Pros:
– Gets nearly the identical SoC because the Pro fashions
– iOS 18 has some large new updates
– Snappy efficiency
– Solid digicam efficiency because of the brand new picture pipeline of the A18
– Impressive battery life, particularly for an iPhone
– Built like a tank
– Small kind issue
– Gets many of the new options of the Pro fashions together with Camera Control
– Closest to a Pro iPhone an ordinary iPhone has ever been
Cons:
– 60Hz show is a large paint level
– USB-C restricted to USB 2.0 pace
– Apple Intelligence options continues to be not formally obtainable in India
– Slow wired charging at 20W
Pricing: Rs 79,900 for the bottom 128GB variant
Rating: 4.75/5
For some time now, the hole between the usual iPhones and the feature-rich Pro fashions has been narrowing with every new launch. With the iPhone 16 sequence, that hole is the slimmest it has ever been. Typically, when Apple launches new iPhones, the usual fashions don’t obtain as many thrilling an updates because the Pro variants. There have even been occasions when the usual fashions didn’t get a brand new SoC and needed to make do with the earlier gen’s SoC. Obviously, this led to criticism from each tech lovers and Apple followers alike.
However, this time round, issues are fairly totally different.
Never earlier than has the usual iPhone been so carefully aligned with its Pro counterparts as it’s with the iPhone 16. For the primary time, the essential iPhone mannequin boasts lots of the identical options discovered within the iPhone 16 Pro. In truth, it shares virtually the identical SoC — the A18, which, solely has a single core lacking from the GPU, when in comparison with the A18 Pro that powers the Pro fashions.
Even in any other case, this 12 months’s iPhone 16 lineup shares much more similarities than in earlier years. For occasion, the iPhone 16 now consists of the Action button, which was beforehand unique to the iPhone 15 Pro fashions. It additionally has the identical Camera Control button discovered within the Pro variations and affords the same set of Apple Intelligence options
That mentioned, there are nonetheless some variations. The iPhone 16 sticks with a dual-camera setup, which has seen not solely a brand new format but in addition some important upgrades over the iPhone 15. Additionally, there are some distinctions in battery dimension and the show. The 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR show doesn’t embody ProMovement or always-on capabilities — options that Apple reserves for the Pro fashions.
So, how does the iPhone 16 maintain up as an general bundle? Should you select the iPhone 16 over the iPhone 16 Pro or iPhone 16 Pro Max? Let’s discover out!
iPhone 16 Review: Design
The iPhone 16 appears markedly totally different from the iPhone 15 for quite a lot of causes. First off, there’s the brand new, redesigned digicam module. Then there are the shades of color, which ditch the extra muted, pastel shades for some brilliant and vibrant tones. Having mentioned that, basic Apple aesthetic continues to be intact.
After spending every week with this gadget, it feels nearly equivalent to the iPhone 15, particularly the hand. A look on the spec sheets will affirm that dimension-wise, not loads has modified.
The iPhone 16 measures 146.7 x 71.6 x 7.8mm and weighs about 170 grams, and I actually respect this. In a world the place smartphones are getting insanely large, its actually refreshing to have a extra moderately sized one. The iPhone 16’s unchanged dimension makes it simple to deal with with one hand, particularly when in comparison with the bulkier iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max fashions.
Apple has used aerospace-grade aluminium within the building of the iPhone 16, which makes ti each lighter and far sturdier. The Cupertino-based large additionally claims that their newest technology of Ceramic Shield glass is harder than ever and extra resilient to scratches. Nonetheless, I might advise customers to put money into an excellent display screen protector and a case for further safety.
The iPhone 16 retains the trendy look launched with the iPhone 15, that includes clean, rounded edges and vibrant colour-infused backs. This time round, Apple has gone past the same old mushy colors to supply a full of life palette that’s maybe essentially the most thrilling we’ve seen in years.
I’ve obtained the Pink mannequin, and it’s a beautiful shade that shifts relying on the sunshine. Other choices embody White, Teal, Black and Ultramarine.
One of essentially the most noticeable updates is on the again, the place the digicam setup is now vertical. The 48MP Fusion digicam sits above the 12MP ultrawide lens, forming a barely raised glass bump that has a novel pill-like form. The true tone flash is off to the facet, exterior the digicam bump. The new format isn’t nearly aesthetics, it additionally permits the iPhone 16 to take Spatial Photos and Videos, one thing that Apple has been focusing extra on as of late.
This 12 months, the iPhone 16 introduces two thrilling buttons. The first is the Action Button, which first appeared on the iPhone 15 Pro. The Action Button permits you to choose from numerous presets, resembling turning on the flashlight, enabling an accessibility characteristic, utilizing Shazam, or launching the digicam. It’s conveniently positioned above the amount buttons on the left facet. You may also set it to exchange the normal mute swap.
