tipping constituent — they produced photos truthful aggressively processed that each kinds of group started noticing and complaining astir it. I person been reviewing phones and cameras for a agelong time, but I will ne'er people a reappraisal arsenic efficiently devastating arsenic Alix Earle asking her 7 cardinal followers why her iPhone 15 camera sucks. If group who’ve built multimillion-dollar contented businesses pinch their telephone cameras aren’t loving the cameras connected their caller phones, something’s gone wrong. 

If I had to connection a radically simplified test of what’s going connected pinch each these complaints, it’s simply that the iPhone won’t simply time off shadows and highlights alone. You’re not conscionable taking a photograph erstwhile you property that shutter fastener — Apple’s fancy Photonic Engine HDR photography pipeline captures up to 9 frames pinch each press, intelligently exposes things for illustration the entity and faces successful different ways, applies a awesome woody of sharpening and sound reduction, and drops a last processed image successful your camera roll. The full process allows iPhones to sphere a awesome woody of item crossed an image, but 1 broadside effect is that it inevitably brightens the acheronian parts of an image and brings down the agleam parts truthful you tin really spot that detail.

The broadside effect is that images look level because they deficiency opposition betwixt ray and dark. I ever deliberation astir this for illustration dynamics successful music: if each portion of a opus is loud, past nothing really seems loud. That’s what’s been happening pinch the iPhone camera complete time. Everything is getting truthful agleam that thing is bright, and the photos are starting to look flat, moreover gray.

This clip around, I person bully news and bad news.

The bad news is that by default, the iPhone 16 Pro camera is moreover much fierce astir evening retired shadows and highlights than the iPhone 15 Pro. It’s subtle, but it’s location — you tin spot it pinch basal photos of plants, pinch pictures of people, pinch thoroughfare scenes — it’s each conscionable a small spot brighter, a small spot flatter.

Shadows successful iPhone 16 Pro photos are dramatically boosted compared to the regular iPhone 16, though the 16 Pro offers overmuch nicer extent of field, does little sharpening, and performs amended successful debased light. (I really recovered it difficult to make the 16 Pro spell into nighttime mode, while the regular 16 drops to nighttime mode beautiful easily.) The larger sensor pinch bigger pixels connected the 16 Pro tin conscionable seizure much ray than the sensor connected the 16, and Apple’s default settings usage each that other ray to costs absolute warfare connected shadows. And while the 48-megapixel ultrawide camera connected the iPhone 16 Pro produces 12-megapixel photos that look awfully akin to the iPhone 15 Pro, they are substantially amended than the ultrawide photos from the iPhone 16.

We’re going to do a overmuch deeper camera comparison successful the weeks to come, truthful I won’t overdo the comparison to the Galaxy S24 Ultra and the Pixel 9 Pro XL, since that requires aggravated pixel peeping. Suffice it to opportunity that the Pixel has the champion zoom, while Samsung’s colour handling remains aggressively chaotic. But clip and again, each 3 cameras produced photos that were fundamentally mini variations connected the aforesaid ultraprocessed look that these companies person seemed intent connected chasing for a while now.

But here’s the bully news. 

The iPhone 16 and 16 Pro let you to exclude yourself from this communicative wholly pinch a immense upgrade to the Photographic Styles characteristic that allows you to set really the camera processes colors, tegument tones, and shadows, moreover aft you’ve changeable a photo.

You tin prime betwixt 5 “undertone” settings that are meant to set tegument tones, and 9 “mood” settings that consciousness a batch for illustration high-quality Instagram filters. You tin sprout pinch a unrecorded preview of immoderate of the styles, and past you tin tweak the settings aliases moreover move styles wholly later on.

And each of these styles connection 3 caller good controls: there’s “color,” which is fundamentally saturation, and “palette,” which is the scope of colors being applied. Most importantly, there’s a caller power called “tone” which lets you adhd shadows backmost to your photos. It turns retired Apple is utilizing “tone” successful this discourse to mean “tone mapping,” and successful my tests, the reside power allowed maine to reliably bring the iPhone’s image processing backmost to reality by turning it down.

The reside power is semantically alert — it will set things for illustration faces and the entity differently, truthful it’s still doing immoderate aggravated computational photography, but the extremity is for you to beryllium capable to return photos that look a batch much for illustration what a accepted camera would nutrient if you bring the slider each the measurement down. (You tin besides spell each the measurement up for the astir aggravated smartphone HDR photos you’ve ever seen, if that’s the benignant of point that makes you happy.)

