iPhone 16 Pro Review: The Air Is Getting Thin

It’s getting difficult to make a nice video about the iPhone 16 Pro. I want to be honest, and the air is slowly getting thin for Apple. The iPhone 16 Pro is not a bad smartphone. It’s a thoroughly solid basic smartphone with an outstandingly good camera, no more and no less.

Design: the same for years

I like the design, iPhones are really sleek. But I find it a shame that the once most innovative company in the world has become so unimaginative in terms of design. I would have expected Apple to bring the first foldable smartphone, or one that’s only half as thin or half the weight. Instead, when it comes to optimizing space and weight, Apple is being overrun by Honor with the Magic V3 and by Huawei with its triple-foldable smartphone. These companies are miles ahead in research and development.

Camera Control: good idea, weak execution

Apple has added a fifth physical button to the body, Camera Control. I had hoped for some innovation:

• light press once: open settings
• light press twice: switch settings
• swipe gesture: change zoom, focus or color style
• press all the way down: take a photo or start a video

That’s actually not a bad idea. But it fails in reality, because it’s designed for holding the phone horizontally. I’m a YouTuber and shoot a lot in 16:9. All the other social media channels are vertical in 9:16, and then the button is extremely hard to use. With my small fingers it just about works, but with bigger hands you can easily drop the device. On top of that, even a single press opens the camera. That happens constantly when I put the phone in my pocket or pull it out. Pressing twice would have been better.

Size and cases from ESR

The iPhone 16 Pro is 3 mm longer, 0.9 mm wider and 12 g heavier than the iPhone 15 Pro. Old cases therefore no longer fit. Ad: Instead of the expensive Apple cases, I recommend the MagSafe-compatible cases from ESR.

• Hybrid cases: super slim, once with MagSafe only on the back, once with a stand hidden in the camera frame. The camera is protected by the 0.7 mm raised edge, and the stand gets in the way neither of wireless charging nor of MagSafe accessories.
• Soft cases: made of liquid silicone, also with or without an integrated stand.
• All are MagSafe compatible, have the cutout for the camera button and a military-standard protection rating.
• They come in a bundle with an easy-to-apply tempered glass screen protector.

Camera

The camera is still a triple camera:

	iPhone 16 Pro
Main camera	48 megapixels, called “Fusion camera” by Apple
Ultrawide	48 instead of the previous 12 megapixels
Telephoto	12 megapixels

Macro photos now come in 48 megapixels, and videos in 4K at 120 fps instead of only HD as before. That’s great, but nothing new in the Android world. With my Xiaomi 14 Ultra, I’ve been recording 4K at 120 fps for a long time and can turn it into smooth slow-motion videos. There’s also a ring of four microphones for better sound.

The camera is among the best on the market, but it’s no longer the best by a long way. The iPhone has to share first place with the Galaxy S24 Ultra and the Pixel 9 Pro. At times it’s overtaken by the Leica phone Xiaomi 14 Ultra.

AI and iOS 18

There’s still no AI on the iPhone 16 Pro. Some Apple Intelligence features are expected to come to the Mac in 2024. For the iPhone there are no dates, not even for 2025. The fact that the AI will also be available in German says nothing about when it will come to the EU or to Germany. I regret that, because I find some of the features practical, for example summarizing incoming emails. I’d also like iPhone mirroring to the Mac, which I’ve been using for a long time on my Windows laptop with Android smartphones.

With iOS 18, the new features are limited because of the missing AI: The Control Center can be customized, as can the color and placement of the apps on the home screen.

Who is the iPhone 16 Pro worth it for?

An iPhone 16 Pro can be worth it if you still have an iPhone 12 or older and have to stay in the Apple world. Then you benefit from a much better camera, a stronger battery and the long updates, usually up to 7 years. If you have an iPhone 13 or newer, the upgrade is not worth it rationally speaking. I don’t condemn irrational purchases, I’m just aware that with the iPhone 16 Pro you don’t get the latest technology and the most current software.

Verdict

I’ve repeated it often: I sincerely regret it. I was always impressed by what Apple was able to achieve, and it was fun to use the devices. I hope that Apple becomes what it once was again. But looking at Honor, Xiaomi, Huawei and Samsung with its AI features, it’s getting increasingly hard for Apple to fill the huge black hole of missing progress.