iPhone 16 Pro Worst thing about 16 series iPhones, 1 year later

[1096bimu]

For me it's got to be the 5x telephoto lens, it SUCKS so much.
The focal length is too long, this indirectly means it has a tiny sensor due to volume constraints, but also it has terrible stabilization. Then these two factors combined give you the issue of hand shake when taking photos, especially with the camera button, it's almost impossible to take a clear photo with the button because of the shaking, unless you're in a perfectly sunny day.

I just got a Chinese phone which has a very common telephoto choice, 3x telephoto with macro. This is a much more useful focal length, and because it's not too long, there is still space for a reasonably sized sensor, as well as room for the lens to focus much closer. You can even fit a high resolution sensor in it to enable more digital zoom and reach out to something like 6x

From my own testing, even under ideal lighting conditions the iPhone only has slight detail advantage for 5x and longer zoom. For everything else, that means 2x to 4.9999x, from close to far, indoor to night, the Android 3X camera choice is significantly better.

You would think Apple would not join the highest zoom X number race but instead use a more generally useful telephoto camera but it really seems like they chose bigger spec numbers instead. To some extend I also don't like the ultra wide choice of 12mm, that's so EXTREMELY wide. If you know anything about photography you know the most commonly used zooms only go as wide as 16mm, 12mm lenses are specialty lenses that are much less commonly used. So why not stop at 16mm for the ultra wide so you can improve the image quality? Instead we get this ridiculously wide lens with again, poor image quality. You also have to consider all the features where the ultra wide must work along with the main camera like spacial photo/video and portrait mode, a less wide but higher quality ultra wide lens would make those better as well.

 

[Shirasaki]

I don’t even mean 5x but even just 1x these sensors are VERY SENSITIVE to hand shakes and I simply can NEVER take a clear photo of texts on any form of paper in any lighting conditions. It all goes into a blurry mess. On the contrary iPhone XS Max, with admittedly very old sensor, takes clear photos of texts every single time. It’s so frustrating the “latest tech” can’t tolerate shaking. Like at all, as if image stabilisation doesn’t exist. I can’t imagine how shaky action shots gonna be and those promo videos definitely are NOT taken with iPhone.

 

[Homme]

The worst thing about the 16 series iPhones especially the /Pro/Pro Max ones (to a lesser extent the 16 plus and to a much lesser extent the 16e) is the fact that they weren’t huge upgrades compared to most other iPhone generations.

The 16 plus despite it being the last plus phone and the Air replacing it is a much better deal than the 15 plus and non pro ones especially with A18 and 8GB Of RAM but the back of the phone is also redesigned too.

The 16e is mostly less affected in this because it replaced the SE Model and it was sorely needed ( the 16e is one of the top 10 iPhones which is important to the history of the iPhone because of the C1 Modem in the iPhone and it being the first iDevice to have it).

And besides C1 it has 8GB of RAM which the RAM was the best thing about the 16 lineup in which all iPhone 16s have 8GB of RAM ( as well as the non pro iPhone 17 and the 17e) which reminds me of the 6S/OG SE Era which all of those A9 iPhones have 2GB ( and the 7/8 as well afterwards).

But yeah the 17 Pro and Pro Max as well as the 17 Air ( besides battery life) are much bigger upgrades though

 

[1096bimu]

I don’t even mean 5x but even just 1x these sensors are VERY SENSITIVE to hand shakes and I simply can NEVER take a clear photo of texts on any form of paper in any lighting conditions. It all goes into a blurry mess. On the contrary iPhone XS Max, with admittedly very old sensor, takes clear photos of texts every single time. It’s so frustrating the “latest tech” can’t tolerate shaking. Like at all, as if image stabilisation doesn’t exist. I can’t imagine how shaky action shots gonna be and those promo videos definitely are NOT taken with iPhone.

I don't think your issue is with stabilization, it's with minimum focus distance. The focus distance is extremely long for both the telephoto and main lens, that means if you are close than ~30CM it will switch to heavily cropped ultra wide camera, which has garbage image quality.
whereas with older iPhones the main camera can be used, which is still going to be much better than the super cropped ultra wide.

 

[4sallypat]

The worst thing about the 16 series iPhones especially the /Pro/Pro Max ones (to a lesser extent the 16 plus and to a much lesser extent the 16e) is the fact that they weren’t huge upgrades compared to most other iPhone generations.

The 16 plus despite it being the last plus phone and the Air replacing it is a much better deal ........

Agree!

Loved my 14+ - battery life was phenomenal - 2 full days of use with one charge.

16 Pro that replaced the 14+ is sort of a let down as I don't use any of the advanced camera features and the camera button gets in the way (activating when I didn't mean to), heavier, and battery life is 1 full day.

Hoping the 17 Air will be the ultimate for me as I prefer thinner, lightweight, basic camera, and all day battery life.

Hoping the 17 Air will have 12GB RAM for AI...

