Apple iPhone 16

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Starting at $799, the iPhone 16 is the most affordable member of Apple's 2024 iPhone lineup. The company brings a handful of changes to all its phones this year, and the standard iPhone 16 has narrowed the gap with the Pro models in terms of features and performance. It has the same Action Button and Camera Control, for example, as well as a generational jump in processor and memory to power Apple Intelligence. Together with good battery life, fast charging, modern radios, and high-quality hardware, it's a near-total package. Content creators might want the extra power and pro video tools of the $1,099 iPhone 16 Pro Max, but the iPhone 16 is the best choice for most people and our Editors' Choice winner.

Design: Pressing Your Buttons

Year after year, the slow evolution of the vanilla iPhone marches onward. The iPhone 16 carries over much of its design from the iPhone 15 but still manages to take a big step forward thanks to some features that Apple spreads across the entire iPhone 16 lineup.

The iPhone 16 is the smallest and lightest iPhone, measuring 5.81 by 2.82 by 0.31 inches (HWD) and weighing 6.0 ounces. The 16 Plus (starting at $899), which has all the same features as the 16 except the display, measures 6.33 by 3.06 by 0.31 inches and weighs 7.03 ounces. The 16 Pro (starting at $999), meanwhile, is slightly larger than the 16 at 5.89 by 2.81 by 0.32 inches and 7.03 ounces. The Pro Max is quite larger at 6.42 by 3.06 by 0.32 inches and 7.99 ounces. If you want an iPhone that comfortably fits in your hand and your pocket, the iPhone 16 is it.

Competing Android flagships are close in size and weight, including the $799 (6.0 by 2.8 by 0.3 inches, 7.0 ounces) and the $799 Samsung Galaxy S24 (5.79 by 2.78 by 0.30 inches, 5.93 ounces).

The iPhone 16 (and 16 Plus) are made with aluminum frames and Apple's Ceramic Shield on the front and back. Apple claims its glass is twice as strong as Corning Gorilla Glass Victus, which is what the and Samsung Galaxy S24 rely on. The frame and glass panels all have matte finishes that help a little with grip. The phone has an for protection against dust and water, so it can sit in about 5 feet of water for up to 30 minutes and live to tell the tale. Still, unless you're sure you'll never drop it, it's best to wrap the phone in a case. The iPhone 16 and 16 Plus are available in five shades: Black, Pink, Teal, Ultramarine, or White. We tested the Ultramarine model, which is an attractive shade of blue that sometimes almost looks purple.

The most noticeable outward-facing additions to the iPhone 16 are two new buttons. First, the iPhone 16 gains the Action Button that first appeared on last year's iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max. The Action Button is a small key just above the two volume buttons, where the ringer switch used to be. You can program the Action Button to silence your phone, open the flashlight, record a voice memo, or trigger the shortcut of your choice. The button is somewhat small in stature, but it's mighty useful. Second, the iPhone 16 gets the same Camera Control key as the Pro models. The Camera Control lets you quickly open the camera to take a picture or record a video.

The remaining controls are unchanged. The power button is on the right edge, and the USB-C port and down-firing speaker are on the bottom. The USB port is limited to data transfer speeds of 480Mbps, while the Pro models have USB ports that support up to 10Gbps. There is no SIM card tray (US models only) because the phone relies on eSIM instead.

Apple has rearranged the iPhone 16's camera module. For the past few years, the two cameras have been offset at an angle. This year, Apple stacks the iPhone 16's cameras vertically in the top-left corner. It looks more tidy this way, but the phone still wobbles when resting on a hard, flat surface.

Display: 1 Nit of Difference

Apple has made minimal updates to the iPhone 16 display. It's a Super Retina XDR OLED screen that measures 6.1 inches and has a resolution of 2,556 by 1,179 pixels with a density of 460 pixels per inch (ppi). The 16 Plus has a 6.7-inch screen with a resolution of 2,796 by 1,290 pixels, also at 460ppi. Both the 16 and 16 Plus have at 60Hz that do not support the always-on display feature available to the Pro models. Both screens are capable of producing 1,000 nits of typical brightness, 1,600 nits in HDR, and 2,000 nits peak. They support a contrast ratio of 2 million to 1 and include a fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating. All of these numbers match those of the iPhone 15.

