iPhone 16 Pro Review: Apple Intelligence Doesn’t Seem So Scary After All

Forget the Macs and the MacBooks; it’s the software and services that make the foundation of Apple’s bread and butter. The device everyone looks toward is the iPhone, whether as a benchmark of what’s worthy in a phone or as an adversary for what another device should strive to achieve. While it is silly watching iPhone users get excited over new features in iOS 18 that have been common in the Android world for so long, I remember that people on this platform are diehards because they like the way Apple does it over anyone else. I already like how it’s doing artificial intelligence more than that other platform I’m on. 

Many people who buy the iPhone get it because it makes all that “high-tech stuff” seem more approachable. The iPhone 16 series will do that for AI, even if its implementation is not as groundbreaking or prominent as on other platforms. The new Pro phone isn’t just a vessel for artificial intelligence, though it does have all the hardware chops to make the deed possible for those willing to be early adopters. Everything about the iPhone 16 Pro/Pro Max is solid, from its seven-lens camera system to its battery life. Its new colors this year are also brighter and lighter. We’ve only had a week with the iPhone Pro/Pro Max thus far, but if this is your year to upgrade, get ready to be prepped and primed for what’s coming next. 

iPhone 16 Pro Design: Big or small? 

Besides a few other things, the best thing that happened to me this year is that Apple and Google agreed to release two versions of the Pro models without changing the camera system between them. Last year’s iPhone 15 Pro Max was the only version with the maximum 5x optical zoom. This year, there are few differences between the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max beyond the battery and screen size.

The iPhone 16 Pro models are much bigger than last year’s iPhone 15 Pro. This year, they’re 6.3-inches and 6.9-inches, respectively. The regular Pro model has been bumped up from 6.1-inches and the Pro Max from 6.7-inches. Since Apple thinned out the chassis by a tiny bit, the larger displays work in both cases—and because they are thinner, they don’t feel as bulky with a case on. The iPhone 16 Pro is now what I would consider the perfect size without any compromises on the camera system. The iPhone 16 Pro Max is for those who secretly want an iPad as a phone.

The iPhone 16 Pro Max looks best in its new desert titanium colorway, which Apple provided us for review. The white titanium and natural titanium are nice, too, and there’s also black titanium for the modern contemporary. I’ve heard folks complain that there isn’t a pink variant of the iPhone 16 Pro this year. But if you look closely at desert titanium, it skews almost blush rose whenever particular hues hit it.  

Meet the Camera Control button

The newest physical attribute of this generation’s iPhone lineup is the haptic-enabled Camera Control button. The button gives you easy access to the camera app, whichever you prefer, and acts as a shutter button. On the stock camera app, the Camera Control button remembers whether you were zooming in or adjusting the exposure the last time you snapped a picture. Double soft-press to switch between modes or settings like zoom, camera styles, and focus depth.

I’ve already heard from some left-handers that they’re not too keen on the right-side placement of the Camera Control button. I tried using it with my left hand, even though I’m a prominent right-hander, and it did feel awkward to try to scroll through the different settings with my thumb. After less than a week of taking pictures exclusively with the iPhone 16 Pro, I prefer setting up the shot from the full-screen viewfinder rather than interfacing with the Camera Control button. It can be tedious to work with if you’re already struggling to hold the phone.

At the very least, now there’s a dedicated camera shortcut button for when you want to take a quick shot. It’s way faster than unlocking the phone and pressing the camera shortcut on the lock screen. As I mentioned, if you have a camera app you prefer over the iPhone’s stock camera app, you can remap it to launch via the Camera Control button. And since developers can tap into the Camera Control, more third parties can drum up interesting uses for the iPhone’s new button.

A18 Pro Chip: Built for everything

The Apple iPhone 16 Pro/Pro Max uses the new A18 Pro chip. The six-core, 3nm processor promises better performance and efficiency systemwide. There’s also a 16-core neural engine prepped and primed for all that Apple Intelligence purports to do, while the GPU offers ray-tracing capabilities for all the mobile games that take advantage of the iPhone as a portable powerhouse.

I don’t play many of those types of games anymore, and with all that’s been going on, I still need to delve into titles that take advantage of it. But my time spent inside Apple Arcade with Hello Kitty Island Adventure and Sonic Dream Team has been pleasant, especially with the aid of the Razer Kishi Ultra. I also played a little Pokémon Go. I will test titles like Assassin’s Creed Mirage and the Resident Evil 2 Remake in due time. I’m also curious how the system handles a streaming session of my favorite cozy games on Xbox Game Pass.

Apple made a big to-do in its keynote and subsequent presentations about how it restructured the iPhone 16 Pro/Pro Max’s internal design to maximize thermal capacity. The result is a 20 percent better-sustained performance than the last generation. We’re still in the throes of benchmarking that to see if the numbers ring true. But I can already say the Geekbench 6 numbers are more impressive than what the Google Pixel 9 Pro is spitting out with its Tensor G4 CPU.

As for the iPhone chassis, it still gets warm. I clocked in at 98 degrees Fahrenheit on the iPhone 16 Pro with a case on while hitting it with my handy kitchen thermometer. We’ll do a little more thermal testing this week to see whether the iPhone 16 Pro can keep cooler alongside the Pixel 9 Pro, which has been making the rounds in the forums for getting too warm.

Thus far, the iPhone Pro series is still the best-performing device in Gizmodo’s battery benchmark test. It relies on perpetually streaming a YouTube video at 200 nits and measuring how long the phone takes to peter out. I expect the iPhone 16 Pro Max’s battery to outlast last year’s iPhone 15 Pro Max, which already lasted an impressive 25 hours.