 

[Shirasaki]

I don't think your issue is with stabilization, it's with minimum focus distance. The focus distance is extremely long for both the telephoto and main lens, that means if you are close than ~30CM it will switch to heavily cropped ultra wide camera, which has garbage image quality.
whereas with older iPhones the main camera can be used, which is still going to be much better than the super cropped ultra wide.

It’s not about minimum focus distance. And for some reason the super cropped ultra wide camera takes better picture on texts than main 48MP camera. I kid you not. I probably would prefer using cropped ultra wide for clearer texts over 48MP blurred mess except the portion at the center.

 

[1096bimu]

It’s not about minimum focus distance. And for some reason the super cropped ultra wide camera takes better picture on texts than main 48MP camera. I kid you not. I probably would prefer using cropped ultra wide for clearer texts over 48MP blurred mess except the portion at the center.

Well yes the main camera ALSO has the issue of blurry edges when focusing close. If you need to use the minimum focus distance you should use 2x so you can avoid all the edges, which is a lot to have to consider when using an iPhone.
where as with older models with smaller main cameras that could focus close and have more consistent edge sharpness this was not an issue.

They've basically maximized the main camera for taking standard snapshots, they've sacrificed its usability everything else.

 

[ab2c4]

16 Pro is my first pro model and I hate how heavy it is. Other than that the phone works very good.

I hate the flat sides and the sharp edges but I’ll just have to suffer until some manufacturer comes back out with a rounded sides phone again.

I’m seriously looking at the upcoming Samsung S26 (the smallest one) and hoping it’s nice and light like the S25 is. If I stay with Apple I probably get the 17e or 18e for their light weight. The upcoming Air is too big.

 

[4sallypat]

16 Pro is my first pro model and I hate how heavy it is. Other than that the phone works very good.

I hate the flat sides and the sharp edges but I’ll just have to suffer until some manufacturer comes back out with a rounded sides phone again.

I’m seriously looking at the upcoming Samsung S26 (the smallest one) and hoping it’s nice and light like the S25 is. If I stay with Apple I probably get the 17e or 18e for their light weight. The upcoming Air is too big.

I have the same and agree it's heavy too.

This time I am getting the super slim, lightweight 17 Air.

 

[tbgb50]

The worst thing was being duped about AI and upgrading for a marginal return.

 

[macher]

The worst thing was being duped about AI and upgrading for a marginal return.

It’s a disgrace that Apple hasn’t gotten in the AI wagon like others. I handled a co workers Pixel for a day and although had some quirks, love the assistant. I consider the Pixel the iPhone of Android. Plus I started using Google photos and they have much more advanced picture editing.

 

[Jackbequickly]

Apple had so many broken promises.

 

[zenmacx]

For my preferences the absolute worst "feature" on my iPhone 16 Pro Max is the camera control button.

Since it's there, I have remained open minded and tried to embrace it but it's futile. Nearly impossible to ignore since accidental touches can't be avoided when simply using the phone, it's incredibly annoying.

Then going forward Apple includes this dreadful button on the iPhone 17 Air. Suddenly my other phone's without this "feature" become even more enjoyable.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

For me it's got to be the 5x telephoto lens, it SUCKS so much.
The focal length is too long, this indirectly means it has a tiny sensor due to volume constraints, but also it has terrible stabilization. Then these two factors combined give you the issue of hand shake when taking photos, especially with the camera button, it's almost impossible to take a clear photo with the button because of the shaking, unless you're in a perfectly sunny day.

I just got a Chinese phone which has a very common telephoto choice, 3x telephoto with macro. This is a much more useful focal length, and because it's not too long, there is still space for a reasonably sized sensor, as well as room for the lens to focus much closer. You can even fit a high resolution sensor in it to enable more digital zoom and reach out to something like 6x

From my own testing, even under ideal lighting conditions the iPhone only has slight detail advantage for 5x and longer zoom. For everything else, that means 2x to 4.9999x, from close to far, indoor to night, the Android 3X camera choice is significantly better.

You would think Apple would not join the highest zoom X number race but instead use a more generally useful telephoto camera but it really seems like they chose bigger spec numbers instead. To some extend I also don't like the ultra wide choice of 12mm, that's so EXTREMELY wide. If you know anything about photography you know the most commonly used zooms only go as wide as 16mm, 12mm lenses are specialty lenses that are much less commonly used. So why not stop at 16mm for the ultra wide so you can improve the image quality? Instead we get this ridiculously wide lens with again, poor image quality. You also have to consider all the features where the ultra wide must work along with the main camera like spacial photo/video and portrait mode, a less wide but higher quality ultra wide lens would make those better as well.

I disagree. IMO the iPhone 16 PM is the best iPhone yet, especially the camera. Just learn how to use it, it is easy: set to RAW, hold the camera still and make sure lighting is appropriate. Try the "turn the volume up" hands-free shutter release technique to help reduce hand shake during shutter release.

Can it all be improved? Very likely. Let's see what the v17 iPhone Pros provide. But it is photography and technique will remain essential.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

For my preferences the absolute worst "feature" on my iPhone 16 Pro Max is the camera control button.

