iPhone 16 Professional Intro
The 16 Professional now has a barely bigger, 6.3-inch measurement and it is including just a few digital camera enhancements like an extended, 5X zoom digital camera, a 48MP ultrawide snapper and a brand new Digital camera Management button.
iOS 18.1 Replace: Most significantly, it will get Apple Intelligence. A month after the launch, Apple pushed iOS 18.1 with the primary small set of Apple Intelligence options together with issues like notification summaries, writing instruments and the clear up instrument within the Photographs app. The larger chunk of Apple Intelligence options together with the ChatGPT integration and Visible Intelligence will arrive in December with the iOS 18.2 replace. And but others just like the all-new Siri are coming with iOS 18.3, which is anticipated in March of 2025.
The record of recent options additionally features a new chipset and battery life can be barely higher.
But in addition, the iPhone 16 Professional appears to be like lots just like the iPhone 15 Professional from final 12 months, right down to the colours. And one can argue that even these digital camera enhancements are too small for many individuals to noitce and even much less folks appear to care about sooner processors.
Whichever approach you take a look at it, although, the iPhone 16 Professional does not appear to be a significant change. It is yet one more evolution to the world’s hottest telephone. It is nonetheless an amazing telephone. A boringly nice telephone.
Disclaimer: Above, you possibly can see our new evaluation ranking system. Based mostly on goal scoring throughout twelve totally different classes, it breaks down all of the essential side of the smartphone expertise in straightforward to digest numbers.
Desk of Contents:
Additionally learn:
iPhone 16 Professional Specs
First, let’s check out the iPhone 16 Professional specs and what has modified from the final two generations:
| iPhone 16 Professional | iPhone 15 Professional | iPhone 14 Professional |
|---|---|---|
| Measurement and Weight 149.6 x 71.5 x 8.25mm 199 g | Measurement and Weight 146.6 x 70.6 x 8.25mm 187 g | Measurement and Weight 147.5 x 71.5 x 7.9mm 206 g |
| Display 6.3-inch OLED 120Hz | Display 6.1-inch OLED 120Hz | Display 6.1-inch OLED 120Hz |
| Processor Apple A18 Professional New 3nm tech | Processor Apple A17 Professional 3nm | Processor Apple A16 Bionic 4nm |
| Configurations 8/128GB for $1,000 8/256GB for $1,100 8/512GB for $1,300 8/1TB for $1,500 | Configurations 8/128GB 8/256GB 8/512GB 8/1TB | Configurations 6/128GB 6/256GB 6/512GB 6/1TB |
| Cameras 48MP principal 48MP ultra-wide 12MP 5X zoom 12MP entrance | Cameras 48MP principal 12MP ultra-wide 12MP 3X zoom 12MP entrance | Cameras 48MP principal 12MP ultra-wide 12MP 3X zoom 12MP entrance |
| Battery 3,582 mAh +9% vs 15 Professional 27 hours of video playback | Battery 3,274 mAh 23 hours of video playback | Battery 3,200 mAh 23 hours of video playback |
| Charging 20W wired 25W MagSafe | Charging 20W wired 15W MagSafe | Charging 20W wired 15W MagSafe |
iPhone 16 Professional Design and Show
New Digital camera Management and barely bigger physique
Larger measurement, related appears to be like (Picture by PhoneArena)
The iPhone 16 Professional sticks with the acquainted iPhone design language of the previous few years with flat sides and a digital camera island within the higher left nook.
You get a bigger 6.3-inch display screen, however do not count on this to be a significant change and we truly barely seen it when switching from the 15 Professional.
This slight change on the 16 Professional, nonetheless, is one in the fitting course. Persons are extra depending on their telephones and extra display screen area interprets to an improved consumer expertise. Easy as that.
By way of supplies, we now have the identical titanium body as final 12 months with an improved Ceramic Defend on the entrance. Apple claims the 16 Professional is 2X extra sturdy towards drops, however remember that this doesn’t confer with scratches and we obtained some in only a few days of use (identical to on earlier iPhones).
For all the remaining, you continue to have IP68 water and dirt safety ranking, in addition to a USB-C port for charging (with USB 3 speeds).
New is the Digital camera Management button, positioned beneath the facility key. Now we have blended emotions about it. As a shutter button to rapidly begin the digital camera, it is a good little comfort. However not likely greater than that.
It additionally sort of acts like a miniature trackpad and you may swipe and faucet on it to zoom out and in or change different settings. We have been very inquisitive about this, however after utilizing these features for some time, we’re left with a sense that Apple sort of over-engineered this. It simply appears approach simpler to zoom out and in on the bigger display screen of the telephone fairly than twiddling with this tiny Digital camera Management button. The default settings additionally activate it approach too simply, so we advocate going into Settings > Accessibility > Digital camera Management, and disable the “Present Changes” function. This manner, you disable the trackpad-like performance and in addition the frustration of by accident zooming in simply because your finger obtained in the best way.
