iPhone 16 Pro or no?

It only comes down to two things…

If you are taking the time to read this, then you'll know that iPhone 16 was released this week at Apple's Glowtime event. As to what we all made of the event itself is for another day — I'm sure you have your thoughts and opinions as I do — but today there was one specific area that I wanted to chat over with you.

I worked late that night after the event to get a video out. That meant I got lost in the moment — almost like a rabbit in the headlights just focused on getting content out.

It was only as I finally wrapped up at around 1 AM and even more so as I woke up the next morning I started to think the event through.

The one question that kept nudging its way to the front of my head was had I missed something, or were there really no obvious or rather meaningful changes between the iPhone 16 phones and the iPhone 16 Pros?

There must be, right? I must've just overlooked something obvious. It's not to say that was the only question that had surfaced overnight. Did they say the AirPods Max was new? I thought it was just some new colours and a USB-C port — does that count as new?

What about Apple Watch? They never mentioned that the watches come in two sizes and that those sizes were larger than the year before. And as for Watch Ultra — does a new colour and a few new bands make it new?

And Siri — is that already forgotten about? If I have this right, the new iPhone 16s will drop next Friday not only with the same old, dumb Siri but even with the same round graphics rather than that lush new glowing surrounding edge.

If you are enjoying this read — you might want to consider giving me a clap or 50! It's about the only way to help support my writing these days…

iPhone day

Like Christmas Day, the September iPhone event comes around once a year — and with just about as much hype attached to it!

They told us in the event that this was the first iPhone designed ground-up with Apple Intelligence in mind. Hmmm — now call me cynical, but I think Apple got caught with their pants down and realised they had to calm the angry waters and at least offer something AI-related this year.

Early thoughts are that this is very much an iterative year — with minor improvements. If I was being brutal I'd even go as far as to say this could be a year to sit it out. The iPhone 16 has the feeling that it's very much holding the fort for next year's phone. By then Apple Intelligence should be fully ready with a new chip to match.

But back to the iPhone 16 — what are the differences between the entry 16 & 16 Plus and the Pro and Pro Max?

Is there a bargain to be had?

Let's be basic

First of all, what are the 16 and 16 Plus lacking? What are you missing out on?

The screens are smaller. The iPhone 16 has a 6.1-inch screen versus a 6.3-inch screen on the 16 Pro. The 16 Plus packs a 6.7-inch display whereas the 16 Pro Max now has a 6.9-inch panel. The displays on the two non-Pro phones won't be Pro Motion either.

There is no Titanium and you'll be lacking that lovely frosted, matt glass on the back and you'll be missing one entire GPU core on the more 'basic' phones. The A18 chip only comes with 5 GPU cores, not 6. Geez — the embarrassment!

Before we look at camera specs a couple of other small features that you'll be the poor relation to Pro owners over will be that you only get a USB-C 2 port, there's a smaller battery and the storage options max out at 512 GB.

To give that last point some context my 15 Pro Max only has 256 GB of storage and after almost a year still has nearly 50% free — a point worth taking onboard when you're chasing the specs on your next iPhone.

OK — so you must be losing a boatload of goodness when it comes to the camera specs, right? Well, again, not as much as you may be given to thinking.

You don't get the 5x zoom lens and you'll only have a 12 MP ultra-wide camera and you can't capture Macro shots at 48 MP — how will you get by? The last few negatives to highlight are you can't shoot Pro Raw/Pro Res/LOG or 4K video at 120 FPS (you're limited to 4K/120P). Finally, there is no option for Night Mode Portraits.

Hitting above it's weight

But the list of what's identical between both tiers of phones makes for pretty compelling reading.

Although the rollout of Apple Intelligence is painfully slow you'll be Apple Intelligence-ready with any iPhone 16. They all have 8 GB of RAM which is a basic requirement for AI — whenever we get it.

Although the displays are fractionally smaller and aren't 120 Hz panels as I've already mentioned they are both Super Retina XDR displays with an identical 2000 nits max daylight brightness & 1 nit of minimum brightness. They also share the same IP68 dust and water resistance rating.

All iPhone 16 models share the Action Button, Dynamic Island, Crash Detection and Face ID — and critically this year's new toy the Camera Control button.

And speaking of the camera you can shoot Spatial video & photos on any iPhone 16, and they share identical Photonic Engine and Photographic styles.

Apple spoke at length during Monday's event about Photographic Styles. It seemed pretty clear to me that Apple this year was leaning more heavily into photography than videography — and I suppose after bringing LOG to us last year, where else do they have to go with the video side of things on iPhone? One cool video feature to mention — though software & not hardware is that in iOS 18 you'll be able to pause a video recording. It's a small but super useful feature.

I think I'm right in saying that photo filters are a thing of the past for iPhones now being superseded by Styles. Photographic Styles are more comprehensive and professional. They're not simply overlayed on an image but rather baked in at the sensor level.

They give a noticeably better 'look' to your images as they use more base data and are fully editable. Of which, via that new Camera Button I mentioned (that I can't wait to try) you can now adjust your chosen Styles on the front end from several menu options — negating the need to go back into your Photo app settings. Apple likened it to pro-level colour grading.

The end game

The money makes it a fairly compelling story as well — there is a decent saving to be made in buying an iPhone 16 or 16 plus.

The base level 16 starts at £799 or the 16 Plus at £899. The 16 Pro starts at £999 and the Pro Max at £1199. £200 is a heck of a lot of money in anyone's eyes and is better, if possible, left in your pocket rather than sloshing around in Apple's bank account.

My early feelings are that the iPhone 16 in all guises is a highly iterative development of the phone. If you are on an iPhone 14 or 15 there are few compelling reasons I can see to swap.

But if this is your year to change be it through a carrier or you've just promised yourself a new iPhone this year — look closely at the regular 16 & 16 Plus. Don't be lured by that 'Pro' moniker. At the price I'd hate to say they're bargains — but they do look amazing value for money.

After telling you all this, it almost comes down to one simple choice as to whether you bother to go Pro or not. Shaking it down there are basically only two main considerations to make…

Is the 5x lens & 48 MP Macro photography worth £200 to you?

Originally published at https://talkingtechandaudio.com on September 11, 2024.

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