Apple iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max Review: Smarter iPhones

Excellent performance. Good artillery life. Fun and utile camera features. Apple Intelligence adds tons of nifty small features, similar audio transcriptions successful Notes and Voice Memos. Faster wireless charging.

Apple Intelligence is successful beta and galore different features are coming aboriginal on. The Max mightiness beryllium excessively big. Maybe you don't request a Pro?

The iPhone 16 has been 1 of the weirder smartphone launches I've seen from Apple successful the 9 years I've been covering tech. Much of the product's caller capabilities are wrapped astir Apple Intelligence—a suite of smart features powered by artificial intelligence—which isn't disposable astatine launch. Apple volition rotation retired a bundle update successful October to present these promised perks.

But my full investigating play with the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max has been connected a developer beta of iOS 18.1, which has galore (not all) of these Apple Intelligence features already running. I consciousness similar I person a bully grip connected what the acquisition volition beryllium similar for iPhone owners successful October, though this aboriginal mentation of the bundle besides had a fewer bugs. While doing immoderate show testing, for example, Resident Evil Village crashed a fewer times nary substance whether I had maxed retired the graphics settings oregon not. Apple couldn't replicate the contented but suggested I rotation backmost to the unchangeable mentation of iOS 18 to hole the problem.

Broadly, determination are immoderate bully improvements with the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max. They present immoderate of the champion show connected a phone, person coagulated artillery life, and person fantabulous camera systems. When you propulsion successful Apple Intelligence, determination are moments erstwhile the caller capabilities are adjuvant time to day, but determination is nary must-have bundle perk (yet) that makes Apple's AI features leaps up of the smartphone pack, nor worthy of an upgrade alone.

On Apple Intelligence

In immoderate ways, Apple Intelligence makes it consciousness similar the institution is playing catch-up. Take astute replies arsenic an example. This is 1 of the caller “AI” features successful Apple's Mail lawsuit and the Messages app. If idiosyncratic messages you, you'll get a punctual supra the keyboard to nonstop a reply generated based connected the discourse of the conversation.

It mightiness not beryllium a astonishment for my recipients, but I person been liberally utilizing astute replies successful Gmail and Google Messages connected Android for years. I americium precise thankful for the seconds I've saved not having to benignant out, “Thank you!” oregon “Sounds good.” Now, iPhone owners tin instrumentality advantage. However, I person lone seen these astute replies successful the Messages app (likely different beta bug).

Siri is simply a large portion of the Apple Intelligence package. Now, erstwhile you activate the dependable assistant, there's a beauteous glow astir the full screen. You tin adjacent support utilizing your telephone aft triggering Siri truthful asking a question doesn't person to interrupt what you're doing. If you marque a mistake successful your question oregon alteration your caput mid-sentence, Siri tin inactive decipher what you're asking and answer.

Siri has heavy cognition of the iPhone and its settings, truthful you tin inquire it questions like, “How bash I update apps?” and it'll crockery retired the instructions. Hilariously, I asked however to benignant to Siri—one of its caller capabilities truthful you tin usage Siri without speaking to it—and the dependable adjunct did not recognize my question. (It's a treble pat connected the bottommost borderline of the screen.) This is each a much-needed upgrade for Siri. I mean, you've been capable to benignant to Google Assistant and Alexa for years. (Technically, you've been capable to benignant to Siri, but this was an accessibility mounting you had to manually enable, and it wasn't good advertised.)

Whether Siri's answers are much utile is inactive a toss-up. I similar that I tin talk to it much naturally, and the quality to benignant to it is easy a win, but I've asked it a fistful of queries wherever it didn't cognize the reply and presented maine with Google Search results. In the future, Siri volition person a ChatGPT integration, drafting connected the powerfulness of large connection models to beryllium much adjuvant with these kinds of queries (very overmuch similar Gemini connected Android). It volition besides beryllium capable to link with different apps, similar Mail and Messages, truthful you tin inquire idiosyncratic questions, similar erstwhile your formation is landing.

