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The bottom iPhone is normally fairly boring, a primary mannequin with sufficient limitations to push customers upstream in the direction of Apple’s pricier Professional fashions.
However with latest flagship strains from Google, Samsung, and OnePlus arguably delivering higher base fashions and Professional telephones that basically do really feel constructed round non-compulsory extras, the iPhone 16 exhibits Apple studying just a little from the Android facet.
The iPhone 16 must be the least attention-grabbing of the latest-generation of iPhones, but it surely’s the alternative: the closest a non-Professional iPhone has come to its extra succesful cousins. There are nonetheless trade-offs, however the iPhone 16 is refreshing, satisfying, and much more succesful than I anticipated. For as soon as, that is the iPhone that almost all Android homeowners must be tempted by.
Apple iPhone 16
Not Professional, however not far off
The iPhone 16 is Apple’s latest common iPhone, full with an up to date design, a 6.1-inch OLED show, and the 3nm-based Apple A18 processor. It has two improved cameras in addition to a Digicam Management button for fast entry to digicam capabilities. That is the primary ‘common’ iPhone to really feel aggressive with the Professional fashions in years, and gives sufficient to tempt a number of Android homeowners into the change.
- Premium design
- Unbelievable efficiency
- Succesful twin digicam setup
- iOS is nearer to Android than ever
- No telephoto lens
- Digicam Management button does not work effectively
- iOS 18 has some bugs
- Apple Intelligence is MIA
Worth, availability, and specs
The iPhone 16 begins at $799 and comes with 128GB of storage. When you want extra storage, the 256GB mannequin is $899, whereas the utmost storage capability of 512GB will value you $1,099. These costs embody a $30 instantaneous rebate for those who activate it on a provider at level of sale. If you’d like the larger iPhone 16 Plus, it’ll value you $100 extra.
The iPhone 16 is available in 5 colours: black, white, pink, teal, and this ultramarine shade I’ve been utilizing for 2 weeks. Earlier than we get caught into the assessment, right here’s a fast reminder of the specs.
Design
Not Professional, however nonetheless premium
I’ve carried an iPhone alongside an Android telephone for years, and it’s all the time been a Professional mannequin. This 12 months is the primary that I’ve switched my most important iPhone from the Professional Max to the iPhone 16 Professional, however after beginning to use the iPhone 16, this could be my favourite iPhone but.
It begins with the colours. The iPhone 16 Professional colours are muted, however the iPhone 16 is vibrant. There’s Black and White for individuals who need one thing extra impartial, and Teal and Pink if you need a pop of shade. The hero Ultramarine shade is the one I ordered, and I adore it. It’s a mixture of blue and purple that’s distinctive and totally different from the rest; precisely what the iPhone began as.
The digicam design has additionally returned to the pre-iPhone 11 tablet design, and I prefer it. The colour of the digicam cutout is a darker tone to the principle physique, giving it a contrasting look that stands out, but it surely additionally means the telephone wobbles when laid flat on a floor.
Whereas the iPhone 16 Professional is produced from titanium (simply as was the 15 Professional vary final 12 months), the iPhone 16 makes use of aluminum with a matte glass end. That matte end means the iPhone 16 feels simply nearly as good as its Professional siblings regardless of the cheaper metallic, echoing the strategy taken by the Galaxy S24 and Pixel 9 collection.
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That is helped by the inclusion of the Motion and Digicam Management buttons. The previous was unique to the iPhone 15 Professional vary, and mine is ready to activate the flashlight, though you too can configure it to open particular Focus modes, begin a voice recording, or extra.
I feel Apple’s purpose has been to make sure that whichever iPhone 16 you choose up, it appears, feels, and acts the identical, and it has achieved this with abundance. The iPhone 16 is the nicest non-Professional iPhone ever made.
Show
The whole lot you want, aside from one function
It’s simple to dismiss the iPhone 16’s show on paper, but it surely’s largely a pleasure to make use of. Measuring 6.1 inches, it’s ergonomically pleasant and extra snug than the 0.1-inch bigger display screen on the Galaxy S24. A part of that is because of the boxier design of the Galaxy S24, with the marginally smaller construct making the iPhone 16 extra snug to carry and use with one hand. The Pixel 9 is 0.2 inches bigger than the iPhone 16, however they’re equally pleasant to make use of with one hand.
