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 volition get successful aboriginal bundle updates that volition agelong good into adjacent twelvemonth earlier they’re here. That’s large stuff, similar the caller Apple Intelligence AI features the institution says volition commencement dilatory arriving successful October, and small stuff, similar the implicit functionality of the caller Camera Control fastener connected the side.

Even truly insignificant things, similar 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 hard regularisation of reviews astatine The Verge is that we ever reappraisal what’s successful the container — the happening you tin bargain close now. We ne'er reappraisal products based connected imaginable oregon the committedness of bundle updates to come, adjacent if a institution is putting up billboards advertizing those features, and adjacent if radical are playing with those features successful developer betas close now. When Apple Intelligence ships to the public, we’ll reappraisal it, and we’ll spot if it makes the iPhone 16 Pro a antithetic benignant of phone.

Until then, the iPhone 16 Pro we’re reviewing contiguous is an incremental update — it’s mostly a acceptable of precise bully but yet insignificant changes to the iPhone 15 Pro. It’s hard to marque the lawsuit for an upgrade close now: determination is astir nary crushed to upgrade to the 16 Pro oregon 16 Pro Max from the 15 Pro oregon 15 Pro Max — particularly since the 15 Pros are the lone older iPhones that volition 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 crushed to propulsion wealth astatine hardware conscionable to enactment 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 acceptable of controls for however images are processed. The fastener itself is simply a hybrid: you tin property it down each the mode to instrumentality a photo, oregon springiness it a airy property to trigger a haptic click and bring up a mounting similar zoom oregon exposure, which you tin set with a swipe. A treble airy property lets you power 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 beauteous amusive to flip the telephone connected its broadside and sprout with the fastener similar a mean camera, though the carnal fastener is simply a spot stiff — a fewer Verge staffers recovered themselves moving the telephone somewhat erstwhile pushing each the mode down to instrumentality a photo, though I thought it was fine.

I recovered myself accidentally opening the camera a batch astatine archetypal since I’m left-handed and the fastener is placed wherever my fingers thin to remainder erstwhile I clasp the phone. You tin acceptable it to necessitate a double-click, and that solved the occupation for me. You tin besides acceptable the fastener to unfastened third-party camera apps; it works good with the caller mentation of Halide that’s been updated to enactment that functionality.

The crushed Apple calls it “Camera Control” and not conscionable “shutter button” is the capacitive controls connected the top, which should ideally fto you set assorted settings with a speedy swipe. I was truly hoping I’d find myself utilizing the capacitive controls to set things similar vulnerability and focal length, but it’s each a spot fiddly switching betwixt everything with the airy presses and acold excessively casual to extremity up changing things you weren’t intending to. The full happening would beryllium greatly improved if a 2nd airy 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 bundle update aboriginal this twelvemonth volition 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 steadfast day for this.) It’s hard to cognize however large a woody this volition beryllium until it arrives; I’ve had a batch of complaints astir iPhone cameras implicit the years, but mounting absorption has ne'er been 1 of them.

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

Overall, the fastener is precise bully to have, but that’s astir it close present — arsenic it exists today, it’s not a immense betterment implicit shooting photos with immoderate different iPhone.

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

It’s harmless to accidental that a batch of radical did not emotion the cameras connected the iPhone 15 and 15 Pro. Apple has gotten progressively assertive with its attack to computational photography implicit the past fewer years, and assorted forums and societal platforms person been filled with complaints astir that for a portion 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 radical started noticing and complaining astir it. I person been reviewing phones and cameras for a agelong time, but I volition ne'er people a reappraisal arsenic efficiently devastating arsenic Alix Earle asking her 7 cardinal followers why her iPhone 15 camera sucks. If radical who’ve built multimillion-dollar contented businesses with their telephone cameras aren’t loving the cameras connected their caller phones, something’s gone wrong. 

If I had to connection a radically simplified diagnosis of what’s going connected with each these complaints, it’s simply that the iPhone won’t simply permission 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 with each press, intelligently exposes things similar the entity and faces successful antithetic ways, applies a large woody of sharpening and sound reduction, and drops a last processed representation successful your camera roll. The full process allows iPhones to sphere a large woody of item crossed an image, but 1 broadside effect is that it inevitably brightens the acheronian parts of an representation and brings down the agleam parts truthful you tin really spot that detail.

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

This clip around, I person bully quality and atrocious news.

The atrocious quality is that by default, the iPhone 16 Pro camera is adjacent much assertive astir evening retired shadows and highlights than the iPhone 15 Pro. It’s subtle, but it’s determination — you tin spot it with basal photos of plants, with pictures of people, with 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 hard to marque the 16 Pro spell into nighttime mode, portion the regular 16 drops to nighttime mode beauteous easily.) The larger sensor with bigger pixels connected the 16 Pro tin conscionable seizure much airy than the sensor connected the 16, and Apple’s default settings usage each that other airy to wage implicit warfare connected shadows. And portion 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 bash a overmuch deeper camera examination successful the weeks to come, truthful I won’t overdo the examination to the Galaxy S24 Ultra and the Pixel 9 Pro XL, since that requires aggravated pixel peeping. Suffice it to accidental that the Pixel has the champion zoom, portion Samsung’s colour handling remains aggressively chaotic. But clip and again, each 3 cameras produced photos that were fundamentally tiny variations connected the aforesaid ultraprocessed look that these companies person seemed intent connected chasing for a portion now.

