It's been a month since the iPhone 16 series launched globally, but I managed to play around with it in less than two weeks. That said, it has given me more than enough time to formulate my thoughts about the iPhone 16 Pro. In fact, out of all the iPhone reviews I've done over the past few years, this is the fastest review I think I did. Without beating around the bush too much, read my iPhone 16 Pro review below.
Design - Same thing but with more buttons
You've heard it before and it's a yearly tradition, so say it with me - the new iPhone looks exactly the same. It's a fair assessment, but there are some new changes this time. The camera lenses grew bigger again, with the display size now 6.3 inches instead of the usual 6.1 inches, which is nice. And, of course, the new Camera Control button that the news has been blabbing about since last year.
Honestly, I thought Desert Titanium would look more golden than this
Mostly unchanged, but you can see the new Camera Control (left) along the frame with the power button
Camera lenses are THICC
To be honest, I thought Apple was going to go for a portless design iPhone because of the removal of the audio jack, the introduction of MagSafe charging and adding the Action Button (rumoured to become a solid-state haptic button in the future) last year. However, Apple decided to slap on the Camera Control because the Action Button wasn't enough.
Playing with the Camera Control does remind me of my many previous Sony Xperia X series reviews because it was a trademark function back then. Apple is obviously not the first one to come up with the idea, but it can be argued that the iPhone 16 development team made it better thanks to the gesture controls and interactions on the display. So, is it useful?
Features - Nope, no "Glow" Time
Here are the tech specs and features of the iPhone 16 Pro:
- A18 Pro chipset
- 8GB of RAM
- 128GB, 256GB, 512GB or 1TB of storage
- Measures 149.6 x 71.5 x 8.3 mm, weighs 199g
- 6.3-inch Super Retina XDR display with 120Hz ProMotion technology
- Triple rear camera - 48MP Fusion (OIS) + 48MP Ultrawide + 120mm Telephoto/TOF 3D LiDAR scanner (depth) setup
- Front camera - 12MP (PDAF and OIS)
- Features - Camera Control, Action Button, Face ID, Emergency SOS, IP68 water and dust resistance, 4K 120FPS recording, Dolby Vision, ProRAW
- Supports Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6e/7, Bluetooth 5.3, NFC, USB Type-C 3.2 Gen and 5G connectivity
- 3582mAh battery pack (up to 45W USB-C cable and 25W MagSafe wireless charging)
Continuing from the Camera Control topic, the practical usage will depend on your willingness to adapt. For iPhone users like me who have been using the iPhone for years, it's admittedly difficult to get used to the new control button. I find the Camera Control button just slightly out of the sweet spot to hold in both vertical and horizontal positions, maybe because I have short fingers.
You could use your thumb to use the Camera Control, but it felt a bit uncomfortable
Soft-press and hold the Camera Control to access the mode, then slide to get the desired settings
To access other modes, double soft-press the button and slide along the options
You can also set the Camera Control to other different tasks (left) and change the image format
Furthermore, new users will have to get used to double soft-pressing the Camera Control to access other photo modes or camera settings on the go. It sounds great on paper, as mobile photographers can pre-set the mode and take photos all day. But I think most users will only use the Camera Control to launch the camera and take snapshots. It's more difficult to use it vertically with the awkward thumb position.
Personally, I find some of the Camera Control functions a bit redundant. For example, it's way faster to use your fingers to pinch and zoom, as well as look for or use different camera filters afterwards, instead of using sliding gestures. Perhaps Apple can refine it further with Apple Intelligence features when it arrives.
The default primary camera mode is set to 24mm and you can tap on it to switch to 28 or 35mm
Pre-setting the tone before taking a photo shoot can be useful
Cinematic Video mode is a wet dream for videographers. On the other hand, Spatial Mode is only eligible for Apple Vision Pro
Speaking of Apple Intelligence, none of the iPhone 16 series has it at launch, so there's nothing much to say here. At the time of posting this review, Apple Intelligence has yet to arrive. But when it does, it's something we can look into for another day. But for now, yeah...no glow time.
Performance - Amazing battery and camera performance, though
From the features, the iPhone 16 Pro sounds a bit lacklustre. But worry not, as it's still a powerful device. Like the A18, the A18 Pro is also a 2nd-Gen 3nm SoC with a 16-core neural engine and 6-core CPU 15% faster and 20% less power consumption than its predecessor. The only difference is a 6-core GPU that is 20% faster, offering 2x faster Ray Tracing and a new Advanced Media section on the chip for a new video encoder, faster USB speeds and other advanced capabilities.
