Name: iPhone 16, 16 Plus
Brand: Apple
Rating: 4.5 (1 reviews)

Alex Choros

Updated 19 February 2025

iPhone 16 & iPhone 16 Plus Review: The Verdict

Our verdict

With the fundamentals fine-tuned the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus perform to a degree more than the sum of their parts with iterative yet refreshing updates.

From $799

What we love

Finally some love for the base models
Great all-round performance
Cheaper than last year's base models

What could be improved

Iffy on camera control
Apple Intelligence isn't available yet
Still no 120Hz refresh rate

The essentials

Performance

Excellent. Zippy with a lovely combo of increased RAM and the newest chipset.

Battery

Great. Get seven or more hours on the iPhone 16 and eight hours or more on the iPhone 16 Plus.

Screen

Vivid display with a sturdy build.

Camera

Matches expectations, incremental improvements.

View iPhone 16 plans View iPhone 16 Plus plans

Over the last few years, we’ve seen the same story play out. The base model iPhone releases have felt like an afterthought compared to the Pros. Those Pro models were the “real” improvements, boasting new features that left the base models feeling like a downgrade rather than a new device.

This year Apple tore up that script. That might be partly due to Apple's intelligence. To get Apple Intelligence into the hands of more people even the base models this year needed a substantial tuning under the hood. The iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus are a meaningful upgrade across the board with something new for everyone.

In another narrative-breaking move, both handset's asking prices start at less than the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus did at launch. With so much packed in it really makes it feel like you’re getting more for your money.

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More is more and more

Let’s start with looks. Apple has ditched the pastels and injected a much-needed dose of saturation to the color ways of ultramarine (blue), teal, and pink, as well as black and white.

Design-wise there’s no major shakeup this year, the iPhone 16 is still screams iPhone. It’s so slick there’s no wonder even Google's Pixel is starting to look iPhone-y. I'd argue it'd be pretty hard to tell the three major flagship devices apart, except for the camera arrangement.

Speaking of, the camera arrangement on the iPhone 16 has had a slight shakeup. Instead of the diagonal set-up we’ve become accustomed to over the last few years the iPhone 16 cameras are set together in a pill configuration—necessary to enable spatial photos and video for those lucky enough to be able to view them on a Vision Pro.

There’s also of course the addition of last year’s Pro feature, the action button which replaces the ring/silent switch and the camera control on the bottom right of the device, which has debuted on all the handsets in the iPhone 16 range.

The camera control is for all intents and purposes a new button and a new way to launch straight to the camera app. It’s also more than a button, with a capacitive sensor and haptic feedback. Effectively with a full push, you can launch the camera and take shots, while a gentler “half-push” allows you to bring up the camera control menu with the usual camera settings. Within that menu, you can run your finger along the control trackpad-style to scroll—which is also how you can enable zoom.

It’s a neat trick but it takes a little bit of getting used to and a fair bit of unlearning familiar habits. iOS 18 has granted iPhone users the ability to change the lock screen shortcuts (which until now have defaulted to the torch and camera). After looking through my options I was happy with sticking to the camera option. This naturally meant it was a harder adjustment to get used to using camera control.

The placement of camera control is another quirk, it’s positioned well for when you’re shooting landscape and adds a nice classic “point and shoot” with your digital camera back to smartphone photography. However, it feels pretty unnatural when taking photos or videos in portrait, especially on the wider iPhone 16 Plus model.

Camera control scores a verdict of “iffy” from me. It does make sense as an Apple Intelligence input method to highlight the camera but the action button could already do this—I suspect its what a lot of people used it for. I love that Apple is adding so much customizability for people to choose how to interact with their device but it feels slightly antithetical to the simple, less is more approach we’re familiar with. It’s a pretty bold move that feels like it has the potential to go the way of the TouchBar on the MacBook.

When it comes to the cameras on the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus we’re looking at the same setup on each. As with the 15 models, there’s a 48MP main camera and a 12MP ultra-wide lens. It’s still a hybrid sensor that does 1x and 2x telephoto, just like last year’s model. The ultra-wide lens is now capable of macro photography marking the first time we’ve seen the feature on a non-Pro iPhone. In essence, you get, two lenses and four “modes.” Of course, there’s also the 12MP selfie camera.

There’s a slew of new “photographic styles” to shoot in, if that’s your sort of thing, I prefer the standard settings. (If you're interested, you can read more about photographic styles in our iPhone 16 Pro review.) Overall, the shots on both the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus are nice and sharp and capture a good amount of detail. Things are pretty much par for the course if you’ve upgraded in the last few years.

iPhone 16 & iPhone 16 Plus camera samples

Check out these camera samples taken on the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus. Click or tap on any photo to see a larger version.