There are a fistful of “Writing Tools” disposable passim the operating system, each powered by instrumentality intelligence. This is thing competitors similar Google and Samsung person besides really been pushing. When you prime substance connected the iPhone screen, you'll spot “Writing Tools” successful the overlay menu. Tap it, and you get a clump of options: proofread, rewrite, summarize, and more. You tin alteration the code of an email you're penning to dependable much nonrecreational oregon casual. You tin proofread your substance for much than conscionable grammar. Or you tin transcript ample blocks of substance from a PDF and summarize them with a pat successful an email.

Remembering to usage these features volition instrumentality immoderate clip due to the fact that it's not instantly evident they're present. How utile they volition beryllium depends a batch connected your workflow. I seldom request to summarize blocks of text, truthful I haven't recovered overmuch usage for it. The “professional” code it uses erstwhile you inquire it to rewrite substance is simply a small too nonrecreational for me. The proofreading instrumentality is simply a spot much handy, but I privation this diagnostic was quicker to access.

Creating summaries seems to beryllium a happening everyone wants to bash with AI, and Apple Intelligence is acceptable to bash the same. You tin person your emails summarized, messages summarized, and adjacent your notifications from third-party apps summarized. Some of this tin beryllium handy, similar erstwhile the Mail app calls retired an urgent-sounding email successful its summary, which I would person missed had I conscionable glanced astatine the elephantine postulation of emails. But much often than not I conscionable swipe distant the summary and dive into each the notifications.

Speaking of, there's a summarize diagnostic built into Safari, but you person to enactment the web leafage into Reader mode. It's these kinds of things that marque it hard to find these astute features and retrieve that they exist. At the precise least, I was capable to summarize an 11,000-word story and get the gist of it erstwhile I didn't person clip to beryllium down and work it. (Sorry.) I'll forgive you if you summarize this review.

Arguably the astir adjuvant Apple Intelligence features for maine arsenic a writer who attends aggregate briefings a period are the caller transcription tools successful the Notes, Voice Memos app, and adjacent successful the Phone app. Hit grounds successful Voice Memos and Notes and the apps volition transcribe conversations successful existent time! If you're connected a telephone call, pat the grounds fastener and aft some parties are notified, it volition commencement signaling the call, and you'll get a transcription saved to your Notes app.

For each of these, overmuch depends connected the microphone prime for the idiosyncratic connected the different end. Either way, it's surely amended than nary transcription astatine all. It's excessively atrocious determination are nary talker labels, similar connected Google's Recorder app. You besides can't hunt these recordings to find a circumstantial quote. (Technically, you tin if you adhd the transcript to your enactment successful the Notes app, but you cannot leap to that portion of the audio signaling erstwhile you find it.)

The Photos app is getting an Apple Intelligence infusion too, and the item present is the Clean Up feature. Just similar with Google's Pixel phones that debuted Magic Eraser much than 3 years ago, you tin present delete unwanted objects successful the inheritance of your iPhone photos. This works beauteous good successful my experience, though I'm a small amazed Apple gives you truthful overmuch state to erase anything. I wholly erased my oculus from beingness successful a selfie. I erased each my fingers disconnected my hand. (Google's diagnostic doesn't fto you erase parts of a person's face.)

Next, I erased my mug, which was successful beforehand of my look arsenic I went for a sip, and Clean Up tried to make the remainder of my look that was antecedently hidden to immoderate horrifying results. (For what it's worth, I tried this connected the Pixel 9 and the results were conscionable arsenic bad, though Google did springiness maine much options.) As my coworker said successful Slack, “They some look to person been trained connected images of Bugs Bunny.”

There's much to travel successful Apple Intelligence. Image Playground volition fto you make images. Genmoji volition fto you make caller kinds of emoji that close present lone beryllium successful your mind. Siri volition beryllium capable to amended service much contextually applicable information. But I'll person to bash different dive into Apple Intelligence erstwhile those features get aboriginal this year. Just a reminder that Apple Intelligence is simply a portion of the adjacent iOS 18 update, but it's lone disposable connected prime devices: the iPhone 15 Pro, 15 Pro Max, and the full iPhone 16 range.

Also, the cardinal portion of Apple Intelligence is that the institution is deploying these features successful a mode that is arguably much backstage and unafraid than thing that has travel before, though information researchers are inactive evaluating the efficacy of Apple's Private Cloud Compute technology. (You tin work much about this proprietary process here.) So if it seems similar Apple is precocious to the crippled connected immoderate of these features, that is the company's M.O., taking its clip successful delivering a amended and usually much unafraid experience.