Playing Resident Evil 4 Remake on the iPhone 16 Pro is pretty wild, but recommended with a gaming controller
C'mon, Ubisoft...really?
It's already a known fact that ever since the iPhone 15 Pro, iPhones have been capable of playing console-level games. That testament alone is sufficient for its gaming performance measurement, but perhaps game developers could have done a better job. When I booted up Assassin's Creed Mirage and Resident Evil 4 Remake, it was clear as night and day that these games' graphics had to be bumped down. The device can also heat up when playing these games and if you push the settings too much, expect some game crashing experience.
Of course, when you play other graphics-intense mobile games (like Diablo Immortal, Call of Duty Mobile and others), the iPhone 16 Pro excels in that, so there's that. Another aspect showing excellent performance is battery life. We previously reported that a few iPhone 16 series users are complaining about the battery drainage, but I personally didn't encounter any even with the latest iOS 18 software update.
(Left) I could do hours of video recording until evening time; (Right) Easily used it for the whole day before recharging
Recharging is fairly fast, but I didn't have a 45W charging brick with me, so it could have been faster
On multiple occasions, my iPhone 16 Pro was able to last a day easily. There was one time when I did some video recording for two hours and could continue using it until the next day. In addition, I could also use the device without charging for almost two days with average social media usage. There is no doubt the iPhone 16 Pro's battery performance is one of, if not the best thing about it.
Another highlight of the iPhone 16 Pro is none other than the cameras. Compared with the iPhone 15 Pro, the iPhone 16 Pro's camera functions are refined and better. The ultrawide camera also got an upgrade (finally) to 48MP and can produce ProRAW and HEIF image formats. Alternatively, you can toggle the sensor to millimetre distances on the primary camera if you don't want to use optical zoom-ins.
Moreover, you can use the iPhone 16 Pro to record a 4K 120FPS video in Dolby Vision, a wet dream for videographers. Even my wife, who is a non-iPhone user, can tell that there is a significant improvement in the photo quality. Well, I'll let the photos speak for themselves, so do check them out below.
The backlight on these photos has been improved a lot, for real
Some street photography here
Using the Camera Control to take a shot while being submerged halfway
Yes, you can do underwater shots with the Camera Control
Ultrawide mode in 4:3 aspect ratio
Normal shots with the primary camera
Sometimes, the camera will trigger a different tone from a different angle, even if it's at the same spot
Macro shots
(L-R) 1x, 2x and 5x optical zoom shots
Another 5x optical zoom shot
Low-light shots with the primary camera
Conclusion - It's a fine product, but...
All in all, the iPhone 16 Pro is a quality flagship by Apple as expected. If you're using an older iPhone (14 and below), the upgrade is huge, particularly in battery life and camera performance. It's also slightly bigger and a bit more "affordable" than its predecessor, starting at RM4,999. However, comparing it with the iPhone 15 Pro is a different story.
You see, Apple has been heavily promoting its Apple Intelligence on the iPhone 16 series with the Glow Time theme. So, imagine a casual customer, who is usually the main consumer of iPhones, finding out that none of these features are ready since launch day. It's quite a ballsy move for Apple, which has a reputation for completing a function before releasing it. Alas, this is what we got. Hopefully, it would be worth the wait.
Oh AI, where art thou?
Without Apple Intelligence, the iPhone 16 Pro is very similar to the iPhone 15 Pro, minus the Camera Control, which I think many users can live without. As mentioned, I have yet to test out any Apple Intelligence features, so it's hard to say if they will make a big impact or not. This requires a separate review when Apple slowly rolls out the software updates.
In comparison, customers who are looking for a flagship with AI-ready features can consider the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra (starting from RM6,299) or the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL (starting price at RM5,699). These flagships are more expensive, but at least they come packaged with their respective AI functions. Also, prices should be a bit lower by now so you can keep an eye out for seasonal sales towards the end of 2024.
Anyway, that's all for our iPhone 16 Pro review. We also have a review for the iPhone 16 (in development), so do stay tuned for that. Let us know what else you think about the iPhone 16 Pro. And until next time, stay tuned for more tech gadget reviews at TechNave.com.
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