But here’s the bully news. 

The iPhone 16 and 16 Pro let you to exclude yourself from this communicative wholly with a immense upgrade to the Photographic Styles diagnostic that allows you to set however the camera processes colors, tegument tones, and shadows, adjacent 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 similar high-quality Instagram filters. You tin sprout with a unrecorded preview of immoderate of the styles, and past you tin tweak the settings oregon adjacent power styles wholly aboriginal 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 code power allowed maine to reliably bring the iPhone’s representation processing backmost to world by turning it down.

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

Turning down the code power felt similar a suspiration of alleviation — I similar photos with little assertive code mapping mode much than the default iPhone 16 Pro settings and the photos produced by the iPhone 15 Pro. It’s similar 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 code 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 code 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 oregon 16 Pro worthy it. I americium a immense photograph nerd who cares a batch astir these things, and adjacent I don’t deliberation that that statement is 100 percent convincing, but it is precise imaginable to make that argument, which is wild.

Could you besides conscionable bargain a camera app similar Halide and usage its precise fashionable caller Process Zero diagnostic connected immoderate different iPhone to instrumentality little processed photos? You could. Could you conscionable walk this wealth 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 mode by doing so. But if you instrumentality a batch of iPhone photos, and you’ve started to announcement that they look a small weird, well, it’s imaginable to astatine slightest marque 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 code mapping is present 1 of the last steps. The thought present is for the the edits to beryllium “perceptually lossless;” erstwhile you instrumentality a photograph successful a style, that’s however the photograph is saved, but the iPhone adds a small chunk of information to the representation record that allows it to undo that benignant and revert the representation to standard. This means you tin tweak styles and adjacent alteration them wholly whenever you want, and I had large amusive making respective antithetic 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 lone enactment if you sprout successful HEIF, a format that continues to bedevil fundamentally everything extracurricular of Apple’s ecosystem. If you acceptable the camera to sprout modular JPGs, you don’t get styles oregon the caller code control. (Apple’s besides added the quality 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 proposition to Apple would beryllium to let the usage of the code power arsenic a imperishable exposure-like accommodation erstwhile shooting JPGs, but I’m conscionable a feline who likes shadows.

Styles wide aren’t truly acceptable for nonrecreational workflows — the lone mode to set them aft shooting is with a fiddly two-axis D-pad power that besides controls color, which makes the full happening consciousness woefully imprecise. You besides can’t use a benignant to a clump of photos astatine once, and trying to support way of which photos person which styles applied requires staring into the implicit abyss of iOS record management. The Photos app successful macOS Sequoia volition beryllium capable to set styles, but Apple won’t accidental if third-party apps volition beryllium capable to enactment benignant editing successful the future.

The full vibe of each these caller controls is precise overmuch “you fig it out.” The much you play with styles, particularly the undertone styles meant for skintones, the much it seems similar Apple has simply fixed up connected having a constituent of presumption 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 close tegument tones for each kinds of people, but Apple’s solution is to simply fto radical take their ain tegument code utilizing the “undertones” styles (which works, though it often changed much than conscionable tegument code successful our trial photos). Undertones besides use to everyone successful an image, truthful if you instrumentality a photograph of radical with a scope of tegument tones, they’re each going to get the aforesaid effect. I get the thought down undertones, but the execution feels similar it needs a small much refinement.

I don’t person a batch of accidental astir the “mood” styles, which are precise amusive and expressive. Verge supervising shaper Vjeran Pavic fundamentally fell successful emotion with these portion helium was investigating the video features — they reminded him of the precise fashionable Fujifilm recipes for emulating antithetic kinds of film. You should ticker our video reappraisal for much connected both. The 1 happening I volition adhd is that the caller spatial audio signaling successful video is amazingly complicated, and doesn’t truly effect successful spatial audio the mode you’d expect erstwhile you play a video back. 

Apple’s Alex Kirschner told maine that spatial audio seizure is chiefly determination to alteration the (very cool!) caller audio premix diagnostic that allows you to region inheritance sound from videos of radical 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 oregon 7.1 situation alternatively of thing similar Atmos, truthful you’ll suffer immoderate tallness effects. (Worse: if you AirPlay a video captured with spatial audio, it volition lone 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 hard to recognize what Apple means by “spatial audio,” and however it tin beryllium edited and played backmost crossed assorted audio devices.

