iPhone 16 (2024) guide: Features, specs, problems and more

Macworld

Want to know all about the newest Apple iPhones? The iPhone 16, 16 Plus, 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max 10 were announced at Apple’s September 2024 event on September 9 and are now available to buy.

The updates generally correlated with what we expected:

iPhone 16: same 6.1-inch display, A18 processor, Action button and touch-sensitive Camera Control on the side

iPhone 16 Plus: same 6.7-inch display, A18 processor, Action button and touch-sensitive Camera Control on the side

iPhone 16 Pro: larger 6.3-inch display, A18 Pro processor, new 48Mp ultrawide lens, touch-sensitive Camera Control joins Action button on the side

iPhone 16 Pro Max (or Ultra): larger 6.9-inch display, A18 Pro processor, new 48Mp ultrawide lens, touch-sensitive Camera Control joins Action button on the side

As expected the iPhone 16 Pro and Max have larger displays, the Action button arrives on the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus, and the Camera Control button on all the 2024 handsets. Camera improvements and a more powerful processor are also available for all the new models.

Read our iPhone 16 Pro/Pro Max review.

Also, find out how the models compare in iPhone 16 vs iPhone 16 Pro and the difference between the iPhone 15 vs iPhone 16. Also read: Forget the Pro, the iPhone 16 has everything you need.

Updated 30 September: Including latest information including Apple Intelligence requirements, details about the battery, where to find the camera control settings and how to use the Action button, reports that the glass still smashes if dropped from a great height, and news that some iPhone 16 Pro owners are complaining of dead spots. Read on for more information.

iPhone 16 release date: When did the iPhone 16 come out?

The iPhone 16, 16 Plus, 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max handsets were announced at Apple’s iPhone event on September 9.

Pre-orders on Apple’s website started at 5 a.m. PDT, at 8 a.m. EDT, and 1 p.m. in the U.K on Friday, September 13.

The phones went on sale on Friday, September 20.

Order an iPhone 16 (U.S.)

Order an iPhone 16 (U.K.)

At the time of writing, most new iPhones will be delivered by the beginning of October, but the iPhone 16 Pro Max is delayed by 3-4 weeks, with some deliveries not until October 15.

Read: How to pre-order iPhone 16, Plus, Pro and Pro Max for help pre-ordering a new iPhone. We will also be monitoring Where to get the best iPhone 16, Plus, Pro, and Pro Max deals in the U.S. and Where to get the best iPhone 16, Plus, Pro, and Pro Max in the U.K.

iPhone 16 price: How much will the iPhone 16 cost?

Here’s how the iPhone 16 prices compare to the iPhone 15.

iPhone 16$799/£799iPhone 15Was $799/£799, Now from $699/£699iPhone 16 Plus$899/£899iPhone 15 PlusWas $899/£899, Now from $799/£799iPhone 16 Pro$999/£999iPhone 15 Pro MaxWas $999/£999, DISCONTINUEDiPhone 16 Pro Max$1,199/£1,199iPhone 15 Pro MaxWas $1,199/£1,199, DISCONTINUED

As you can see, these prices are the same as the 2023 generation of iPhones. The iPhone 15 and 15 Plus prices have now been reduced.

The price of the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus have also changed. At launch, the iPhone 14 started at $829 / £849, then for 2023-2024 the price dropped to $699/£699. Now the price starts at $599/£599 for the iPhone 14 and $699/£699 for the iPhone 14 Plus. The iPhone 13 has been discontinued.

Want to buy a new iPhone 16? Don’t pay more than you need to! We have collected the best deals for the iPhone in a separate article. You can also take advantage of Apple’s Trade-In. See: How Apple trade in works and saves you money and How to sell or trade in your old iPhone. Beware that it may not be plain sailing, read: Apple wants to recycle my iPhone 15 Pro Max for $0.

Below you can see Apple’s prices for the new iPhones, and the best prices that they are available for elsewhere. In the U.S. you will pay more for an iPhone that isn’t locked to a network. In the U.K., where it is easy to buy an iPhone off contract, the prices quoted are for unlocked iPhones.

Should I buy an iPhone 16 or Plus, 16 Pro or Pro Max?

The answer to this question depends on a lot of things, including the phone you are upgrading from, your budget, and the features that you need from a smartphone. Our first impressions are that the iPhone 16 represents a big leap up from the iPhone 15. Read about how the new iPhone 16 compares to the iPhone 15 in iPhone 15 vs iPhone 16: Is new always better? and Forget the Pro, the iPhone 16 has everything you need.

Another reason to buy an iPhone 16, rather than an iPhone 15, is the arrival of Apple Intelligence. The new AI features coming later in 2024, are available for M-series Macs and iPads and the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, and the whole iPhone 16 series. You won’t be able to take advantage of these new features without a compatible iPhone. Read about the Apple Intelligence features here: What Apple Intelligence can do and When will Apple Intelligence come out. Speaking of Apple Intelligence, Apple Intelligence will eat up 4GB of storage on your iPhone it also requires 8GB of RAM.