Portrait mode continues to deliver excellent results. When a housemate needed some headshots taken for an audition, I was too happy to play photographer. When you have an iPhone 16 to hand, why bother booking a studio? The photos capture so much detail with a gentle bokeh effect when up close. Low-light photography is more than satisfactory with night mode brightening things up and showing a good amount of detail.

The macro photography mode is nice and intuitive, activating once you get close enough to your subject. It captures beautiful detail and is especially useful if like me you’re prone to snapping pictures of critters or florals close up as I like to. All-in-all the camera system is as good as we've come to expect on iPhone, although an incremental update compared to last year.

Battery life on the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus is nice and reliable. With each, I routinely got seven hours or more screen time. However, this was closer to eight hours on the iPhone 16 Plus. This meant I was able to get through the whole workday with battery life to spare the following morning if I forgot to charge overnight. I noticed the iPhone 16 would run down faster, especially as I lost myself to hours of Balatro at a time but most people will easily get a day to a day and a half of usage. If you do run down charging speed is nice and quick with the battery going from 15% to 100% in about an hour and 15 minutes.

Worth upgrading?

There are really two camps of people in the Apple ecosystem those who upgrade every year and those who cling to their devices waiting for an update that catches their eye. If you’ve been rocking an iPhone 13 or older then the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus are hitting that sweet spot for a big jump in power. If you’re dying to get your hands on Apple Intelligence and aren’t an iPhone 15 Pro or Pro Max owner then these might be the phones for you with Apple Intelligence limited to the iPhone 15 Pro and above. Apart from that iPhone 14 and iPhone 15 users may want to wait.

The iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus have arrived on the scene with Apple’s new A18 chip instead of inheriting the chipset from last year’s Pro models providing a meaningful increase in speed and performance. These phones are nice and zippy. If it’s been a while since you’ve upgraded your iPhone then it's not only speed worth considering. Both base models come with 8GB of RAM. That’s twice the amount compared to RAM offered on the 11 through 13 and up from 6GB on the 14 and 15.

In my own experience going from an iPhone 11 Pro Max this has the notable impact of apps actually keeping my place while in a suspended state. I was very accustomed to too often leaving my place in an app to check something in another and then returning to see things had refreshed. With the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus the improved RAM means my apps in a suspended state had a lot more mileage and I could multi-task (or get distracted on Instagram) a lot better with less time reloading.

These phones are built to last and come equipped with the latest-generation ceramic shield front for the display. A good thing because I made the most rookie error of a phone reviewer and carelessly allowed an iPhone 16 (sans case) to slide off a table straight onto the concrete pavement. Despite a small scratch on the aluminum frame the display was 100% intact with no scratches—a miracle considering it landed face down. New ceramic shield = good. There will always be a subset of phone users (sickos, said affectionately) who prefer going case-less and it's good to see some of that durability at play.

It's impressive to see nearly every feature released on previous Pro models and this year's incorporated into the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus. Notably, the display refresh rate on the base models is still 60Hz. 120Hz is available on the Pros and is standard on pretty much every other flagship. If that's a deal breaker, you're going to want to look at the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max.

While the action button and camera control are shiny new additions to the base models, I wouldn't go as far as to say they're worth upgrading for alone. The action button remains somewhat limited with just one action able to be programmed without Shortcut shenanigans. Not having a double press option leaves a range of options off the table for everyone but Shortcuts aficionados.

The action button on the Apple Watch Ultra now allows you to change the settings via a long press without needing to make changes in the Settings app. It would have been nice to see something similar on iPhone. If you do go the Shortcuts route the barrier to entry is still fairly high, I’ve spent a lot of time on Reddit and forums trying to set up simple Shortcuts before and it's not intuitive at all.

iPhone 16 & iPhone 16 Plus—final thoughts

Incremental upgrades are pretty much a given at this point with premium flagship devices and the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus are no exception. However, this year Apple has granted the base models a reprieve. Not unlike Oprah handing out prizes Apple has gifted the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus a bunch of features in another year we might have expected to be restricted behind the paywall of the Pro moniker.

This has left those eyeing off an upgrade a tougher decision. Do you get the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, or go Pro? For a smaller price tag, if I had to choose between the Pro Max and the Plus, I’m pro Plus.

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Alex Choros

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Alex Choros is the Managing Editor of WhistleOut Australia and an award-winning journalist. He's been writing about consumer technology for over a decade and is an expert on the Australian telco sector, to the point where he knows far too many phone and internet plans by heart. In addition to leading the WhistleOut editorial team, Alex is responsible for ruining the office Sonos with his troubled taste in music.

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