Since it's there, I have remained open minded and tried to embrace it but it's futile. Nearly impossible to ignore since accidental touches can't be avoided when simply using the phone, it's incredibly annoying.

Then going forward Apple includes this dreadful button on the iPhone 17 Air. Suddenly my other phone's without this "feature" become even more enjoyable.

Interesting because I am a photographer, and I have the opposite opinion. IMO the camera control button is excellent value add and very difficult to accidentally release the shutter. I wish more users would use it to improve their photographic technique and that the button was easier to release. I use it on about half of my captures.

 

[zenmacx]

I respect your opinion and experience with the camera control button.

My experience isn't that it releases the shutter, but rather that it activates or opens the camera app, thereby interrupting the workflow I'm in the midst of.

When I read about this feature before I bought my iPhone 16 Pro Max, I viewed it favorably.

I've even gone so far as to carefully research cases with a button rather than a cutout. After testing a few I settled on a very well designed Spigen Ultra Hybrid T Mag Fit. The button on this case has reduced the instances of accidental touches which I am grateful for.

Unfortunately now that I've owned this phone since its release the button continues to be an annoyance.

 

[maerz001]

Agree!

Loved my 14+ - battery life was phenomenal - 2 full days of use with one charge.

16 Pro that replaced the 14+ is sort of a let down as I don't use any of the advanced camera features and the camera button gets in the way (activating when I didn't mean to), heavier, and battery life is 1 full day.

Hoping the 17 Air will be the ultimate for me as I prefer thinner, lightweight, basic camera, and all day battery life.

Hoping the 17 Air will have 12GB RAM for AI...

From rumors the air will have worse battery life than the 16pro

 

[vvvvvv]

From rumors the air will have worse battery life than the 16pro

We don’t know what the new battery tech will allow for on the efficiency front.

 

[4sallypat]

From rumors the air will have worse battery life than the 16pro

@vvvvvv is correct, the battery chemistry rumored to be silicon carbon anode battery then it might change things up.

Will have to wait and see if the 17 Air is a hit.

I know I'll be the first in line for the 17 Air.

 

[maerz001]

@vvvvvv is correct, the battery chemistry rumored to be silicon carbon anode battery then it might change things up.

Will have to wait and see if the 17 Air is a hit.

I know I'll be the first in line for the 17 Air.

Yes but if u already complain about the 16pros battery I guess you won’t get satisfied by air. It will have 15-20% less capacity. I doubt that they managed to compensate for that even with new chemistry.
We will see soon

 

[Ctrlos]

I've been through a 16 and 16 Pro this year and have zero complaints. 5x is the perfect focal length for a zoom lens is the perfect distance really. At 3x you may as well not bother and the 10x on Samsung devices too far. Apple Intelligence you can completely ignore if you like. I didn't use them much but I found Visual Intelligence to be brilliant. The camera button is a nice shortcut but utterly useless for actual photography, being too far along to shoot in landscape. The volume buttons are still better for low angle shooting.

The regular 16 did somehat invalidate the Pro model though, the only real difference being the extra focal length. I reckon the 16 is the best generation of iPhone in a long time as Apple quickly bought it up to parity with the Pro line. My only complaint is that the blue colour was too light, innaccurately represented by Youtubers with their aggressive colour grading.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

The camera on the 16 Pro Max has shocked me how grainy and full of noise some images get, in perfect lighting conditions. The 5X zoom isn't the best quality tbh either. The camera control button is poorly placed and I never use it for camera functions, only to open the AI search. To use the camera control button for photos requires me to reach over the screen I am looking at, and this obscures the view. It should have been placed closer to the botton of the device to enable users to use it while gripping the edge of the device, like you would with a compact camera.

 

[winxmac]

iPhone 11 Pro Max has 26mm main camera, 52mm telephoto, 13mm ultrawide

iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max have shorter minimum focus distance compared to iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max and newer

 

[Basic75]

The worst thing about the 16 series iPhones especially the /Pro/Pro Max ones (to a lesser extent the 16 plus and to a much lesser extent the 16e) is the fact that they weren’t huge upgrades compared to most other iPhone generations.

So what? If you buy say every five years it really doesn't matter as the changes and improvements add up over time. If you are buying a new phone every one or two years you are just wasting money for no good reason.

 

[macher]

I've been through a 16 and 16 Pro this year and have zero complaints. 5x is the perfect focal length for a zoom lens is the perfect distance really. At 3x you may as well not bother and the 10x on Samsung devices too far. Apple Intelligence you can completely ignore if you like. I didn't use them much but I found Visual Intelligence to be brilliant. The camera button is a nice shortcut but utterly useless for actual photography, being too far along to shoot in landscape. The volume buttons are still better for low angle shooting.

The regular 16 did somehat invalidate the Pro model though, the only real difference being the extra focal length. I reckon the 16 is the best generation of iPhone in a long time as Apple quickly bought it up to parity with the Pro line. My only complaint is that the blue colour was too light, innaccurately represented by Youtubers with their aggressive colour grading.

There really isn’t much significant difference between the non pro and pro.