There are a few questions about the advances of the iPhone 16 Pro compared to the previous generation, on the other hand. The 2024 Pro models have bigger screens than the iPhone 15 Pro and Max and battery life improvements, but the leap doesn’t feel quite as big as from the iPhone 15 to 16.

We have various articles that attempt to answer the question in more detail, which we will link to below.

For help choosing the best iPhone for you read our iPhone comparison chart where we compare every iPhone. We also have an iPhone buying guide to help you decide which iPhone best meets your needs. Also read: When is the best time to buy an iPhone?

iPhone 16 Design: Do the new iPhones look different?

Apple

All four iPhone 16 handsets boast some design changes from the previous generation. As usual, there are clear design differences between the standard iPhone 16 and 16 Plus models and the pro versions, with the latter having more business-like metallic finishes and three camera lenses on the back. For 2024 the iPhones 16 Pro and Pro Max have bigger screens than the standard iPhones and their predecessors.

For this section, we will look at the different handsets separately: iPhone 16 and 16 Plus, and then the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max.

iPhone 16 and 16 Plus Design

iPhone 16 (left)compared to the iPhone 15 (right).

Apple

For the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus there are some clear design differences between the generations.

The iPhone 16 comes in much darker, bolder hues of ultramarine, teal, pink, white and black, compared to the more pastel shades of the iPhone 15. It will be a matter of personal taste as to which one you prefer. The color difference will ensure that there is no mistaking the 2024 model for the previous generation, but it isn’t the only difference.

The layout of the camera lenses is also different on the iPhone 16. The vertical alignment enables the recording of spatial photos and video for the Vision Pro headset.

Another obvious design difference is found on the side of the iPhone 16: there is a new Action button (first seen on the iPhone 15 Pro) and the new Camera Control ‘button’ below that (the latter is not actually a button, it’s a touch-sensitive area).

You can read more about the Camera Control below. As for the Action button, the Action button can be assigned numerous tasks, and on the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max one of those extra tasks was often to control the camera. Now that the camera has a dedicated button, the Action button could feel superfluous, especially as Apple doesn’t make it especially easy to assign different tasks, to do so you need to use Apple’s Shortcuts app. We explain how to create a basic Action Button shortcut with behavior that varies based on some specific parameters in How to make the Action button smarter.

iPhone 16 and 16 Plus Screen

The screen on the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus has a new ceramic glass formulation that Apple says is 50% tougher than the first gen ceramic glass, and a lot stronger than anything else on the market. However, it won’t stop the glass on the iPhone smashing if you drop it from a great height: insurance firm Allstate Protection Plans dropped the iPhone from six feet and shared a video of the result on YouTube. To be fair, no glass phone has survived this test, and not many people are tall enough to drop their iPhone from a height of six feet.

Despite these tests, the ceramic shield should go some way to protecting your iPhone’s screen if you drop it, but we still recommend an iPhone case and a screen protector. See: The best iPhone 16, Plus, Pro and Max cases for our recommendations.

Unlike the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max, the screen size itself hasn’t changed. It’s still 6.1-inch or 6.7-inch for the larger model. It is still the case that only the Pro and Pro Max offer the ProMotion and Always On features.

iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max Design

iPhone 16 Pro (left) iPhone 15 Pro (right).

Apple

The color differences for the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro are not nearly as obvious as with the iPhone 16 vs iPhone 15. The new iPhones 16 Pro and Pro Max are constructed from microblasted Grade 5 titanium and the colors are a little darker than 2023’s generation with Natural Titanium, White Titanium and Black Titanium. A new color named Desert Titanium has been introduced (it’s a gold shade).

For the iPhone 15 Pro the color choices were: Natural Titanium, Blue Titanium, White Titanium, and Black Titanium.

The decision to replace blue with gold may indicate that blue wasn’t as popular a color for the iPhone 15 Pro as the gold shades offered in the past have been.

iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max Screen

The iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max have new screen sizes. The iPhone 16 Pro features a 6.3-inch display, while the iPhone 16 Pro Max display is 6.9-inches. Previously the displays were 6.1-inch or 6.7-inch, the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus have the same 6.1-inch or 6.7-inch displays as previously.

To make the screen size change possible without changing the dimensions Apple has reduced the bezels. The iPhone 16 Pro now has the “Thinnest bezels on any Apple product”.

Some iPhone 16 Pro owners are complaining that their iPhone 16 Pro is not responding correctly to touchscreen gestures. This could be down to a iOS 18 software bug related to the new Camera Control feature

iPhone 16 Specs: What are the specs of the iPhone 16?

For 2024, the iPhone 16 isn’t getting the iPhone 15 Pro’s hand-me-downs. The 16 and 16 Plus are powered by a new chip: the A18, which is an improvement on 2023’s A16, which had previously powered the iPhone 14 Pro. The iPhone 16 Pro gets an even better chip: the A18 Pro.