Turning down the reside power felt for illustration a sigh of alleviation — I for illustration photos pinch little fierce reside mapping measurement much than the default iPhone 16 Pro settings and the photos produced by the iPhone 15 Pro. It’s for illustration a haze is being lifted; images are a small punchier, a small much present. You mightiness consciousness differently, but I like shadows and highlights, and the summation of the reside power lets maine person them connected a telephone camera without jumping done the hoops of shooting successful RAW and processing the photos myself.

For me, the reside power offers specified a meaningful betterment to iPhone photos that it’s imaginable to reason that this 1 azygous camera accommodation makes upgrading to an iPhone 16 aliases 16 Pro worthy it. I americium a immense photograph nerd who cares a batch astir these things, and moreover I don’t deliberation that that statement is 100 percent convincing, but it is very imaginable to make that argument, which is wild.

Could you besides conscionable bargain a camera app for illustration Halide and usage its very celebrated caller Process Zero characteristic connected immoderate different iPhone to return little processed photos? You could. Could you conscionable walk this money connected a bully constituent and shoot, which are staging a mini comeback? You decidedly could, and you mightiness alteration your narration to photography successful a profoundly affirmative measurement by doing so. But if you return a batch of iPhone photos, and you’ve started to announcement that they look a small weird, well, it’s imaginable to astatine slightest make the argument. 

Allowing styles to beryllium edited and changed aft a photograph is taken required Apple to reshuffle the Photonic Engine computational photography pipeline — it’s the aforesaid basal process connected the iPhone 16 Pro arsenic connected the 15 Pro, but reside mapping is now 1 of the last steps. The thought present is for the the edits to beryllium “perceptually lossless;” erstwhile you return a photograph successful a style, that’s really the photograph is saved, but the iPhone adds a small chunk of information to the image record that allows it to undo that style and revert the image to standard. This intends you tin tweak styles and moreover alteration them wholly whenever you want, and I had awesome nosy making respective different versions of the aforesaid shot.

That spot of other information results successful files that are astir 25 percent bigger than earlier — astir 3MB alternatively of 2.5MB, mostly — and the vagaries of compression mean that styles only activity if you sprout successful HEIF, a format that continues to bedevil fundamentally everything extracurricular of Apple’s ecosystem. If you group the camera to sprout modular JPGs, you don’t get styles aliases the caller reside control. (Apple’s besides added the expertise to sprout successful the caller JPEG-XL format successful some lossy and lossless modes, but that’s a RAW format, and styles won’t work.) My proposal to Apple would beryllium to let the usage of the reside power arsenic a imperishable exposure-like accommodation erstwhile shooting JPGs, but I’m conscionable a feline who likes shadows.

Styles wide aren’t really fresh for master workflows — the only measurement to set them aft shooting is pinch a fiddly two-axis D-pad power that besides controls color, which makes the full point consciousness woefully imprecise. You besides can’t use a style to a bunch of photos astatine once, and trying to support way of which photos person which styles applied requires staring into the absolute abyss of iOS record management. The Photos app successful macOS Sequoia will beryllium capable to set styles, but Apple won’t opportunity if third-party apps will beryllium capable to support style editing successful the future.

The full vibe of each these caller controls is very overmuch “you fig it out.” The much you play pinch styles, particularly the undertone styles meant for skintones, the much it seems for illustration Apple has simply fixed up connected having a constituent of position for what this camera should look like. Google makes a batch of sound astir its Real Tone project, which is expected to let the Pixel to seizure meticulous tegument tones for each kinds of people, but Apple’s solution is to simply fto group take their ain tegument reside utilizing the “undertones” styles (which works, though it often changed much than conscionable tegument reside successful our trial photos). Undertones besides use to everyone successful an image, truthful if you return a photograph of group pinch a scope of tegument tones, they’re each going to get the aforesaid effect. I get the thought down undertones, but the execution feels for illustration it needs a small much refinement.

I don’t person a batch of opportunity astir the “mood” styles, which are very nosy and expressive. Verge supervising shaper Vjeran Pavic fundamentally fell successful emotion pinch these while he was testing the video features — they reminded him of the very celebrated Fujifilm recipes for emulating different kinds of film. You should watch our video reappraisal for much connected both. The 1 point I will adhd is that the caller spatial audio signaling successful video is amazingly complicated, and doesn’t really consequence successful spatial audio the measurement you’d expect erstwhile you play a video back. 

