Apple iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro first look: The standard model steals the show

Apple made a number of announcements during its Glowtime event on 9 September, including a new Apple Watch Series 10, a Black model of the Apple Watch Ultra 2, the AirPods 4th generation in two models and of course, the iPhone 16 models. 

Last year the focus was on the iPhone 15 Pro models with their move to a titanium shell, but this year, is it the standard iPhone 16 models that are the most exciting? 

I’ve seen the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max in the flesh and this is everything you need to know about the new models, along with my first impressions of what they offer and what’s exciting. 

Apple iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus

I’m going to start with a quick rundown of the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus because while the Pro models offer extra features on top of these standard models, the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus get some decent upgrades this year that make them arguably more exciting.

The colours are gorgeous, especially the Ultramarine, though all coloured options offer a lot more punch than the iPhone 15 models did. Like the iPhone 15 models, they are gloriously light too, and they have a slim and premium build quality with a design that looks similar to the last few years. 

There are some changes, one of which is the Camera Control button that sits on the right edge of the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus. Press it once and it will launch the camera, while another press will snap a photo. 

If you double press it, a range of camera tools appear, like Photographic Styles and depth of field, and you can slide up and down to move between various elements, whether that’s the different Photographic Style options, or the various zoom options. It takes a bit of getting used to the right gesture, but the Camera Control button can distinguish between a light press and a hard press and it’s a quick way to access camera tools, while being easy to use one-handed. 

The iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus also get the Action Button from the iPhone 15 Pro models, replacing the silent toggle on the left edge of the device. The Action Button is a little like Marmite, some people I know love it and use it all the time (I am one of those as I use it to launch WhatsApp), while other people don’t use it at all. My opinion is to embrace it: it can give you access to things in a single press and what’s not to like about that?

The iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus run on the A18 chip, which will allow them to run Apple Intelligence when it arrives in a couple of months. Apple’s version of artificial intelligence includes various features from Clean Up in photos for removing unwanted objects, to being able to type to ask Siri, but while I think it will add value in some instances, I’m still not convinced AI is the only reason to buy a phone. AI brings added extras in devices like the Google Pixel 9 XL and Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6, but it’s not pivotal to the overall experience.

Luckily, while Apple Intelligence is one of the over-arching messages for the iPhone 16 range, it’s not the only thing new. There’s also a new main camera lens with a 48-megapixel Fusion sensor that has an anti-reflective coating, allows for the capture of Spatial Video that can then be watched on devices like Apple Vision Pro, and enables Macro photography. With that new camera lens, things have changed a little in terms of layout of the rear camera housing too and it looks better with a more seamless and streamlined finish.

The display meanwhile, has the same peak brightness as the iPhone 15 at 2,000 nits, but it can drop down to 1 nit at night. 

There’s also something called Audio Mix for editing voice in videos post-production, wind noise reduction, and macro video recording, including slow‑mo and time‑lapse. The battery has been improved too, with up to 2 hours extra on top of what the iPhone 15 offers, along with support for MagSafe wireless charging up to 25W. 

Apple iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max

When it comes to the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max, the big story is the increase in display size. The iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max are fractionally larger than the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 in terms of footprint, but the iPhone 16 Pro has a 6.3-inch display compared to the iPhone 15 Pro’s 6.1-inch display, while the iPhone 16 Pro Max has a huge 6.9-inch display compared to the iPhone 15 Pro Max’s 6.7-inch screen. The bezels are slimmer around the displays to achieve this, with a lovely slim black border surrounding the OLED panels. 

Like the iPhone 16 models, the Camera Control button is on the right edge of the iPhone 16 Pro models, while the power and Siri button sits above, allowing for the launch of Apple Intelligence when it arrives. On the left edge, the Action Button remains, alongside the volume toggles but that’s no different to the iPhone 15 Pro models so I’m not going to dwell on that too much. 

The iPhone 16 Pro models have a triple camera on the rear, but there hasn’t been a change to the layout. There has been a change to the camera sensors however, with a new 48-megapixel ultrawide sensor replacing the iPhone 15 Pro’s 12-megapixel ultrawide sensor. All models have an anti-reflective coating, though what that will mean in real-world use remains to be seen for now. 

There is support for 4K video at 120fps on the video front, Audio Mix comes to the iPhone 16 Pro models too – and in a more advanced format than the iPhone 16 models thanks to the new microphone array, while 48-megapixel macro photography also makes its debut. The iPhone 16 Pro also gets 5x optical zoom, so it now matches the Pro Max offering.

As with the iPhone 16 models, the iPhone 16 Pro models will offer Apple Intelligence when it launches, and there has been a boost in battery life in these models too, with the iPhone 16 Pro Max offering up to 33 hours compared to 29 hours of the iPhone 15 Pro Max, while the iPhone 15 Pro claims up to 27 hours compared to the 23 hours of the iPhone 15 Pro. 

Apple iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro price and availability 

The Apple iPhone 16 models come in Ultramarine, Pink, Teal, White and Black, while the iPhone 16 Pro models come in Desert Titanium, Natural Titanium, White Titanium and Black Titanium. They will all be available to pre-order from 13 September, with availability starting 20 September. 

The iPhone 16 starts at £699 / $699, while the iPhone 16 Plus starts at £799 / $799 and that’s for 128GB of storage. The iPhone 16 Pro starts at £999 / $999, while the iPhone 16 Pro Max starts at £1199 / $1199 for 128GB storage.