iPhone 16 and 16 Pro review roundup: Back to basics

The iPhone is available to order, with shipments starting on Friday (though if you order now, you won’t get it until October). The media was given the go-ahead to post their reviews on Wednesday, and the reviews are positive (did you really expect otherwise?), with the non-pro 16 being the big winner.

iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus

Allison Johnson of The Verge kicks off her review by saying, “it’s a good year for the basic iPhone [16], and it’s a good year to upgrade.” However, she’s not convinced that Camera Control will be useful. “I do like using it to launch the camera,” said Johnson, “but once I’ve done that, I’ve mostly gone back to using the onscreen shutter.”

John Velasco of Tom’s Hardware points out that the iPhone 16’s display is “pleasant looking OLED panel that gets the job done for most things.” Velasco thinks Camera Control is “a step in the right direction” but he wishes “Apple added more controls—like access to the shutter speed and ISO.”

Lisa Eadicicco of Cnet said that the lack of an always-on display on the non-pro phones  is “the one ‘Pro’ feature I truly miss on a daily basis when switching from the iPhone 15 Pro to the iPhone 16.” Eaadicicco also stated that the iPhone 16’s A18 chip “performed smoothly and swiftly whether I was playing games, launching apps or scrolling through settings menus and photos.”

The Wall Street Journal’s Joanna Stern took a different approach to presenting the iPhone 16 review. Stern used this opportunity to introduce Joannabot, “a generative-AI buddy who never tires of answering your iPhone 16 questions.” Unfortunately, that’s the last readable sentence before you’re faced with the WSJ paywall, though Apple News subscribers can read it. Joannabot concludes that the iPhone Pro models are “the best iPhones you can buy right now” though the standard models are “are more appealing than in years past.”

iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max

Florence Ion of Gizmodo thinks that because the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max have bigger displays than last year’s models, “the iPhone 16 Pro is now what I would consider the perfect size without any compromises on the camera system. The iPhone 16 Pro Max is for those who secretly want an iPad as a phone.” Ion also found that “because [the camera is] more capable of processing multiple brackets at a time, it produces brighter photos than I was used to with the iPhone 15 Pro Max.”

Cherlynn Low of Engadget does not sound like a fan of Camera Control, stating that its placement is “unintuitive” and that, “Even for those with the strongest claws, swiping and half-pressing and double-half-pressing on the sensor is tricky.” Low also found it “difficult to swipe through different settings when holding the device with one hand,” and “it also reacts to accidental touches and swipes.”

David Snelling of Express said that “Apple continues to embarrass its Android rivals” when it comes to performance. Snelling found that the iPhone 16 Pro Max’s A18 Pro chip “is around 17 percent faster than the A17 Pro chip and the GPU offers up to 20 percent better performance than [the iPhone 15 Pro Max].”

Wired’s Julian Chokkattu took a departure from most reviewers who held off on making evaluative statements about Apple Intelligence in the iPhone–it’s not officially available and is only accessible through the iOS 18.1 developer beta. Chokkattu tested the 16 Pro with the iOS 18.1 beta, however, and said that, “How useful [Apple Intelligence] will be depends a lot on your workflow.” Chokkattu also points out that with Apple Intelligence, Apple “is deploying these features in a way that is arguably more private and secure than anything that has come before.”

YouTuber Brian Tong says the iPhone 16 Pro’s new support for 4K video recording at 120 frames per second offers footage that is “crispy and clean” and “is so damn impressive.” He also provides a helpful demonstration of the new Audio Mix feature and how the iPhone 16 Pro’s four microphones work to change how audio is mixed in your videos.

Macworld will have full, in-depth reviews of the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro coming soon. In the meantime, Macwelt, our sister publication in Germany has posted their reviews. Check them out:

Macwelt’s iPhone 16 review

Macwelt’s iPhone 16 Pro Max review

You can use Safari’s translate feature to read Macwelt’s reviews. When you visit those links, click the Translate icon in the right side of the address bar. It’s next to the reload icon.