Apple claims that the A18 in the iPhone 16 offers 17% more memory bandwidth. It’s also based on the second generation of the 3nm process, with even smaller transistors, which should mean it is faster and more energy efficient. Apple says the 6-core CPU is 30% faster than the iPhone 15 was.

There is also a new 5-core GPU, which Apple described as “Desktop-class”. Apparently, this is 40% faster than the GPU in the iPhone 15.

For gamers, the A18 delivers up to 30 percent higher sustained performance for gaming, according to Apple. Hardware acceleration brings ray tracing to the iPhone 16. Honor of Kings World was announced, coming next year.

The first A18 Pro benchmarks are out, and it is FAST! A Geekbench 6 listing shows performance numbers for an iPhone 16 Pro Max with a CPU score of 3,409 for single-core performance and 8,492 for multi-core performance. The GPU benchmark, which measures Metal API performance for GPU compute tasks and not 3D graphics rendering performance, came in at 32,848.

iPhone 16 Pro Specs: What are the specs of the iPhone 16 Pro?

Macworld

Like the iPhone 16 the 16 Pro gets a new processor, this time the A18 Pro chip, which Apple says is “faster and more efficient than A18.”

Like the A18 this chip uses the 2nd-gen 3n process and offers better performance and efficiency than the A17 Pro in the iPhone 15 Pro. Apple says the CPU is up to 15 percent faster and 20% more efficient.

It also features a faster and more efficient Neural Engine. Apple says the AI runs up to 50 percent faster than on A17 Pro.

There’s a 6-core GPU that runs 20 percent faster than in the previous generation. Ray tracing is 2X faster.

iPhone 16 Camera: What is the camera like in the iPhone 16?

Apple

The Camera Control button is one of the most notable new features. It doesn’t stick out like the Action button, rather it is a touch-sensitive, gesture-sensitive, slightly recessed area that can be used to launch the Camera app, take a photo or a video. The button will recognize touch gestures, so, for example, light press can be used to adjust zoom, longer press will take a video. This button will work with 3rd party apps as well.

Some people are finding the Camera Control button a bit awkward to use. Perhaps because of its position and the size of their hands. Luckily it is possible to adjust how the Camera Control works in Settings > Camera > Camera Control and also in Accessibility > Camera Control. In fact, there are some very useful Accessibility features, such as independently enabling light-press or a full swipe to bring up controls, adjusting the force necessary for a light press with three sensitivity levels, and choosing the speed to register a double-tap. Read our guide to Camera Control settings.

The Camera Capture button is a big change on the outside of the iPhone, but there are changes coming to the iPhone 16 camera itself. The 48MP main camera in iPhone 16 will offer 24MP photos. A 2X telephoto and a New Ultra Wide camera with autofocus, will be available. Apple says the lense can let in 2.6X more light.

Macro photography will now be available on the iPhone 16. Spatial capture for Vision Pro will also be available.

Also read: The best iPhone 16 feature is a Apple at its very best.

It seems that the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max will support capturing images in the new JPEG XL format. While support from JPEG XL is not listed on Apple’s specifications, code has been spotted that seems to confirm it.

Users will be able to select JPEG XL Lossless or JPEG XL Lossy compression. Read: iPhone 16 Pro is said to support JPEG XL format.

iPhone 16 Pro Camera: What is the camera like in the iPhone 16 Pro?

Macworld

Apple said that the A18 Pro powers “never-before-seen camera features”.

There is a new 48MP Fusion camera and an 48MP Ultra Wide camera.

New photography features include updates to Photographic Styles, which now understands skin tones and adjusts shadows. A new control pad makes it easy to adjust color. After an image is captured it will be easy to slide through styles using the Camera Control button.

For video, new features include Cinematic slow motion at 4K120fps. Users will be able to adjust FPD after capture.

There are also four studio mics and Audio Mix uses machine learning to separate background noises from speech.

iPhone 16 battery

Battery life is better on the 2024 iPhones:

Video playback (hours)Video playback (hours)iPhone 1622 iPhone 1520iPhone 16 Plus27iPhone 15 Plus26iPhone 16 Pro 27iPhone 15 Pro 23iPhone 16 Pro Max33iPhone 15 Pro Max29

That’s four hours more battery life on the iPhone 16 Pro Max compared to the 15 Pro Max and a one to two-hour increase on the other handsets.

It’s not just extra battery life, Apple seems to have made it easier to replace the batteries. iFixit discovered that the batteries are secured by a smart adhesive that will make replacement easier.

iPhone 16 security features

The chip in the iPhone 16 chip has a new security feature, according to reports.

The A18 series chips used in the iPhone 16 and 16 Pro have a Secure Exclave, which is an update from the Secure Enclave that Apple has been using since the iPhone 5s.

The Secure Exclave seems to handle the Secure Indicator Light which comes on when the camera and microphone is in use so that malware can’t use these features without the knowledge of the device owner. These light indicators were controlled by software in the past and therefore could be vulnerable to hackers, but by putting tm in the Secure Enclave they can’t be accessed.