The iPhone 16 Pro is not a reinvention of the wheel, rather a polishing of that wheel to an absurd degree, tweaking this, fiddling with that, and in doing so ensuring Apple’s flagship handset remains the phone to buy as we rattle towards the end of 2024.
There are two items of headline news for those intent on owning the latest, most advanced iPhone. First, the 6.3 inch iPhone Pro now carries the same camera as the 6.9 inch Pro Max, meaning those who prefer a more pocketable phone no longer have to make concessions elsewhere. And second, there’s a fancy new touch-sensitive button that acts as a one-stop-shop for all your phone-taking needs.
Gone are the days of missing a shot while you scramble through apps to find the camera. The iPhone now feels more like using a digital camera from the before-times
Located below the unlock button as you would naturally hold the phone, when flipped to landscape it becomes the natural place for your ‘shutter’ finger. A press opens up the camera; apply some pressure and swipe to zoom in and out; press harder to take a picture; or press and hold to start recording video. There’s more: a light double tap toggles between levels of zoom and options to change the depth of field, exposure and a host of new preset “styles” and “tones”, which are designed to save you time editing after the fact. In a small number of taps you can pretend you’re Rankin shooting in “stark” black and white with a lovely blurred bokeh effect. Should you sober up and wish your pictures weren’t all in “stark” black and white with a lovely blurred bokeh effect, you can undo it all in post.
Gone are the days of missing a shot while you scramble through apps to find the camera, plus the iPhone now feels more like using a digital camera from the before-times (younger readers may not remember these; they were kind of like really boxy iPhones but you couldn’t make calls or get on the internet with them).
An un-zoomed pic of our latest magazine
A shot taken using the macro lens on the new iPhone 16 Pro
The camera has received an all-round glow-up too. The regular-sized Pro now has the 5x optical zoom, but both models see the wide-angle lens upgraded from 12MP to 48MP. As someone who has been known to paint extremely small robots, I noticed this new lens most in macro mode, with an unbelievable crispness to shots taken from as close as 2cm. I can now see all of my mistakes in an agonising amount of detail. Zooming in on an illustration on the cover of our magazine shows each individual micro-dot of ink, like you’re looking at a Roy Lichtenstein painting.
Away from the camera there are the inevitable improvements to processing speed (around 15 per cent faster) and battery life (you’ll now get an impressive 40 hours between charges). The screen remains a thing of beauty, bright and crisp (and now able to dim to just one “nit”, which is great for the insomniacs among us doom-scrolling at 4am).
Apple also promises its new Ceramic Shield glass is twice as strong, which probably won’t help if you drop it onto concrete but should offer some respite from wayward keys.
As Apple’s flagship product, the iPhone Pro exists to keep the company at the top of the handset tree: the 16 Pro comfortably achieves this while introducing enough new bells and whistles to keep the faithful occupied for another 12 months.
• To buy the new iPhone go to the website here