The iPhone 16 Pro is perhaps the most improved of all four models Apple showed off at the Glowtime event. And the iPhone 16 pre-orders are now live for those wanting to upgrade as soon as possible.
The display's gotten larger, the cameras have been improved across the board, the battery's been enlarged and the chip made even more powerful. Combined with Apple Intelligence features, including the new Visual Intelligence ability, and some awesome creative powers like Cinematic Slow Motion will hopefully make this the new ultimate iPhone, and one of the best phones on sale period once it releases later this month.
We break down all the changes, and how it compares to its iPhone relations, below.
iPhone 16 Pro cheat sheet: The biggest upgrades
- Pre-order date: September 13, 2024
- Release date: September 20, 2024
- Price: from $999
- Design and display: Brighter 6.3-inch display, camera control button
- Cameras: Bigger 48MP main "Fusion" sensor, 48MP ultrawide, and 5x telephoto lens
- AI features: Visual Intelligence, Apple Intelligence features in several Apple apps, including Photos and Notes
- Specs: A18 Pro chip, up to 1TB storage, Wi-Fi 7
- Colors: Black titanium, white titanium, natural titanium, and desert titanium
- Battery: Size increase from iPhone 15 Pro
- Software: iOS 18
iPhone 16 Pro: Price and release date
Apple will let you place an order for the iPhone 16 Pro from September 13, and buy one off the shelf a week later on September 20. Check our iPhone 16 Pro pre-orders for the best deals and places to purchase your new pro phone.
You'll pay $999 for the standard 128GB edition of the iPhone 16 Pro — the same as you'd have paid for an iPhone 15 Pro last year. If you need more capacity, the 256GB model will set you back $1,099, a 512GB model $1,299 and the top 1TB model $1,499.
iPhone 16 Pro: Specs
iPhone 16 Pro: What's new
Apple's not changed up the overall design of the iPhone 16 Pro too much from previous iPhone Pros, but it is now larger. Instead of a 6.1-inch display, it offers a 6.3-inch one, although some of this is achieved from slimming down the bezels around the display rather than a flat increase to the overall handset size.
The display material — Apple's own Ceramic Shield — has received an update to make it tougher. It is apparently now twice as tough as other toughened glass types used on rival phones.
One new design element you'll notice is the Camera Control key on the right edge of the phone. With this you can quickly open the camera and take photos and video, as well as navigate between various settings and adjustments with light taps and swipes.
For colors, you have the same Black Titanium, White Titanium and Natural Titanium options as last year's iPhone 15 Pro. Except instead of the Blue Titanium option, there's now a Desert Titanium color. It's a classy-looking bronze that Apple's using as this year's hero color, so expect to see it in all the advertising.
Running the phone is an A18 Pro chipset, which is faster and more efficient than the outgoing A17 Pro chip thanks to more computing, graphics and Neural Engine cores. Thermal management's also been improved with a graphite and aluminum sub-structure to keep those components cool when you're running them at full power.
The chip's been specifically designed to run Apple Intelligence AI features. Most of these are available on the iPhone 15 Pro too, but one new one is Visual Intelligence. Accessed via a press of the Camera Control, you can point your iPhone camera at an object and have key information displayed to you in a flash.
As for the cameras themselves, there's plenty to talk about. The main camera, now called a "Fusion Camera" by Apple because of its 2x in-sensor zoom, has a larger aperture for increased light intake. The ultrawide camera now has a 48MP resolution too, and the telephoto camera now offers a 5x zoom like the iPhone 16 Pro Max does.
You can record video at up to 4K and 120fps with these cameras, but that's only the start of it. Apple's added a Cinematic Slow Motion mode to add drama to your videos, and on-board sound editing with Audio Mix to help keep the focus where you want to in the scene.
And if you want to adjust the colors, Apple's updated its Photographic Styles (built-in filters that apply to only specific colors) to help you add a new feeling to your images. They're more customizable too with a new control pad to help strike the right balance of tone and color.
While Apple hasn't told us exactly how large the battery of the iPhone 16 Pro is, it does claim its battery life has improved over the iPhone 15 Pro, thanks to the battery improvement and new efficiencies granted by the A18 Pro chip and iOS 18 software. But we'll wait for our own lab results before we believe that claim.
Sadly the new battery is more expensive to replace than the one in iPhone 16. Apple now charges $119 for an out-of-warranty battery replacement on the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max — whereas you'd pay $99 for the same with an iPhone 16 or iPhone 15 Pro.
iPhone 16 Pro: How it compares
The upgrades described above mark the iPhone 16 Pro out as a major departure from the iPhone 15 Pro. Although the older model will now hopefully be slightly cheaper to buy, its smaller screen, less impressive cameras and older chipset are easy to see on paper. But if AI is your focus, all Apple Intelligence features bar Visual Intelligence will be coming to the 15 Pro as well as the 16 Pro.
Within the iPhone 16 family, the iPhone 16 Pro is different from the iPhone 16 Pro Max only in size, default storage (the Pro Max starts at 256GB) and price. The iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus on the other hand differ greatly, offering no telephoto camera and a lower-res 12MP ultrawide camera for photography, a less capable A18 chip, and less-smooth 60Hz displays compared to the 120Hz of the Pro models.
But the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus come in different 6.1-inch and 6.7-inch sizes that may suit certain users better. Also, they offer the same Apple Intelligence Features, including Visual Intelligence, and the Camera Control button.
iPhone 16 Pro: Outlook
We're still waiting to get hands-on time with the iPhone 16 Pro, but as it stands we like the sound of this phone. Not only has it received a number of upgrades, it's now closer in spec to its Pro Max sibling, meaning you don't have to go large and spend extra to get the best possible iPhone 16 experience.
We have little doubt that photography, AI and performance on this phone will be impressive. But with Android rivals like the Samsung Galaxy S24 series and Google Pixel 9 series already offering these, it'll be interesting to see if Apple's managed to catch up, or if it's still got a way to go to offer the same breadth of features as its main rivals.
Check back soon for our hands-on impressions, and our Apple Glowtime event wrap-up for all the latest news out of Cupertino.