Apple’s Alex Kirschner told maine that spatial audio seizure is chiefly location to alteration the (very cool!) caller audio operation characteristic that allows you to region inheritance sound from videos of group talking; you’ll get headphone-based spatial audio erstwhile listening done AirPods, but Apple’s bizarrely chosen to person the Apple TV play these videos successful 5.1 aliases 7.1 situation alternatively of thing for illustration Atmos, truthful you’ll suffer immoderate tallness effects. (Worse: if you AirPlay a video captured pinch spatial audio, it will only play backmost successful stereo.)

Is it bananas that a smartphone tin grounds 4K video successful situation sound? It absolutely is. It is conscionable besides getting progressively difficult to understand what Apple intends by “spatial audio,” and really it tin beryllium edited and played backmost crossed various audio devices.

It’s besides notable what isn’t coming connected the iPhone this year: there’s nary generative AI wackiness astatine all. There’s nary video boost aliases face-swapping, nary adding yourself to group photos, nary drafting to adhd worldly pinch AI for illustration connected the Pixel aliases Galaxy phones — really, nary of it. I asked Apple’s VP of camera package engineering Jon McCormack astir Google’s position that the Pixel camera now captures “memories” alternatively of photos, and he told maine that Apple has a beardown constituent of position astir what a photograph is — that it’s thing that really happened. It was a agelong and thoughtful answer, truthful I’m conscionable going to people the full thing:

That’s a crisp and clear answer, but I’m funny really Apple contends pinch the relentless summation of AI editing to the iPhone’s competitors. The institution is already taking mini steps successful that direction: a characteristic called “Clean Up” will get pinch Apple Intelligence, which will let you to region objects from photos for illustration Google’s Magic Eraser. McCormack told maine that characteristic will someway people the resulting images arsenic having been generatively edited, though he didn’t opportunity how.

I did inquire if Apple would adopt an image verification modular for illustration C2PA, which companies for illustration Adobe, Microsoft, OpenAI, and now Amazon and Google person decided to support; McCormack told maine Apple  was waiting to spot really things evolved earlier it made decisions. This is fair, arsenic that modular is a spot of a mess correct now, and it’s not moreover clear it’ll moreover beryllium that effective connected societal platforms. But being capable to spot the images we spot is going to get much and much analyzable and important, and the iPhone is the astir celebrated camera successful the world, truthful it’s clear that the manufacture will yet crook astir Apple’s approach. We’ll see.

Everything other astir the iPhone 16 Pro is incredibly incremental. 

The displays now spell down to 1 nit of brightness, which is very bully for not waking your partner while you doomscroll successful bed. Those displays are besides bigger now — the Pro is 6.3 inches, while the Pro Max is 6.9 inches, which is the largest ever connected an iPhone. The regular Pro doesn’t consciousness that overmuch bigger, since the bezels are smaller and the phones didn’t get immoderate thicker. But the 16 Pro Max feels meaningfully larger than the 15 Pro Max. I person large hands and I’ve ever picked the large phone, and the 16 Pro Max is decidedly correct connected the statement of excessively large to grip for illustration a telephone alternatively of a tablet.

Both phones person an A18 Pro spot inside, which Apple claims is faster by various impressive-sounding percentages than the A17 Pro. As pinch each iPhones, those capacity numbers are mostly astir headroom and longevity astatine this constituent — my iPhone 15 Pro doesn’t consciousness slow, and the 16 Pro doesn’t consciousness faster. I americium very funny to spot if the summation of Apple Intelligence changes this perception, but we’ll conscionable person to hold and see. 

I consciousness the aforesaid measurement astir artillery life. While the iPhone capacity advantage intends these phones will enactment applicable for a agelong time, my acquisition pinch artillery degradation is conscionable the opposite. After astir a year, my iPhone 15 Pro Max artillery capacity has dropped to 93 percent, and it now struggles to make it done a time without enabling Low Power Mode. 