We additionally get the brand new “Camera Control” close to the underside, on the facet the place we have now the ability button. The digicam management isn’t precisely a button, however does operate like one — t’s outfitted it’s a capacitive contact panel which incorporates some haptics that get triggered by various kinds of presses and gestures. The Camera Control is designed to imitate the shutter button on correct, cameras, and likewise has the identical performance as what you’d anticipate in a primary DSLR or mirror’s shutter system, plus just a few further options.
You can use the Camera Control to snap pictures or double-press frivolously to tug up digicam settings. If you wish to zoom in or out, merely swipe left or proper, which is an easy and intuitive characteristic.
I’ll go into extra element later, however I imagine this may very well be one of the important additions to the iPhone, particularly contemplating how often folks use their telephones to take photos.
At the underside, you get a pair of speaker grills and a USB-C port, which continues to be rated at USB 2.0 speeds.
iPhone 16 Review: Display
Unlike the iPhone 16 Pro, the brand new iPhone 16 doesn’t change display screen dimension; it nonetheless incorporates a 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR show with a decision of two,556 x 1,179 pixels.
Visually, the show holds up nicely. It’s a pleasant OLED panel that handles most duties with out concern. The iPhone 16’s show has sufficient saturation and distinction to make scenes stand out, because of its huge P3 color gamut. In phrases of brightness, it affords a most of 1,000 nits (typical), 1,600 nits peak brightness for HDR, 2,000 nits for outside use, and a minimal brightness of simply 1 nit.
One of the options I actually get pleasure from is the Dynamic Island and its versatility. With iOS, you get visible suggestions by way of Live Activities that may overlay on the Dynamic Island. This means you may simply dismiss a timer after watching it depend down or entry music playback controls that match the colors of the album art work and audio waveform.
Third-party apps, like Zomato or Blinkit, may also use Dynamic Island to maintain you up to date in your supply standing. It’s tremendous practical and homes the Face ID sensors for safe unlocking and authentication. Plus, the 12-megapixel front-facing digicam is conveniently situated throughout the Dynamic Island, making it simple to take selfies, be a part of video calls, or file your subsequent viral TikTok.
Similar to the iPhone 15, the Super Retina XDR show doesn’t characteristic an always-on possibility and lacks ProMovement, which is Apple’s time period for a 120Hz refresh charge.
While I’m tremendous with not having an always-on show, I discover it disappointing that Apple has caught with a 60Hz refresh charge for its inexpensive flagship fashions, particularly when many extra inexpensive telephones supply higher refresh charges.
What’s irritating is that after you’ve skilled a telephone with a 120Hz or perhaps a 90Hz show, going again to a 60Hz panel can really feel like a downgrade. This turns into notably annoying once you spend lots of time studying in your telephone.
The show performs nicely for gaming, scrolling by way of Instagram, and watching movies on streaming platforms like YouTube. However, looking the net or studying prolonged articles can really feel a bit jarring on account of that decrease refresh charge.
iPhone 16 Review: Camera
The iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus comes with the identical dual-camera system that we noticed within the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus, albeit with some main enhancements. The iPhone 16 incorporates a 48MP Fusion digicam paired with a 12MP ultrawide digicam. The cameras get a large profit from the upgraded picture processing capabilities of the A18 chip.
The 12MP ultrawide digicam is of explicit be aware, because it now helps macro pictures, a characteristic that was beforehand reserved for the Pro variations. You can shoot with a 0.5x ultrawide lens, and zoom all the way in which as much as a 2x telephoto or 10x digital zoom.
While it lacks the flexibility of the iPhone 16 Pro fashions, the iPhone 16 nonetheless holds its personal in efficiency.
I’m notably impressed by the sharpness and element produced by the iPhone 16’s foremost digicam. The “Fusion” know-how successfully combines 4 pixels into one, delivering 48-megapixel high quality in an ordinary 24MP picture. The 24MP photographs come out vibrant and supply pretty bokeh results round topics. When it involves zoom, we observed that element undergo a bit when zooming with the principle digicam because it’s not outfitted with optical zoom. However, the colors stay constant, and the algorithm performs nicely.
Moreover, the iPhone 16 has improved dealing with of sunshine flares throughout low-light circumstances, because of a brand new anti-reflective coating. The addition of a 2x telephoto possibility helps you to zoom in utilizing the complete 48MP sensor, making it simpler to seize portraits or deal with particular particulars.