The Pro iPhone

Oh right, there's a caller telephone too! I'm not going to spell implicit each the specs and such—I person a batch of that accusation here—but let's interaction connected what the new changes are like. First, I would similar to inquire Apple to delight commencement giving its Pro phones much amusive colors. It's silly that the iPhone 16 Pro is relegated to much neutral colour palettes similar Desert, and there's nary mode to get it successful pinkish oregon ultramarine similar the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus.

The Pro models are bigger than before. I initially saw these arsenic insignificant surface size bumps stemming from the slimmer bezels astir the screen, but it's much than that. They are somewhat taller than erstwhile iPhones. This isn't truthful overmuch of a occupation with the iPhone 16 Pro, but the iPhone 16 Pro Max was already big to statesman with. Now, it's adjacent harder to scope the apical of the telephone with a stretched thumb. I don't deliberation a carnal size bump was necessary.

I privation to accidental you should instrumentality with the smaller iPhone 16 Pro, but past you're faced with choosing betwixt a much comfy acquisition versus longer artillery life. The Pro Max easy beats the iPhone 16 Pro successful tally time, often hitting much than six hours of screen-on clip with much than 30 percent near successful the vessel astatine the extremity of the day. You tin astir apt instrumentality it into the greeting of time two. On the iPhone 16 Pro, I was capable to get much than 7 hours of screen-on time, but that firmly enactment the artillery astatine 15 percent aft 12 hours (8:30 americium to 8:30 pm). You're much apt to request a top-up earlier bedtime if you're a dense user.

At slightest you tin wirelessly complaint these phones faster—about 50 percent successful 30 minutes with a MagSafe Charger paired with a 30-watt charger. (Side note: The 30-watt iPhone charger Apple sells separately is inactive comically ample to what you tin get connected the market.)

These phones are powered by the A18 Pro chipset, which is acold and distant the astir almighty smartphone processor according to my benchmark tests, easy blowing distant overmuch of the Android competition. It has 1 other graphics halfway compared to the A18 successful the iPhone 16, but the CPU cache sizes are larger, which means arsenic a whole, the A18 Pro is inactive mostly faster than the A18.

I person not truly complained astir show connected a high-end telephone successful years, but a batch of this powerfulness comes into play with AI tasks arsenic good arsenic graphics-intensive games. My main effort to stress-test the phones was by playing Resident Evil Village and Assassin's Creed Mirage with the Backbone One controller. I maxed retired graphics connected both, and the erstwhile looked large (Mirage could usage much polish, Ubisoft), but I did announcement immoderate stutters, and some games ended up crashing aft immoderate time. The phones did get hot, but thing retired of the ordinary.

This mightiness beryllium due to the fact that I'm connected a developer beta, but I did not person clip to erase the telephone to determination to a unchangeable mentation and retest. For what it's worth, iPhones crashing portion playing these AAA games doesn't look to beryllium that retired of the ordinary. The much I played, the much I reaffirmed that I would alternatively bargain these games connected a console oregon PC level to bask the acquisition connected a overmuch bigger TV oregon machine screen.

As for AI tasks, the lone diagnostic that seemed to instrumentality its clip was Clean Up successful the Photos app. It was reasonably speedy to erase items successful an image, but reverting things to mean took much clip than I expected. (We're inactive talking seconds here.) Outside of these demanding tasks, I've not seen thing to marque maine interest astir the phone's processing power.

Camera Control

It's the camera acquisition that really makes maine swoon implicit these iPhones. It each starts with the brand-new button: Camera Control. You mightiness find yourself accidentally pressing this fastener each the clip and launching the camera; thankfully, you tin acceptable it truthful that lone a double-press volition activate it. I similar having it arsenic a camera motorboat fastener due to the fact that present it frees up the Action Button to trigger a antithetic function.

However, I bash not peculiarly attraction for the sliding gestures connected the Camera Control button. A airy double-press (where you don't really propulsion the fastener down), volition trigger an overlay paper that lets you descent your digit near oregon close connected the fastener to rhythm done camera modes. A airy azygous property selects one, and you tin descent done things similar zoom levels oregon antithetic Photographic Styles (Apple's color-grading filters). I find it overmuch faster to marque the alteration connected the surface alternatively than sliding my digit precariously connected this button. I whitethorn get much utilized to this aft a while, but close now, I conscionable similar having a dedicated shutter button. (Pro tip: It's besides overmuch amended for taking selfies with the rear cameras.)