Sure, the show is barely 60Hz. Sure, it’s noticeable for those who go searching for it. No, it doesn’t matter for Apple customers. Nonetheless, hopefully the rumors of a better refresh price on subsequent 12 months’s iPhone 17 come true. However, there’s no always-on show (AOD), and that is the extra noticeable omission. This isn’t a expertise limitation, reasonably it’s Apple artificially limiting the show’s options to carry one thing again for the Professional telephones. Even low cost Android handsets provide AOD, and lacking it right here feels irritating.
Transcend the refresh price and the Tremendous Retina OLED panel appears wonderful. Brightness ranges between 1 nit and a couple of,000 nits, which means it’s seen in most lighting circumstances. I’ve turned to the iPhone 16 Professional — with a bigger 6.3-inch show — a number of occasions whereas reviewing the iPhone 16, and whereas the show is bigger, it doesn’t really feel prefer it’s significantly better (refresh price apart). It is because the important thing options that matter — OLED expertise, no less than 326 ppi pixel density, and a excessive sufficient max brightness — are related or similar on each units.
The Dynamic Island is current similar to final 12 months, and it’s nonetheless a unbelievable function that each Android maker must be making an attempt to repeat. The options and apps that tie into the Dynamic Island proceed to evolve, and it’s turn into a key a part of what makes the trendy iPhone expertise. I’ve written that each telephone ought to have a dynamic island, and it is quick turning into an iPhone function that I miss when utilizing an Android telephone.
Software program
Probably the most-Android like iPhone software program ever
The iPhone 16 runs iOS 18 out of the field, and it’s the largest replace to the iPhone in over a decade. When you’ve held off switching to an iPhone since you most popular the customizability of Android, there’s by no means been a greater time to change: iOS 18 is the closest we’ve ever come to an iPhone working Android.
The massive adjustments begin on the residence display screen: say goodbye to fastened positioning and hi there to freedom. Now you can place apps and widgets wherever you need on your own home display screen, permitting you to realize nice residence display screen layouts that weren’t attainable earlier than. It’s not elegant, as iOS nonetheless tries to autofill apps into empty areas — and I hope that Apple improves it because it’s irritating in its present state — however with a little bit of fiddling it finally ends up working. I count on that Apple will repair this in future updates, however who is aware of how lengthy that may take.
Past simply the positioning, Apple has lastly proven Android makers easy methods to theme a telephone correctly. Android telephones previous and current have supported theming in varied guises. Nonetheless, the implementation in iOS 18 is unbelievable: there are alternatives for mild backgrounds, darkish backgrounds, massive icons with no labels, and a shade swatch to allow you to go wild. Within the shade swatch, you’ll be able to change colours, hues, opacity, and even interact a shade picker to select that excellent shade out of your background. Once you use the darkish icon, all apps are pressured to make use of a darkish mode icon, and if you change colours, it overwrites the icon shade for nearly all apps. It’s elegantly executed, and it is the best way that theming must be on all telephones.
My favourite a part of iOS 18 is the revamped Management Middle. Now you can customise it to rearrange all of the icons; add huge widgets for music, connectivity, or residence controls; and add or take away pages as you see match. The management middle was once fastened with no choice to totally customise it, however now it gives the identical customization advantages that many Android makers have for years.
Messaging, Privateness, and Safety
There are a lot of different iOS 18 options price noting. Now you can simply shield particular apps, by both requiring Face ID to unlock them or inserting them in a wholly hidden space. iMessage now has a spread of enhancements round reactions (known as Tapbacks), together with with the ability to react to any message with any Emoji and with the ability to schedule iMessages for a later time.
The iPhone now helps RCS in case you weren’t already conscious, but it surely’s a large number; some networks help it, others don’t, and it’s solely the essential implementation, not the one utilized by Google. It’s precisely what you’d count on when Google and Apple don’t guarantee interoperability, however the core RCS options work, and now you can simply ship learn receipts, higher-quality media, and typing indicators from an iPhone to an Android telephone. The massive three US carriers all help RCS on the iPhone, however my provider of alternative — Google Fi — does not, saying that it is right down to Apple to roll out a provider providers replace.
The brand new Apple Pictures app is polarizing: you both prefer it, otherwise you don’t, and I don’t. A lot of this can be right down to the muscle reminiscence of utilizing the earlier Pictures app, however regardless of utilizing the beta and the steady launch, it doesn’t really feel intuitive. It’s a flatter design, and whereas there are nonetheless methods to navigate to gadgets like your favorites, it may, and may, be significantly better. In a perfect world, Apple would return to the design of outdated — albeit with some enhancements — and return to considering of the Pictures app as a gallery app, as a substitute of approaching it as a social app.