Then there are the options of the brand new Camera Control characteristic. I needed to spend just a few days familiarizing myself with the controls, particularly determining how a lot strain to make use of and uncovering the hidden menus. Once I obtained the grasp of it, I discovered the positioning to be intuitive.
With a few gentle presses, you may entry superior settings resembling publicity, depth, zoom, digicam types, and tone. Tapping into these choices permits you to swipe by way of presets and alter as wanted. When you activate the Camera Control, the interface simplifies, showcasing simply the digital shutter button.
Although Apple isn’t the primary to introduce a complicated shutter button, they’ve uniquely mixed options like a pressure sensor and haptic suggestions with a contact interface and a modern sapphire crystal end. This provides the iPhone 16 a premium really feel, making it a beautiful possibility for anybody seeking to improve their pictures expertise.
The color accuracy of the 12MP entrance digicam matches that of the rear cameras on the iPhone 16, delivering photographs which are clear and extremely sharp. This stage of high quality extends to movies captured with the front-facing digicam as nicely, making certain that they appear simply as spectacular.
When it involves video recording, the iPhone 16 affords spectacular capabilities, together with 4K Dolby Vision video at body charges of 24 fps, 25 fps, 30 fps, or 60 fps. You may also shoot 1080p Dolby Vision video at 25 fps, 30 fps, or 60 fps, in addition to 720p Dolby Vision at 30 fps. It helps Cinematic mode as much as 4K Dolby Vision at 30 fps and Action mode as much as 2.8K Dolby Vision at 60 fps. Plus, there’s macro video recording, together with choices for slow-motion and time-lapse. Slow-motion video might be recorded in 1080p at both 120 fps or 240 fps.
While the video options aren’t as superior as these discovered on the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max, it’s vital to notice that the Pro fashions supply capabilities that may be greater than what the typical consumer wants. For common customers and even beginner content material creators, the digicam on the usual iPhone 16 is greater than ample for capturing high-quality movies.
For some samples of
unedited photos from the iPhone 16, click here.
iPhone 16 Review: Performance, software program expertise and UI
The iPhone 16 is powered by Apple’s spectacular A18 Bionic chip, made utilizing TSMC’s cutting-edge 3nm N3E course of. Apple claims this new chip delivers a 30% increase in CPU efficiency and a whopping 40% enhance in GPU pace in comparison with the A16 within the iPhone 15. Furthermore, it solely has one GPU core much less in comparison with the A18 Pro that powers the iPhone 16 Pro and the 16 Pro Max. Plus, each the CPU and GPU are designed to be extra energy-efficient, which undoubtedly contributes to the improved battery life we’ve observed throughout testing.
The A18 Bionic additionally introduces a 16-core neural engine that hurries up machine studying duties, paving the way in which for the thrilling Apple Intelligence options which are nonetheless on the way in which.
You’ll discover storage choices beginning at 128GB, with 256GB and 512GB obtainable as nicely. While Apple hasn’t confirmed the precise quantity of RAM, however numerous benchmarking apps point out that the brand new iPhones include 8GB, which might even be the minimal required for all the brand new AI options.
One notable improve is the brand new aluminium thermal substructure, enhancing sustained efficiency by 30%. During my benchmarking, the iPhone 16 felt cooler than its predecessor, even underneath heavy use.
The A18 chip additionally permits higher hardware-accelerated ray tracing, which Apple says can provide you as much as 5 occasions the body charges in suitable video games. Just like final 12 months’s Pro fashions, the iPhone 16 handles AAA video games fairly nicely, though, inferior to the Pro fashions of this 12 months.
In real-world use, the iPhone 16 delivers a clean gaming expertise just like what I had with the iPhone 15. While it performs admirably in cell gaming, the absence of a 120Hz refresh charge is noticeable, particularly should you’re used to greater refresh charges.
Whether you’re looking the net, streaming exhibits, or multitasking, the iPhone 16 stays responsive and environment friendly. It handles intense gaming periods with out a hitch, though it does heat up a bit.
Games like Assassin’s Creed and Resident Evil look unbelievable, with the upgraded GPU offering clean gameplay and enhanced particulars. I’m curious to see how future video games will reap the benefits of this further energy, additional solidifying the enchantment of gaming on an iPhone.
Overall, I’ve been impressed with the iPhone 16. It feels quick and responsive, offering nice efficiency for its value.
It’s clear that the A18 chip has lots of energy and room for future development. The customary iPhone 16 now feels nearer to the Pro fashions than ever earlier than, particularly with options like Camera Control, vibrant color choices, and Apple Intelligence. If solely it had a barely quicker show.
Driving the gadget on a day-to-day foundation as your foremost smartphone will present that the iPhone 16 is greater than succesful sufficient to deal with no matter you throw at it.