The 4 new iPhone 16 Professional colours
- Desert Titanium (gold-ish shade)
- Pure Titanium (grey)
- White Titanium
- Black Titanium
The 16 Professional can be coming in a slimmer field this 12 months, made fully of recycled supplies. That is cool, however what shouldn’t be cool is that there are nonetheless no equipment within the field, so it’s important to purchase the whole lot (charger, display screen protector, case) individually.
A lot slimmer borders across the display screen (Picture by PhoneArena)
And what about that new 6.3-inch display screen? We talked about the scale bump (6.3″ vs 6.1″ earlier than), and the slimmer borders across the display screen, however there’s another improve.
The minimal brightness can now drop to only 1 nit, which is way simpler on the eyes should you use your telephone in mattress at night time. This seems like a small function, however we now have been begging Apple to do that for years, so we’re glad it is lastly right here. And sure, Samsung Galaxy telephones have had this one for some time, so Apple is catching up right here.
There are additionally no adjustments to the Dynamic Island, which nonetheless hosts the acquainted Face ID system.
iPhone 16 Professional Digital camera
A brand new ultrawide digital camera and longer, 5X zoom
The 16 Professional swaps the 3X zoom digital camera for longer, 5X zoom (Picture by PhoneArena)
First, you continue to have three cameras on the again, and second, the 16 Professional nonetheless has all of the cool ProRAW and ProRES options (you do not get these on the common 16 mannequin).
The principle digital camera is generally the identical 48MP one as on the 15 Professional. Similar 24mm lens, similar fast presets for 28mm and 35mm crops, similar 2X sensor crop function. And likewise similar 24MP photographs by default (you possibly can go for 12MP if you need even smaller file sizes, or 48MP for extra element on the expense of measurement).
On our PhoneArena Digital camera Rating, the iPhone 16 Professional scores almost an identical to the earlier era in each element and colours. There are some variations, however they’re negligible. It largely scores higher for longer vary zoom, the place that 5X digital camera helps, however loses in that shorter zoom vary the place the older 3X lens was helpful.
iPhone 16 Professional Digital camera Samples
Wanting on the photographs, you see the acquainted “iPhone look” to pictures.
What does that imply? Effectively, you get a bit extra vibrant colours and a little bit of oversharpening, which differentiate these photographs from what photographs from an actual digital camera appear like.
New Extremely-wide digital camera
New are the ultra-wide and zoom cameras. The ultra-wide will get a much bigger, 48MP sensor. This permits for pixel binning, aka combining 4 pixels into one for higher gentle senstivity and in the end, higher low-light photographs.
It may well positively seize extra gentle and that’s particularly noticeable for night time pictures. Within the above crop from a picture, you possibly can see how there’s much less noise on the 16 Professional and extra resolved element. That, nonetheless, is just noticeable at night time, and throughout the day the extent of element is an identical.
New 5X zoom digital camera
The telephoto digital camera will get a bump from 3X zoom to the 5X zoom tetraprism lens from the Professional Max. This provides you extra attain, however you lose on a really helpful 72mm lens for portraits. Commerce-offs!
Within the above picture, you see a crop at 10X zoom and at that stage, the quantity of element is certainly higher with the brand new Tetraprism digital camera in comparison with the identical photograph captured on the 14 Professional Max, which solely has a 3X zoom digital camera.
Nonetheless, Apple has a brand new software program function that’s larger information than you may assume. It is the brand new era Photographic Kinds.
Photographic Kinds are like filters on steroids and in addition, constructed deep into the system.
New Photographic Kinds
With this new era, they’re far more highly effective and helpful. Beforehand, you needed to choose a method and you can not change the model of the picture after you seize it. Now, you are able to do that, which opens tons extra potentialities.
The kinds themselves are divided into two teams: “Undertones” which change the tint of your photograph to Amber, Gold, Rose Gold, Impartial, or Cool Rose, or “Temper” kinds that are like little recipes with preset shadows and saturation values.
These could be a bit overwhelming, so allow us to clarify. You management the Kinds by shifting a dot on an X,Y axis, which is a dotted sq.. Transferring up lights up the shadows and shifting down brings deeper shadows (that is what you wish to do!). Transferring left offers you much less saturated colours and shifting proper offers you extra saturated colours. You even have a “palette” slider within the backside, the place you prepare the colour vary.
So why must you care about these new Photographic Kinds? One purpose: shadows. iPhone photographs up to now few years default to a specific model with shiny shadows and a particular… “flat” look. There’s simply not sufficient distinction in these photographs. The default model on the iPhone 16 Professional is even additional into that territory.
However now you could have an answer: the tone management (shifting down on the Photographic Model sq.). It brings shadows down and also you get a wonderful, contrasty image. If that is all you wished, which means you possibly can have a great-looking image proper out the gate and by no means fear about taking pictures RAW or enhancing your photographs in a while. Cool!
Video High quality
On the video aspect, we now have one new function: 4K120 gradual movement. That is a lot crisper than the present 1080p120, and actually cool to mess around with. Come to consider this, even {many professional} cameras do not assist gradual movement past 1080p.
We additionally love the brand new Audio Combine video enhancing function. You will have three presets along with the usual one: In-frame, Studio and Cinematic, which aid you isolate your voice and kill distracting noises. The Studio one is especially nice for… nicely, studio indoor recordings because it removes all of the echo. If you wish to begin posting speaking head movies, with this function you possibly can sort of do it with out having to buy a separate mic and nonetheless get first rate (*not nice) audio.
For all else, although, we didn’t discover a lot of a distinction in high quality. Apple mentions a brand new “lens reflection coating”, and we have been hoping that may resolve the problem with tiny gentle reflections in low-light iPhone movies, however sadly it doesn’t make a lot of a distinction in any respect.
iPhone 16 Professional Efficiency & Benchmarks
A brand new chip with a deal with AI
A18 Professional isn’t just about energy, but in addition effectivity (Picture by PhoneArena)
And that is excellent news as a result of the 15 Professional was constructed on the primary era of that tech, and didn’t fairly reap the complete advantages, so we hope for some significant positive aspects in efficiency this 12 months.
General, this chip delivers round 20% sooner speeds and a greater effectivity.
Nonetheless, the large story is about AI and the way this telephone is constructed round it. With an upgraded Neural Engine, AI duties will probably be sooner on the 16 Professional, however when it comes to RAM we count on it to have the identical 8GB RAM because the 15 Professional.
Sadly, therer are not any adjustments to the storage state of affairs, so which means a base iPhone 16 Professional mannequin nonetheless comes with 128GB on-board reminiscence. We might have liked Apple to bump this to 256GB, as a substitute of asking customers to pay a $100 premium for that storage improve.
However hey, no less than costs stay the identical.
iPhone 16 Professional Software program
Beforehand, phrase on the road was that saying the magic phrase AI 3 times summoned a Google Pixel telephone in entrance of you, however now that appears to be an iPhone.
The iPhone 16 Professional is all about Apple Intelligence options, and that is essential because the iPhone 14 Professional and older fashions do not assist AI. Apple, in fact, needs these homeowners of older fashions to improve and that’s the large purpose why.
Apparently, the iPhone 16 sequence launched with iOS 18, which didn’t even have any of the brand new Apple Intelligence options. However on October twenty eighth, a month and a half after the launch, with the iOS 18.1 replace, the primary Apple Intelligence options are actually right here they usually embrace notification summaries, writing instruments, and the Clear Up function in Photographs.
Nonetheless, the AI options that actually make a distinction are coming even later. The ChatGPT integration with Siri and the Visible Intelligence options, in addition to Picture Playground, Genmoji and Picture Wand are a part of the iOS 18.2 replace, which is ready to reach in December.
The third stage of Apple Intelligence options together with the utterly revamped, a lot smarter Siri are coming with iOS 18.3 in March or April of 2025.
iPhone 16 Professional Battery
Larger battery, sooner charging
The larger measurement of the 16 Professional has one large profit – you possibly can stick a much bigger battery inside.
Apple charges the 16 Professional for 27 hours of video playback, up from 23 hours on the 15 Professional mannequin, and audio playback is rated for 85 hours, up from 75 hours beforehand.
Regardless of some studies, wired charging shouldn’t be sooner on the 16 Professional, however MagSafe wi-fi charging is (Picture by PhoneArena)
We needed to confirm these numbers ourselves, so we put the iPhone 16 Professional to our intensive PhoneArena Battery Rating testing protocol.
Listed below are the battery life numbers we obtained.
PhoneArena Battery and Charging Check Outcomes:
Charging can be sooner, however solely in a single sure approach.
We have been all hoping for sooner wired charging, however that really stays the identical at 20W speeds.
Abstract
iPhone 16 Professional is about three issues – longer battery life, 5X zoom digital camera and the upcoming Apple Intelligence (Picture by PhoneArena)
With the slight tweaks to display screen measurement and battery life, the iPhone 16 Professional is a greater telephone than earlier Execs. However very barely so.
The adjustments in digital camera high quality are additionally there, however they’re refined, and it is the Photographic Model function that may show an important one for the best way your footage look fairly than any new digital camera.
The sooner processor solely appears to matter for essentially the most demanding gaming duties and quick seize of ProRAW recordsdata, however we doubt you’ll discover the speed-up in day by day use.
And the Digital camera Management button could be one of many extra over-hyped options round, particularly with regards to its trackpad-like options.
And most significantly, the iPhone 16 Professional is simply not a whole telephone but with out all the complete set of Apple Intelligence options coming later in 2024, and a few even in 2025. Let’s additionally not overlook that the iPhone 15 Professional is getting these options.
So must you improve? The iPhone 16 Professional feels a bit like an “S” 12 months, so that you most likely need not improve, particularly when you’ve got an iPhone 15 Professional.