That sums up iOS 18; after 17 years of batting away requires a extra open platform, that is probably the most customizable software program that Apple has ever launched, but it surely’s removed from flawless. It’s designed to get Android customers to change, and it’ll really feel acquainted for those who’re contemplating making the transfer.
A notice about Apple Intelligence
When you watched Apple’s keynote on the iPhone 16, you’ll have heard them point out Apple Intelligence a number of occasions. It’s price noting that this received’t be launching till later this month no less than, and most of the options received’t launch till later this 12 months or early subsequent.
There are a lot of Apple Intelligence options that would remodel the iPhone 16 expertise, together with notification, mail, and message summaries, a revamped Siri with ChatGPT integration, Imaginative and prescient Intelligence — like Google Lens — utilizing the Digicam Management button, and AI picture/textual content era.
Nevertheless, these options are nonetheless in beta, and iOS 18 is just not the completed article proper now. Don’t purchase the iPhone 16 for what it could possibly be sooner or later, purchase it for what it’s now: a premium iPhone expertise with out the worth tag.
Efficiency
Professional-performance for a non-Professional telephone
The iPhone 16 is powered by the A18 chip, which marks the primary time in three years that the common mannequin has used the identical expertise normal because the Professional telephones. The A18 makes use of TSMC’s second-generation 3nm course of which gives effectivity advantages over the first-generation course of used within the iPhone 15 Professional and Professional Max’s chipset.
Apple says that the CPU is as much as 30% quicker than the iPhone 15, whereas the GPU is as much as 40% quicker. These are robust boasts, however the iPhone 15 was lots quick and the iPhone 16 merely provides further polish. There is no lag, and it feels simply as fluid as its dearer siblings, although it is unclear whether or not it is going to stay this fashion with in depth use.
The common iPhone 16 has only one fewer core within the desktop-class GPU, which means now you can run AAA video games like Resident Evil 4, and there’s additionally hardware-based ray tracing. The iPhone 15 struggles with probably the most intensive video games, however the iPhone 16 is considerably higher.
Battery Life
Stable, however not spectacular, battery life
Smaller iPhones have all the time struggled for battery life when in comparison with their greater siblings, and the iPhone 16 isn’t any totally different: out of the 4 totally different fashions, it has the least succesful battery life.
For probably the most half, the iPhone 16 delivers all-day battery life. On a mean day, I can survive a complete day while not having to prime it up in the course of the day. Most days I common round 5 hours of display screen time with a wholesome mixture of social media apps, digicam utilization, and light-weight gaming. It is good but it surely will not stack as much as the finest telephones for battery life.

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For a telephone this dimension, the battery life is about as anticipated and totally on par with the iPhone 16 Professional, which I used for a number of days prior. For the previous 12 months, I’ve used the iPhone 15 Professional Max, which wouldn’t final a full day — due to poor effectivity and unhealthy software program — so the iPhone 16 is an enchancment on this regard.
This 12 months has seen Apple increase its charging speeds, although they’re nonetheless sluggish in comparison with many Android choices. The iPhone 16 now helps as much as 30W wired charging when paired with a 20W adapter, but it surely solely quickly costs to round 70% by default. It takes about 35 minutes to cost to 70% from empty, however the last 30% takes nearly the identical period of time. iOS 18 has a spread of charging optimizations designed to extend the longevity of the battery, so this is without doubt one of the causes behind the delta in charging speeds.
Digicam
The whole lot however a telephoto lens
The iPhone 16 has two cameras, though Apple promotes 4 totally different focal lengths on its itemizing pages. The principle digicam is a 48MP digicam that captures at 24MP by means of pixel binning and might crop in to realize the equal of a 2x zoom.
The ultrawide digicam nonetheless has 12MP decision, however beneficial properties autofocus, which permits higher photos and macro images for the primary time. It’s not fairly as succesful because the 48MP ultrawide on the iPhone 16 Professional, but it surely’s a welcome enchancment over the iPhone 15. There’s additionally the flexibility to seize spatial images and movies to make use of with the Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional.