What's different? For the first time, the iPhone 16's screen is capable of reducing its brightness to a single nit. The 1 nit minimum brightness means you can dial the screen down to almost black but still see it in the dark. In other words, you can scroll at night without disturbing anyone.

Competing Android displays have a small advantage. The Pixel 9 has a 6.3-inch OLED display with a resolution of 2,424 by 1,080 pixels at a density of 422ppi. It reaches 1,800 nits (HDR) and 2,700 nits (peak). The Galaxy S24's 6.2-inch display has a resolution of 2,340 by 1,080 pixels with a peak brightness of 2,600 nits. More importantly, the screens of the Pixel and the S24 have variable refresh rates to balance efficiency and performance, which allows them to support always-on displays. You can get a fast screen on a $200 Android phone these days, so it's disappointing Apple hasn't given the base model iPhone an upgrade in this regard.

The iPhone 16's screen is good overall. I didn't have any trouble seeing it inside or outside and it's a fine platform for viewing social media. It reacts quickly to input, and the Face ID scanner hidden in the Dynamic Island ensures that the phone unlocks securely every time you pick it up.

Performance: An Intelligent Improvement

The iPhone 16 leapfrogs an entire generation of Apple silicon. Last year, the iPhone 15 relied on the A16 chip, while the iPhone 15 Pro used the A17 Pro chip. This year, the iPhone 16 skips the A17 and lands on the A18. The A18 includes two performance cores, four efficiency cores, five GPU cores, and 16 Neural Engine cores (or NPU). Moreover, the iPhone 16 jumps from 6GB of RAM to 8GB, giving it more memory to manage apps and processes. This adds up to a respectable jump in performance. The phone still comes in the same 128GB ($799), 256GB ($899), and 512GB ($1,099) storage variants.

The iPhone 16 shows a marked improvement in benchmarks compared with the iPhone 15. Starting with Geekbench 6, which assesses the CPU, the iPhone 16 scored 3,267 on the single-core test and 8,004 on the multi-core test. That's much higher than the 2,607 and 6,231 of the iPhone 15, the 1,946 and 4,453 of the Pixel 9, and the 2,260 and 6,893 of the Galaxy S24.

I ran the GFXBench Aztec Ruins test, which puts the screws to the GPU, and the iPhone 16 turned out an average of 60 frames per second (fps). On this test, the iPhone 15 scored 58.7fps, while Android phones did a bit better at 66fps for the Pixel and 85fps for the S24.

The 3DMark Wild Life Extreme benchmark runs for a minute and checks to see how many frames the GPU can push when gaming. The iPhone 16 trounced the iPhone 15 with 4,132 frames at an average of 24.7fps compared with 3,004 frames at 18fps.

In terms of everyday performance, the iPhone 16 feels every bit as fast as the iPhone 16 Pro Max, which is powered by an even more powerful A18 Pro processor. The iPhone 16 opens apps quickly, shifts between tasks smoothly, and handles intense games just fine. It offers more than enough power to handle your day-to-day needs. Moreover, the iPhone 16 doesn't get as warm as the 16 Pro Max when running benchmarks.

The one caveat here is that Apple Intelligence is not yet available. Apple says the A18 inside the iPhone 16 is capable of running Apple Intelligence, but we've not yet seen it do so firsthand. We will revisit the A16's performance once Apple Intelligence rolls out.

Battery: Another Step Forward

One drawback of the smallest iPhone is that it also has the smallest battery—and the shortest battery life—of the iPhone family. MacRumors reports the iPhone 16 has a 3,561mAh battery, up 6.3% in capacity compared with the iPhone 15. The S24 has a 4,000mAh battery and the Pixel 9 has a 4,700mAh battery.