I will be updating this review with the official number later this week. For now, I can tell you the iPhone 16 Pro, with its smaller battery pack, performed impressively on a day out into the city. I still had 20% battery toward the end of my transit ride back to the car after six hours out and about with the AirPods 4 with ANC engaged in my ears. I also started the day with 83% on the iPhone 16 Pro, only to end up at 24% battery after seven hours of installing software, shooting photos, taking a phone call, listening to a podcast, and playing a little Apple Arcade.

iPhone 16 Pro Camera: 7-cameras-in-1

Apple says its iPhone 16 Pro series has the power of seven Pro lenses stuffed inside its compact chassis. This includes a 48-MP Fusion camera with adjustable 24mm, 28mm, and 35mm range lenses for different photographic perspectives. That’s four cameras, plus the 48-MP Ultra Wide camera with macro capabilities makes six, and then the seventh lens is the one that enables 5x Telephoto.

This strategy is not unlike the one carried out by Android phone makers. Samsung’s Galaxy Ultra, for instance, is heralded for all the cameras it packs into one device. In its quest to make the iPhone 16 Pro stand out as a professional-level device, Apple is borrowing this strategy to remind us that it, too, can play that game. The three-lenses-in-one trick is a holdover from last year’s iPhone 15 Pro. You can still easily access it from the camera app by selecting the 1x option and tapping through until you get the frame you want to shoot with.

Apple advertises that the primary 48-MP Fusion camera offers up to twice as fast data readout. I thought that maybe I was seeing brighter photos than its predecessor and on the Pixel 9 Pro because of a larger sensor. The iPhone 16 Pro’s primary camera sensor isn’t bigger; it’s just newer. Because it’s more capable of processing multiple brackets at a time, it produces brighter photos than I was used to with the iPhone 15 Pro Max.

This year’s most significant addition to the feature pile is Photography Styles. Before you take your shot, you can adjust the photo’s tone with nine styles, ranging from “cozy” to “stark B&W.” You don’t have to use the styles while you’re shooting; you can go in after the fact in the Photos app and adjust the look. Swiping up brings up the mid-tones related to the filter, and moving your finger from left to right adjusts the hue. There are also five different undertone styles to help balance the skin tone of people featured in images. You won’t see much change from the undertone styles on a landscape photo, but on a picture of folks or a selfie of yourself, you’ll see changes specifically on the skin between presets like Amber, Rose Gold, and Cool Rose.

Not only does Apple want you to use the iPhone 16 Pro for your photography, but it also enables high-resolution video capture straight to a hard drive from the phone via USB 3. The iPhone 16 Pro features up to 4K capture at 120 frames-per-second (fps) in Dolby Vision. I wish I had the chops to make something with this filming capability and test its efficacy. Maybe someday. For now, this is the smoothest way for me to take videos of BART trains zooming on by. 

There is an ere of “creator’s tool” in the iPhone 16 Pro series, more so than in the iPhone’s past. Whether you’re making a short documentary on the arrival of an elder only for your family to see or you’re simply collecting images and movement for memory, the iPhone 16 Pro aims to be the only camera you need. Apple has already done an excellent job convincing its users this is what it’s about.

Apple Intelligence

Apple has also made a big to-do about how it built the iPhone 16 series for Apple Intelligence from the ground up, even though we’re still waiting for much of it to come to the user experience. I’ve noticed criticism around Apple advertising something that it’s not entirely ready to debut. But I’d counter that it had no choice but to jump before it was prepared because of everything Google and Samsung have been pushing through.

Apple’s strategy is to cleverly spin its slow rollout of AI as a necessity to produce a high-quality product, and it’s working. After the past year of slowly discovering all of the apps and services that no longer work because of Google Gemini on the Pixel, the tempered approach seems like the smartest move for Apple to keep users on board. You may all want to rag on how behind Apple is to the AI show, but I’m still waiting to feel the payoff for having Gemini Advanced on Android. We can revisit this discussion in a few months when there’s more traction in the industry and Apple has launched more Apple Intelligence features. I’m still waiting for Google to launch some things, too. 

For now, the Apple Intelligence abilities are primarily tools for moving faster on the device. They include summaries in Mail, notifications, and AI-enhanced writing tools to copy-edit and change the tone of whatever you’re penning. They let you find specific pictures faster in the Photo app and clean up photos with too many extra people in the background. Apple Intelligence also improved Siri, which is now easier to chat with and command. It’s similar to the revamped experience of Gemini Live, except you can still ask Siri to perform basic smart home commands without it being a whole operation. 

Should you buy the new iPhone 16 Pro?

Apple’s new iPhone 16 series is built for Apple Intelligence from the ground up, even if it’s not quite the main attraction of the new phone release. The AI enhancements are more centered around responsiveness and performance than user interaction. Apple is wiser for it because rather than frustrate its users with something that is unfortunately inevitable, it’s tempering its approach by slowly introducing the abilities. Even if it is late for the AI party, Apple still wins because it makes its users feel like they don’t have to jump into the pool until they feel ready.

If you’re due for an upgrade this year, you’ve been dealing with a crusty old iPhone on its last legs, and were thinking of going Pro, then yes, you should consider the iPhone 16 Pro/Pro Max. As Apple said, it built this phone for Apple Intelligence, which should tell you about what’s on the horizon for the well-curated walled garden over the next year. It’s also nice that you can pick a smaller phone with all the camera glass of the larger device but not the bulk.

Note that the iPhone 15 Pro will also work with Apple Intelligence if you need to justify why you shouldn’t upgrade—seriously, there’s no reason to upgrade a year-old iPhone, especially the Pro variant. While the Camera Control button is a neat addition to the lineup, it’s still unnecessary. And the next time you upgrade your iPhone, at least more apps will take advantage of it than there are now.