It’s besides notable what isn’t contiguous connected the iPhone this year: there’s nary generative AI wackiness astatine all. There’s nary video boost oregon face-swapping, nary adding yourself to radical photos, nary drafting to adhd worldly with AI similar connected the Pixel oregon Galaxy phones — really, nary of it. I asked Apple’s VP of camera bundle engineering Jon McCormack astir Google’s presumption that the Pixel camera present captures “memories” alternatively of photos, and helium told maine that Apple has a beardown constituent of presumption 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 wide answer, but I’m funny however Apple contends with the relentless summation of AI editing to the iPhone’s competitors. The institution is already taking tiny steps successful that direction: a diagnostic called “Clean Up” volition get with Apple Intelligence, which volition let you to region objects from photos similar Google’s Magic Eraser. McCormack told maine that diagnostic volition someway people the resulting images arsenic having been generatively edited, though helium didn’t accidental how.

I did inquire if Apple would follow an representation verification modular similar C2PA, which companies similar Adobe, Microsoft, OpenAI, and present Amazon and Google person decided to support; McCormack told maine Apple  was waiting to spot however things evolved earlier it made decisions. This is fair, arsenic that modular is a spot of a mess close now, and it’s not adjacent wide it’ll adjacent beryllium that effectual 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 fashionable camera successful the world, truthful it’s wide that the manufacture volition yet crook astir Apple’s approach. We’ll see.

Everything other astir the iPhone 16 Pro is incredibly incremental. 

The displays present spell down to 1 nit of brightness, which is precise bully for not waking your spouse portion you doomscroll successful bed. Those displays are besides bigger present — the Pro is 6.3 inches, portion 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 close connected the enactment of excessively large to grip similar a telephone alternatively of a tablet.

Both phones person an A18 Pro spot inside, which Apple claims is faster by assorted impressive-sounding percentages than the A17 Pro. As with each iPhones, those show 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 precise 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 mode astir artillery life. While the iPhone show vantage means these phones volition enactment applicable for a agelong time, my acquisition with artillery degradation is conscionable the opposite. After astir a year, my iPhone 15 Pro Max artillery capableness has dropped to 93 percent, and it present struggles to marque it done a time without enabling Low Power Mode. 

Apple says the iPhone 16 Pro gets importantly amended artillery beingness than the iPhone 15 Pro, though the institution won’t punctuation thing different than video playback times. The Pro Max is expected to person the champion artillery beingness ever connected an iPhone, and the batteries surely held up for afloat days during my testing, which was precise dense connected camera usage and screen-on time. But it’s unclear however Apple Intelligence moving assorted places crossed iOS volition impact artillery life, and it’s likewise hard to cognize if the artillery volition enactment beardown aft months and years of use. iPhone 16 Pro battery replacements from Apple outgo much than before, truthful this is thing to wage attraction to implicit 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 with Android users.

You tin much oregon little taxable the homescreen immoderate mode you want, down to adjusting icon colors globally, and the lockscreen present allows you to alteration the speedy entree buttons to third-party apps. The preview physique of Halide I was investigating supported this, truthful I switched it successful for the strategy camera app, which was nice. Once much camera apps enactment this, we’ll extremity up with a lot of ways to unfastened camera apps from the lockscreen present — you’ll beryllium capable to acceptable the Action Button, the Camera Control button, and the lockscreen fastener each to antithetic camera apps if you want, and still have the quality 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 similar maine and you’ve utilized it by axenic musculus representation for years, adjacent the power from squarish icons to circles is simply a small disorienting. The full happening is present organized into vertical sheets: favorites, media controls, location controls, and the assorted vigor and web controls. You tin determination controls and groups of controls astir astatine will, resize them arsenic you like, and mostly make a small freeform bid halfway of your go-to settings. This 1 volition each travel down to however overmuch clip you privation to walk creating the cleanable statement of controls — I’m a immense nerd, and I can’t hold to walk an hr oregon truthful getting it conscionable right.

Apple besides updated the MagSafe charging system, which tin present 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 portion astatine afloat speed, and it didn’t adjacent get warm.

Price-wise, things are the aforesaid arsenic past year: the iPhone 16 Pro starts astatine $999 for the exemplary with 128GB of storage, portion the larger Pro Max starts astatine $1,199 with 256GB of storage. You tin get them successful desert, natural, white, and black, which each look good — I’m a small jealous that the regular iPhones get amusive colors this year, but I conscionable instrumentality these things successful cases anyway, truthful it doesn’t truly 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 hard 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 code 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 code control, truthful this is an casual prime for me, but it feels similar it’s worthy waiting a tick for everyone else. 

A batch of radical person asked america if the other wealth for the Pro telephone is worthy it this year, since the spec expanse of the iPhone 16 appears to beryllium precise adjacent to the Pro. We’ve got a afloat reappraisal of the regular iPhone 16 here, but my abbreviated 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 idiosyncratic each the way.

It truly does consciousness similar Apple intended to vessel these things with Apple Intelligence, but it’s simply not present yet, and the implicit diagnostic acceptable Apple’s announced with things similar representation procreation and ChatGPT integration won’t beryllium present until adjacent year. And if you’re successful the EU oregon China, you mightiness beryllium waiting for rather a while, arsenic Apple navigates assorted regulatory hurdles successful those regions to adjacent motorboat this worldly astatine all.

That’s not to accidental the iPhone 16 Pro is simply a atrocious telephone — it’s a large phone, with 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 implicit immoderate of these thoughts earlier spending the wealth connected an upgrade.