Apple says the iPhone 16 can play up to 22 hours of video, 18 hours of streamed video, and 80 hours of audio. Our battery test involves streaming HD video over Wi-Fi with the screen's brightness set to the maximum. In our test, the iPhone 16 lasted 17 hours and 47 minutes. That's a notable improvement over the iPhone 15, which lasted 16 hours in the same test. The iPhone 16 falls short of the 16 Pro Max, which pushed through 22 hours and 5 minutes, but outlasts most of the Android competition. The S24 lasted 13 hours and 5 minutes, and the Pixel 9 lasted 11 hours and 45 minutes when tested in the same way.

The iPhone 16 packs competitive charging speeds. All four iPhone 16 models support at up to 25W, Qi2 charging at up to 15W, and regular Qi charging at 7.5W. A 30W charging brick is required to get the fastest speed. You won't find a charger in the box, but there is a braided USB-C cable. In testing, the iPhone 16 required 31 minutes to reach a 50% charge and 66 minutes to reach 100%. That's a 19-minute improvement over the iPhone 15 and better than both the S24 (1 hour, 22 minutes) and the Pixel 9 (1 hour, 45 minutes).

Connectivity: On Par With the Pro

This year, each iPhone appears to carry the same set of radios, with only one minor difference separating the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus from the 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max. The 16 and 16 Plus have single-band GPS, while the Pro models have dual-band GPS.

Based on the shared Qualcomm Snapdragon X75 modem, 5G support is identical across the board. The 16 includes sub-6GHz and mmWave 5G and can connect to most 4G and 5G networks worldwide. In the US, it has the frequencies needed for the powerful mid-band 5G of AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon.

I tested the iPhone 16 on Verizon's 5G network and found it to perform at the same level as the 16 Pro Max. It delivered blistering fast download speeds of 854Mbps and upload speeds of 191Mbps. The phone still did well when I ran a speed test in a weak coverage area, where it netted 59Mbps down and 38Mbps up.

The iPhone 16 makes a major jump from the Wi-Fi 6 radio of the iPhone 15 to Wi-Fi 7. In testing, I witnessed a corresponding improvement in speed. The iPhone 16 hit 734Mbps down and 451Mbps up on my home network. These numbers are up 25% compared with the iPhone 15 and in line with results from the 16 Pro Max. It also performed far better at the network's edge, where it reached 23Mbps compared with the iPhone 15's 7Mbps.

Apple has updated the iPhone 16 with the Thread smart home networking standard, a feature that is not in the iPhone 15. This means that newer iPhones can talk to more connected devices around your home.

The iPhone 16 has a Bluetooth 5.3 radio for personal networking. remains mostly the same with AAC, APAC, MP3, Apple Lossless, and FLAC. The phone easily connects to true wireless earbuds.

The phone is good for voice calls. The conversations I held were loud and clear. The earpiece provides plenty of sound (74dB), and the Voice Isolation feature helps reduce background noise. The stereo speakers are just OK. I measured an output of 79dB, which is loud enough to fill an average bedroom with sound. Our test track, The Knife's "Silent Shout," lacked punch in testing.

Camera: Taking Control

As mentioned, the iPhone 16 gets the same Camera Control button as the Pro models. It's positioned near the bottom of the right edge, where your thumb tends to rest when holding the phone. Pressing the Camera Control quickly opens the camera. Pressing again snaps a shot. A press-and-hold gesture begins recording video. The story doesn't end here.

The Camera Control key is not an actual, moving button but a touch-sensitive sapphire crystal that's backed up by haptics that make it feel like a button. Pressing the key lightly when using the camera app lets you access a handful of advanced tools that include exposure, depth of field, zoom, cameras, styles, and tone. Though it's easy to adjust any of these settings individually, moving from one to another (for example, from zoom to tone) requires a coordinated dance of light touches and swipes that isn't easy to master. You can ignore these extra settings if you prefer to just open the camera and snap away. If you'd rather take control over the imaging experience, diving in grants you lots of power over your photos.