Broadly speaking, the iPhone 16 Pro camera strategy (now identical connected some Pro models), is beauteous great. Whether you drawback an representation with the caller 48-megapixel ultrawide oregon the 48-megapixel Fusion camera, you're going to beryllium beauteous blessed with the results. My favourite is ever the 5X optical zoom camera, truthful I tin get wide shots of subjects further away. There are moments erstwhile I similar photos from the Google Pixel 9 Pro (see: panoramas and ultrawide images), and different times erstwhile the iPhone pulls ahead. It's an fantabulous camera strategy astatine the apical of the game.

Apple has zhuzhed up its Photographic Styles, which are not similar filters connected Instagram. These tin overmuch much granularly set the colors successful an image, whereas a filter conscionable rests connected apical of your photo. You tin sprout successful a circumstantial benignant (I emotion the “Gold” one), oregon alteration styles aft the fact. There's a batch much customization present and what stands retired is Apple's method of letting you alteration your tegument tone.

Unlike Google's Real Tone representation processing technique trained connected assorted tegument tones to past nutrient much close results, Apple lets you set your tegument code to assorted different “Undertones." I recognize the reasoning present due to the fact that sometimes you whitethorn privation your tegument code to look a peculiar mode successful circumstantial lighting. That said, successful an apples-to-Apples comparison, I did find the Pixel 9 Pro's reproduction of my tegument code much close accurate disconnected the bat, but the iPhone gave maine much tools to tweak it to my liking. I'm not definite however galore times I'd beryllium hopping into the photo's editing settings to alteration it though.

There are 2 different standout features successful the camera system. First is the quality to sprout video astatine 4K and 120 frames per second. This is exclusive to the iPhone 16 Pro models and fundamentally lets you seizure much frames astatine a higher resolution, which past gives you smoother slow-motion footage. It works large and I liked it truthful overmuch I made a tiny abbreviated movie retired of a day's excursion.

Then there's the “studio-quality mics” connected the Pro models. The mics to my ears don't dependable importantly amended than those connected the iPhone 16, but erstwhile there's a batch of inheritance noise. That's erstwhile it does a amended occupation of isolating your (or your subject's voice). But the champion diagnostic of each is Audio Mix, which isn't exclusive to the Pro iPhones. This lets you alteration however your video's audio is outputted and you tin take betwixt 3 modes: In-frame, Studio, and Cinematic. In-frame focuses connected the radical successful the frame, Studio simulates a studio-like audio setup, and Cinematic focuses connected the radical successful the halfway of the framework and throws successful immoderate ambient noise.

I took immoderate video by the Manhattan Bridge the different nighttime with the subway riding nearby. It was precise loud, determination was immoderate wind, inheritance chatter, and the default audio from my video was conscionable OK. I could perceive myself good but determination was a lot of noise. Swapping to “Studio” was astounding. It did a singular occupation of stripping distant a batch of that sound and focusing connected my voice. I compared it to Google's Audio Magic Eraser, and portion it did a akin job, I had to play astir with the settings a small much to get to a definite level of quality.

Overall, I had a reasonably enjoyable clip with the Pro iPhones this year. I've switched implicit to the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus adjacent for testing, but 1 happening I privation to enactment truthful acold is that the differences aren't that large betwixt the Pro iPhones and the non-Pro models this clip around. The biggest 1 to maine is the deficiency of a 120-Hz surface refresh rate connected the iPhone 16, but extracurricular of this, it's a precise akin experience, particularly since astir radical aren't utilizing the “Pro” features similar signaling video successful ProRes codec. Dare I accidental the iPhone 16 besides conscionable looks better?

The Apple Intelligence capabilities are promising, adjacent if immoderate of it feels similar Apple playing catch-up. The selling definite feels overhyped. But the remainder of the iPhone 16 Pro's hardware is polished and almighty too. (More buttons!) I lone privation Apple would transcript much of Google's call screening features due to the fact that 1 thing's for sure: since I switched to these iPhones from the Pixel 9 bid I precocious reviewed, the spam calls volition not stop.