General, the iPhone 16 digicam is a reliable and succesful shooter. Sure, there’s no telephoto lens, so for those who depend on one, you’ll most likely wish to take a look at the iPhone 16 Professional or an Android rival just like the Galaxy S24. Nevertheless, the 2x crop is nice and this has all of the hallmarks of a superb iPhone digicam. As you’ll be able to see from the galleries above, the zoom stays succesful even above the 2x crop mark, though it does degrade in high quality as you zoom additional. Contemplating the legibility of the textual content at 10x, it is a digicam you’ll be able to depend on.
The iPhone 16 collection provides the Digicam Management button, and it’s going to be one of many extra polarizing components of the expertise. The bodily button gives fast entry to the digicam with a single press, whereas the capacitive sensor beneath means that you can swipe and half-press to entry totally different options corresponding to swiping by means of totally different zoom lengths.
It’s nice on paper, however I don’t benefit from the implementation. The Digicam Management button appears to behave as each a capacitive and a bodily button, but it surely’s typically onerous to press the button and much much less intuitive than I might have hoped: if you’re trying to half-press to focus a picture, it is lacking the haptic suggestions and response {that a} bodily button has. Its place can also be not ultimate as you must alter your finger to make use of the button. I need a digicam management button, however I don’t like this one, so I’m nonetheless utilizing the on-screen controls.
The tweaks to the iPhone 16 digicam, together with the brand new Photographic Kinds, that are expanded and utilized in real-time, make for an incredible general digicam that’s enjoyable to make use of. There are a lot of similarities with the iPhone 15, however the enhancements this 12 months carry the iPhone 16 a lot nearer to the Professional telephones. When you don’t want a telephoto digicam, the iPhone 16 delivers nearly the complete digicam expertise from the iPhone 16 Professional vary and an identical package deal to what you’d count on from the likes of the Pixel 9.
Competitors
Many similarities to the very best common Android telephones
The iPhone 16 is most corresponding to the Samsung Galaxy S24 and Google Pixel 9. It shares many similarities in that it gives the Professional expertise at a extra reasonably priced worth, however is closest to the Google Pixel 9 in that it solely has two cameras.
The Galaxy S24 has a triple-camera setup with a telephoto lens able to taking pictures at 3x optical zoom, though the Pixel 9 digicam continues to be pretty succesful at this focal size due to Google’s software program smarts. When you’re utilizing a daily (i.e., non-Plus, Professional, or Extremely) Android telephone, the iPhone 16 might be the very best iPhone to change to, and the enhancements in iOS 18 this 12 months imply that transition will really feel pretty acquainted.

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Nevertheless, it is price noting that many further iPhone 16 options depend on Apple Intelligence. Apple’s strategy to AI will not begin rolling out till later this month, and it’ll take till early subsequent 12 months for the complete suite of options to turn into out there. Within the meantime, Samsung and Google have each launched a full suite of AI options for the Galaxy S24 and Pixel 9 respectively, and with Samsung set to launch the Galaxy S25 in early January, these Android telephones could possibly be significantly additional forward of Apple within the AI race.
Must you purchase the iPhone 16?
The iPhone 16 is the very best non-Professional iPhone ever made, and probably the most tempting iPhone in years from an Android perspective. Specifically, I can not recover from simply how snug it’s within the hand, and the way good the Ultramarine shade is. Be sure to’re not shopping for it for the way forward for iOS 18 — as no-one should purchase one thing for the promise of future updates — however reasonably for what it’s now: a superb entry into the Apple ecosystem.
The one downside is that whereas Apple has upped its sport, so have its Android rivals. The iPhone 16 gives a compelling cause to change to iOS, however the Google Pixel 9, Samsung Galaxy S24, and OnePlus 12 are only some of the Android telephones price contemplating. Every gives related specs to the iPhone 16, even exceeding it in some areas, and every is compelling for various causes. When you’re prepared to leap ship, then the iPhone 16 is the place you wish to find yourself, however there are nonetheless loads of causes to remain put, too.

Apple iPhone 16
The iPhone 16 delivers probably the most premium non-Professional iPhone expertise I’ve ever used. The adjustments in iOS 18 imply it is the closest that the iPhone has been to Android and for those who’re considering of switching, the iPhone 16 delivers an expertise that is corresponding to the Samsung Galaxy S24 and Google Pixel 9. It is not excellent, however that is the very best common iPhone ever made.

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Nirave is a creator, evangelist, and founding father of Home of Tech. A coronary heart assault at 33 impressed him to publish the Affect of Tech publication, which covers the affect of expertise on psychological, bodily, and emotional well being. For extra, observe him on Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn.