iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus Reviews: 'Pro Features at a Mainstream Price'

[Rogifan]

From The Verge review:

Until then, the iPhone 16 Pro we’re reviewing today is an incremental update — it’s mostly a set of very nice but ultimately minor changes to the iPhone 15 Pro. It’s hard to make the case for an upgrade right now: there is almost no reason to upgrade to the 16 Pro or 16 Pro Max from the 15 Pro or 15 Pro Max — especially since the 15 Pros are the only older iPhones that will get Apple Intelligence when it arrives. And if you have an older Pro phone, it’s worth waiting to see if Apple Intelligence is any good before you upgrade; there’s no reason to throw money at hardware just to support unproven software.

When will reviewers get that most people aren’t buying a new phone every year? And what kind of hardware updates are they expecting year-over-year on a very mature product? And if the new phone was a massive hardware upgrade over the previous phone would they then be screaming about planned obsolescence and how the $1000 phone they bought just last year is now outdated?

 

[Bustermd]

And if the new phone was a massive hardware upgrade over the previous phone would they then be screaming about planned obsolescence and how the $1000 phone they bought just last year is now outdated?

Yes, yes they would.

One of the worst things that has ever happened to society is the so called "24 hour news cycle." The same sort of thing has creeped into the tech space with YouTube/"content creators." If there is no story, you make one up. The show must go on at all costs, as they say.

 

[Oblivious.Robot]

I’m not upgrading for a long while, but maybe I’m done with the “pro” lineup and might just be excited to get the iPhone 20 Plus instead Pro Max Ultra SE whatever they come up with.

 

[MacAndMic]

Like others, the 60hz is the only thing preventing me from skipping pro. Unfortunately, when they do finally add 120hz to the regular line, pricing will be comparable to the prior year’s pro pricing.

 

[ProbablyDylan]

Nowadays one can find 200-300$ phones with 120Hz displays

Specifically, the CMF Phone 1 has a huge 120Hz OLED. And 8GB of memory. Only $239.

I own one to poke at Android and it's pretty nice. Too big for my tastes but otherwise usable.

 

[VisceralRealist]

From The Verge review:



When will reviewers get that most people aren’t buying a new phone every year? And what kind of hardware updates are they expecting year-over-year on a very mature product? And if the new phone was a massive hardware upgrade over the previous phone would they then be screaming about planned obsolescence and how the $1000 phone they bought just last year is now outdated?

Well, it is an incremental upgrade from the previous year's phone and the main selling point is software updates coming later, in some cases, months later. That is worth noting. That said, I agree that most people don't upgrade year-over-year so these reviewers should focus more on how this would be an upgrade for people with older phones. I'm coming from a 13 Pro. If I had a 15 Pro, I probably wouldn't upgrade either, but upgrading every year isn't what most people do at all. I can't think of any friends or family in real life who upgrade yearly. Only tech enthusiasts on sites like these do that.

Personally, I'd be fine with a larger leap between models. I really don't care if people who bought last year's phone feel theirs is "obsolete". That's never the case.

 

[ProbablyDylan]

And so what? Android manufacturers are using 90-120Hz as a standard since at least 4-5years

Longer than that even! The Razer phone brought it to android in 2017. Same year as iPhone X.

 

[ellpee]

Is this article your resume for a gig at Apple PR?

 

[Radeon85]

iPhone 16 Pro review, see iPhone 15 Pro review from last year with a few tweaks and the one thing the phones were made for, Apple Intelligence is not officially available at launch for a good month afterwards.

 

[Glideslope]

Once they move to 90/120Hz panels I'm done with pro models.

I’m right behind you……

 

[d5aqoëp]

I would argue that iOS is snappy enough without it. I quite like it on the iPad Pro but don't miss it on the iPhone 13.

Apple loves you and they might even give you permanent membership of their new room they have created in Apple campus.

The day iPhone non-pro models get 120hz screens is the day the Pro models stop being relevant. Apple very well knows this fact. That's why they are holding back 120hz screens and USB 3.2 Gen speeds on their non-pro models.

It's really shameless of Apple when "trash" tier Androids in $200-250 range have 120hz OLED screens.

 

[9081094]

It just needs 120Hz.

And at least 12gb of RAM to be future proof.

 

[twintin]

Preselected favorite reviewers who are guaranteed to give good reviews

Negative one’s are reserved for members of this forum. 😉😊

 

[macbookj0e]

...I dunno if GeekBench needs to be updated, iOS more optimized for A18 Pro, or what - perhaps it is what it is but

I was surprised to see A18 Pro like 100 in single core above A18 in standard iPhone 16's
and multi was like maybe 200 or something like that 300 absolute max above. Iirc.

But incredibly incremental boost to the SoC from A18 Pro is the point. Which is curious because they directly compared iPhone 16's A18 against A16 (in the iPhone 15 and 14 Pros) in the keynote, to show 'up to 50% boost' but the reality is they probably could've shown it against A17 Pro and it would've fared almost the same or similarly? Or even shown how closely it keeps up with A18 Pro? I dunno.

In any case, plus for the regulars and negative upsell for the Pros there. The A18 is a beast.

What I appreciate Apple has potentially done with the new n3 fabricated chips is give more efficiency to users instead of power. This likely goes some way to explain the impressive new battery life figures and is something I’ve personally wanted them to do for a few years seeing how capable the chips already were.

 

[9081094]

I looked up cheap phones with a 120hz screen, and the first 2 options that came up were from OnePlus and Motorola. But they had LCD displays instead of OLED. There’s trade offs if you bring the price that low.

Then compare this with the iPhone 16. € 399,-

Galaxy A Serie | Vergelijk assortiment | Samsung NL

Ontdek het Galaxy A series assortiment online bij Samsung NL. Vergelijk Galaxy A telefoons op prijs, specificaties en de functies die voor jou belangrijk zijn.

www.samsung.com

 

[turbineseaplane]

and if you've never actually used 120hz on your display, you likely won't even care anyway

What a strange way to look at things
Hmm

 

[purplecat]

I mean, the audio features and 120fps recording is pretty good.

 

[turbineseaplane]

People sometimes forget that 120 Hz refresh rate on a phone is a MAJOR battery drain issue.

That's why variable refresh rate tech exists (Apple themselves does this already)

 

[Ctrlos]

Apple loves you and they might even give you permanent membership of their new room they have created in Apple campus.

The day iPhone non-pro models get 120hz screens is the day the Pro models stop being relevant. Apple very well knows this fact. That's why they are holding back 120hz screens and USB 3.2 Gen speeds on their non-pro models.

It's really shameless of Apple when "trash" tier Androids in $200-250 range have 120hz OLED screens.

There is nothing wrong with $200 Androids.

CMF 1 may well be the phone of 2024

 

[sflagel]

The initial appeal of the iPhone was that there was only one iPhone model. Everyone got the same thing for the same price. Then the plastic 5C came along and the rest is history. I also think having a cheaper model was intended for Apple to be more competitive in developing economies, where Android phones are the default for the most part. That probably didn't work as even the 'basic' iphone is much more expensive than the cheapest androids.

I personally wish they would just go back to one model, and maybe offer it in 2 or 3 sizes.

One of the benefits of only one model was that as a consumer, you never wondered if you *should* have bought the other one, it increased product satisfaction.

 

[sflagel]

I am only waiting for the always-on display on the basic iPhone. Strange that the 16 doesn’t have it even when charging in landscape mode. I can only imagine it’s forced differentiation.

 

[turbineseaplane]

I can only imagine it’s forced differentiation.

The story of the entire company at this point

 

[dannyyankou]

Then compare this with the iPhone 16. € 399,-

Galaxy A Serie | Vergelijk assortiment | Samsung NL

Ontdek het Galaxy A series assortiment online bij Samsung NL. Vergelijk Galaxy A telefoons op prijs, specificaties en de functies die voor jou belangrijk zijn.

www.samsung.com

That’s a $450 phone in the US. But I compared them. iPhone 16 blows the A55 out of the water in Geekbench scores (nearly 3x higher single core), has a higher pixel density, has 1450 more nits of brightness, better video recording capabilities (A55 maxes out at 30fps), better water resistance, and I can go on.

And I would expect a phone that is $350 more to have better features. But they had to make trade offs to get the phone down to that price with a 120hz OLED display, including trade offs in the display itself.

 

[Biro]

Specifically, the CMF Phone 1 has a huge 120Hz OLED. And 8GB of memory. Only $239.

I own one to poke at Android and it's pretty nice. Too big for my tastes but otherwise usable.

It does look pretty nice. Does it feel like it’ll hold up for a few years? How is Nothing OS? Any issues with reception inside buildings and/or out in rural areas?

 

[ProbablyDylan]

It does look pretty nice. Does it feel like it’ll hold up for a few years?

I would be more worried about the plastic build than it's performance. Corners had to be cut somewhere, and boy does it feel flimsy.

How is Nothing OS?

It's a lightweight skin on android. Nothing as extreme as Samsung's skin - it's much closer to Google's vision of the platform. No major bugs or issues to report on. Updates seem to be prompt so far, but no major version bump yet.

I notice the phone doesn’t have LTE Band 71 (even if most of us will be on 5G anyway). Any issues with reception inside buildings and/or out in rural areas?

No reception issues to speak of. Granted I live in LA, so this is generally true of almost any phone.