The phone has a 48MP f/1.6 Fusion camera similar to the one in the Pro models. The default setting shoots 48MP full-resolution snaps and blends them with binned 12MP shots. Apple says this generates a 24MP final photo that benefits from the detail of the full sensor and the extra light-gathering power of the Quad-Beyer binning. You can choose to fire shots at the full 48MP, though in jpeg only. You can grab 2x high-quality zoom shots using the central 12MP of the sensor to provide the zooming effect. Apple says the iPhone 16 supports up to 10x digital zoom via cropping with the main sensor, but it does not have the 5x optical telephoto camera of the Pro Models.

The ultra-wide camera has a 12MP sensor at f/2.2 and a 120-degree field of view. On the front, the TrueDepth selfie camera has a 12MP shooter at f/1.9. New shooting modes this year include macro photography and spatial photos.

In general, photos taken with the iPhone 16 look good. Apple is doing some extra processing in the background to brighten up shadows and tone down highlights, as well as give the color a warm glow. (Google and Samsung do something similar.) Sometimes, this treatment doesn't match what your eyes see when you take the shot. Despite the processing, the photos are in focus, free from grain and noise, and offer plenty of detail.

The ultra-wide camera does a solid job, though it doesn't match the clarity of the 16 Pro's camera, which is sharper. It also introduces a small amount of optical distortion, though that's part of the fun of ultra-wide cameras.

The selfie camera is particularly good, though sometimes the bokeh effect of the portrait shooting mode is a little overdone. In the image above, I look like someone pasted a cutout of me onto a blurry photo. Thankfully, you can adjust the bokeh effect to get your preferred result.

The iPhone 16 can shoot 1080p or 4K video at 24, 25, 30, or 60 frames per second in Dolby Vision. It also includes Cinematic Mode, Action Mode (at 2.8K), slow motion, macro video capture, time-lapse, and spatial video capture with spatial audio. It lacks the 4K120 Fusion capture mode of the Pro model, as well as the ProRes and Log video recording features.

The footage I recorded with the iPhone 16 looks really good. It's clean, sharp, and shows nice color. Some perfectionists may prefer to adjust color after the fact, but most people should be pleased with what they see.

Software: iOS 18 for Now, With AI to Follow

The iPhone 16 comes with installed. You can expect at least five years of operating system and security updates from Apple. Google and Samsung each provide seven years of support to their Pixel and Galaxy S phones, respectively.

One of iOS 18's most prominent features is the ability to customize your home screen fully. You can resize and recolor your app icons, switch from light to dark mode in a blink, wholly rearrange the quick controls, and more. These may sound like lightweight updates, but they will surely appeal to many who have until now felt restrained by the inflexibility of the iOS home screen. Apple has also changed up the Photos app, added new support for RCS chat in iMessage, and given the calculator app more functionality.

The iPhone 16 is powerful enough to run Apple Intelligence, but you'll have to wait a bit longer to actually use it. Apple plans to release the first batch of Apple Intelligence features in iOS 18.1 in October, with others to follow in November, December, and into 2025. Some Apple Intelligence features, including Writing Tools and the new Siri, are available for testing in the iOS 18.1 public beta.

Apple is not alone in its AI push. Google and Samsung have already brought to their flagship phones.

Verdict: Your Best Bet for an iPhone 16

The iPhone 16 is one of the most well-rounded base models we've seen from Apple. It's a finely made handset with an appealing design, long battery battery life, fast wireless radios, and capable cameras. Its Action Button, Camera Control, and fast charging bring it close to feature parity with the Pro models, and an A18 processor means it can run Apple Intelligence when it arrives later this year. You might still want an iPhone Pro for increased power, an always-on display, or an even better camera, while others might prefer the bigger screen and better battery life of the 16 Plus. But thanks to its combination of price and usability, the iPhone 16 is the model we recommend for most people, making it our Editors' Choice.