And once you add Apple Intelligence and the brand new iOS 18 into the combination, issues get very attention-grabbing. iOS 18 is basically unbelievable, despite the fact that Apple Intelligence solely began rolling out with iOS 18.1. iPhone 16 customers will get to get pleasure from useful options like eradicating undesirable objects from pictures, a extra conversational Siri, and AI instruments for writing and transcribing textual content.
Having examined Apple Intelligence through the developer beta, I realized that Apple plans to launch extra AI options in choose markets later this 12 months, with India probably getting them in early subsequent 12 months. The upcoming iOS 18.2 replace is about to introduce much more thrilling options, like picture technology, ChatGPT integration, and Visual Intelligence, making the iPhone 16 much more interesting.
What Apple is doing with Apple Intelligence isn’t too totally different from the capabilities present in Google’s Pixel 9 sequence and Samsung’s Galaxy AI gadgets. There’s lots of overlap in options, resembling instruments for writing help, e-mail summaries, and photograph enhancing.
What units Apple aside, although, is its ecosystem and dedication to consumer privateness, which is one thing that’s onerous for others to match.
While Apple Intelligence continues to be evolving, it’s shaping as much as be a game-changer for the iPhone 16. Currently, these options aren’t obtainable on the iPhone 16 in India, with an official launch set for 2025. But even with out Apple Intelligence, the iPhone 16 comes full of stable options as a part of iOS 18, together with new methods to customise your house display screen, arrange pictures, ship cash simply, and handle passwords with a modern new password supervisor.
iPhone 16 Review: Battery
Apple has outfitted all the iPhone 16 lineup with barely bigger batteries. Reports counsel that the iPhone 16 incorporates a 3,561mAh lithium-ion battery, an improve from the three,349mAh battery discovered within the iPhone 15. Meanwhile, the iPhone 16 Pro comes with a 3,582mAh battery, the iPhone 16 Plus boasts a 4,674mAh battery, and the iPhone 16 Pro Max is supplied with a 4,685mAh battery.
On a median day, I normally begin utilizing my gadget round 7:00 AM. Throughout the day, I’m often hopping between apps like Gmail, X, Outlook, Chrome, and Slack. I additionally stream music sometimes, spend an hour or two watching movies, interact in some gentle gaming, and scroll by way of social media. By 11:30 PM, I usually have about 30% of the battery remaining. After every week of use and a minor software program replace, I’m getting round 13-14 hours of screen-on time earlier than needing to cost the iPhone 16.
When it involves charging, the iPhone 16 solely features a braided USB-C to USB-C cable within the field, however it does help quick charging. I discovered that I may cost it from 0% to 50% in about half-hour utilizing an ordinary 20-watt adapter.
Additionally, the iPhone 16 options upgraded wi-fi charging capabilities, supporting the brand new MagSafe charger and the Qi2 customary. With MagSafe, you may obtain charging speeds of as much as 25W, whereas Qi2 affords as much as 15W.
iPhone 16 Review: Verdict
With the iPhone 16 sequence, the road separating Apple’s customary fashions from its Pro variations has considerably blurred. For many customers, together with those that are heavy-duty customers, the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max are a little bit of an overkill and packed to the T with options that many gained’t truly use. It’s nearly like Apple created a high-end prosumer digicam, and slapped on an excellent smartphone onto it.
What’s actually exceptional this time is that the usual iPhone is supplied with many options that we discover within the Pro fashions, particularly the Action Button, Camera Controls, and Apple Intelligence capabilities, and a fairly equivalent SoC.
The digicam on the iPhone 16 performs exceptionally nicely as nicely, one thing that was reserved for the Pro fashions in a technology. The customary iPhone 16’s digicam, particularly the principle lens, now produces pictures which are crisp, vibrant and true-to-life. The solely factor lacking is a telephoto lens, however we’ll let the Pros have that. Even in video recording, the iPhone 16 produces some fairly stable outcomes, though it does miss out on some options like ProRes video. But then, it does get another cool new options like Audio Mix, one thing even beginner content material creators will profit from.
The solely main disadvantage I discovered with the iPhone 16 is its 60Hz show, which feels considerably outdated and lacks the smoothness of rivals boasting greater refresh charges, and the truth that it nonetheless has a gradual charging pace.
There are many the explanation why I might suggest the iPhone 16 to somebody who’s seeking to get into iPhones, It’s nearly as quick because the Pro fashions, it is available in a fairly compact and hand-able weight and dimension. For anybody who doesn’t want the superior options of the Pro fashions, the iPhone 16 is a wonderful possibility.