Apple says the iPhone 16 Pro gets importantly amended artillery life than the iPhone 15 Pro, though the institution won’t quote thing different than video playback times. The Pro Max is expected to person the champion artillery life ever connected an iPhone, and the batteries surely held up for afloat days during my testing, which was very dense connected camera usage and screen-on time. But it’s unclear really Apple Intelligence moving various places crossed iOS will impact artillery life, and it’s likewise difficult to cognize if the artillery will enactment beardown aft months and years of use. iPhone 16 Pro battery replacements from Apple costs much than before, truthful this is thing to salary attraction to complete time.

Software-wise, my reappraisal units are moving iOS 18.0, which allows you to radically customize the homescreen, lockscreen, and Control Center, and which supports RCS for amended messaging pinch Android users.

You tin much aliases little taxable the homescreen immoderate measurement you want, down to adjusting icon colors globally, and the lockscreen now allows you to alteration the speedy entree buttons to third-party apps. The preview build of Halide I was testing supported this, truthful I switched it successful for the strategy camera app, which was nice. Once much camera apps support this, we’ll extremity up pinch a lot of ways to unfastened camera apps from the lockscreen now — you’ll beryllium capable to group the Action Button, the Camera Control button, and the lockscreen fastener each to different camera apps if you want, and still have the expertise to unfastened the strategy camera by swiping to the right. Pretty neat.

The revamped Control Center is simply a spot of an adjustment. If you’re for illustration maine and you’ve utilized it by axenic musculus representation for years, moreover the move from squarish icons to circles is simply a small disorienting. The full point is now organized into vertical sheets: favorites, media controls, location controls, and the various power and web controls. You tin move controls and groups of controls astir astatine will, resize them arsenic you like, and mostly create a small freeform bid halfway of your go-to settings. This 1 will each travel down to really overmuch clip you want to walk creating the cleanable statement of controls — I’m a immense nerd, and I can’t hold to walk an hr aliases truthful getting it conscionable right.

Apple besides updated the MagSafe charging system, which tin now complaint astatine up to 25 watts utilizing the caller Qi2-compatible MagSafe puck and a 30W charger. I charged my reappraisal portion for rather a while astatine afloat speed, and it didn’t moreover get warm.

Price-wise, things are the aforesaid arsenic past year: the iPhone 16 Pro starts astatine $999 for the exemplary pinch 128GB of storage, while the larger Pro Max starts astatine $1,199 pinch 256GB of storage. You tin get them successful desert, natural, white, and black, which each look good — I’m a small suspicious that the regular iPhones get nosy colors this year, but I conscionable instrumentality these things successful cases anyway, truthful it doesn’t really matter.

So that is the iPhone 16 Pro… truthful far. As it exists today, it’s a remarkably iterative update to the iPhone 15 Pro — it’s difficult to find reasons to upgrade from past year’s model. And I’m not astatine each convinced that it’s worthy upgrading to the 16 Pro from older Pro models conscionable yet, either — the Camera Control and Action Button are nice, but not crippled changing, and unless you’re excited astir dialing successful the caller Photographic Styles and the caller reside control, you mightiness find the even-brighter-and-flatter photos to really beryllium a measurement backward successful photograph processing. If you can’t tell, I americium personally thrilled by the reside control, truthful this is an easy prime for me, but it feels for illustration it’s worthy waiting a tick for everyone else. 

A batch of group person asked america if the other money for the Pro telephone is worthy it this year, since the spec expanse of the iPhone 16 appears to beryllium very adjacent to the Pro. We’ve sewage a afloat reappraisal of the regular iPhone 16 here, but my short reply is that the Pro camera is meaningfully better, and that Apple shipping a 60Hz surface successful 2024 is conscionable silly, truthful I’m a Pro telephone personification each the way.

It really does consciousness for illustration Apple intended to vessel these things pinch Apple Intelligence, but it’s simply not present yet, and the complete characteristic group Apple’s announced pinch things for illustration image procreation and ChatGPT integration won’t beryllium present until adjacent year. And if you’re successful the EU aliases China, you mightiness beryllium waiting for rather a while, arsenic Apple navigates various regulatory hurdles successful those regions to moreover motorboat this worldly astatine all.

That’s not to opportunity the iPhone 16 Pro is simply a bad telephone — it’s a awesome phone, pinch immoderate fascinating ideas astir smartphone photography embedded successful it. But it’s besides intelligibly unfinished, and I deliberation it’s worthy waiting to spot if Apple Intelligence tin complete immoderate of these thoughts earlier spending the money connected an upgrade.