iPhone 16 Pro: Top 5 features that will matter the most to users & upgraders

AppleInsider

This September, all eyes will be on Apple's iPhone 16 Pro lineup. Here are the top five new features and upgrades that matter the most.

Renders of the iPhone 16 Pro.

As is always the case for Apple, the rumor mill continually leaks and speculates about Apple's next iPhone.

With September only a few short months away, these are the top five upgrades you should be looking out for from Apple's iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max.

iPhone 16 Pro upgrades: Camera

As one of the most important elements of the iPhone, the camera system's changes are of particular interest to leakers and rumor merchants.

The iPhone 15 Pro Max significantly pushed the camera system forward, adding a 5x optical zoom with its tetraprism lens. In the iPhone 16, the Pro may get it too.

iPhone 15 Pro Max camera module

After adding one 48MP sensor to the rear, there's the possibility of adding a second, affecting the Ultra Wide camera. That would theoretically leave the telephoto as the last to use a 12MP sensor.

Claims of thinner lenses could help reduce the size and weight of the camera module Meanwhile a redesign could mean a slimmer bump for the non-Pro models.

iPhone 16 Pro upgrades: A18

The chip at the heart of the iPhone is a very important part of the entire device. Each year, it gets faster and more powerful, offering users to do even more.

With Apple's apparent push into AI, the changes could be a lot more pronounced. Rather than a simpler update to the CPU and GPU performance, Apple could make an alteration to the Neural Engine.

Indeed, analyzing the A-series as a whole, it is probable that the A18 will have six GPU cores and six CPU cores, with two performance cores accompanied by four efficiency cores.

The Geekbench score improvements could be about 10% for both single-core and multi-core testing compared to the A17 Pro used in the iPhone 15 Pro range.

Apple's A18 chip will have proper labelling.

The Neural Engine has always been a 16-core component, except in Ultra versions of Apple Silicon chips. There's always a chance more cores could be used in the next iteration to handle AI tasks.

Apple's already made a performance boost to the Neural Engine in the A17 Pro, with its 38 trillion operations per second more than double the 17 trillion of the A16.

More operations per second is likely. How Apple achieves it is anyone's guess.

iPhone 16 Pro upgrades: Display

The screens for the iPhone 16 Pro lineup could be bigger than ever before. Rumors claim the iPhone 16 Pro could have a 6.3-inch screen, instead of a 6.1 version.

The Pro Max could go even better, growing to 6.9 inches overall.

Renders of what could be the iPhone 16 Pro

To go with the size increase, Apple could try to keep the overall mass of the iPhone down by using even thinner bezels than in the iPhone 15 Pro Max.

The display could end up being even brighter, thanks to using technologies like a Micro Lens Array.

Lastly, the screen may finally say goodbye to black gaps at the top. Rather than a notch or the Dynamic Island, Apple could do away with it entirely by implementing an under-display Face ID system.

iPhone 16 Pro upgrades: Buttons

Not necessarily what you would expect to be a hotbed of rumors, but the buttons on the side have caught the attention of leakers.

The arrival of the Action Button in the iPhone 15 Pro may lead to another addition. This time, a Capture button that would offer similar physical control over photography as a camera's shutter button.

Assorted prop models and cases showing the Capture button placement

There have also been claims that Apple could use capacitive buttons in the update.

Naturally, an extra button means case producers have to rethink their plans.

iPhone 16 Pro upgrades: Battery

All other upgrades to the iPhone are useless without power. Thankfully, there could be some changes on the way in that regard.

For a start, there are expectations of capacity increases, with the cells holding more charge than in the iPhone 15 Pro lineup. This alone will extend battery life, but it will do even more if Apple improves overall performance in other areas.

There have also been reported tweaks to the design, including the use of a "frosted metal shell."

More battery capacity is better in the iPhone.

A graphene heat sink may help improve heat transfers from the battery, minimizing wear from thermal load. A new high-performance cathode could reduce charging times and increase capacity further.

The batteries could also be a lot greener in the end. In 2023, Apple said that battery designs in 2025 will use entirely recycled cobalt, though it can always make changes earlier than its self-imposed deadline.



Read on AppleInsider

mike1

Looking forward to upgrading my 12 Pro this year.

charlesn

"The iPhone 15 Pro Max significantly pushed the camera system forward, adding a 5x optical zoom with its tetraprism lens." 

Absolute nonsense. Why can't AppleInsider get this right? What Apple did with the 15 Pro Max was replace the fixed focal length 77mm telephoto lens previously used with a fixed focal length 120mm telephoto lens. Neither lens has optical zooming, nor does ANY lens of the three in the iPhone Pro models. Zooming is done via sensor cropping and computational photography. Whether the 120mm lens "significantly pushed the camera system forward" really depends on whether you do a lot of shooting at 120mm and above. The vast majority of photographers do not, as is the case for the vast majority of photographs taken. Within the much more used and useful 77mm-119mm range, the old 77mm telephoto lens is qualitatively superior, as was shown in AppleInsider's own side-by-side comparison shots as well as those on many other websites. Why is this true? The explanation is simple. Because the 15 Pro Max model handles the 77mm-119lmm range with the 24mm main lens, so there is a lot more sensor cropping and computational trickery going on to achieve those images vs the 15 Pro where the telephoto lens kicks in at 77mm. For the VAST majority of photographers, trading off image quality in a much more useful range to gain better image quality is a much less used range is simply a bad trade and not a step forward. In that way, the "telephoto wars" are somewhat reminiscent of the early "megapixel wars" when phone makers were trumpeting more megapixels as inherently "better," even though the more densely packed tiny sensors produced crappier images. 

tht

I won't be upgrading for another couple of years, maybe, but I'm hard pressed for hardware features that are blow-away. What I think would be great for mass market consumer:

1. Increased robustness of the glass and metal frames. Drop it on rough concrete and the glass won't crack, yet will still be resistant to abrasions. Same with the metal frame, except it would be for denting and deformation. One way they can protect the glass is to recess the glass with the metal band lipped around it. Would make for a thicker looking phone, but would cut down on occurrences of cracked glass a lot. A whole lot, perhaps enough that some significant fraction of people won't buy cases.

2. Nano-texture option with tandem OLED. The phone is used a whole lot more in bad lighting conditions than any other device. Provide the option for buyers. Increasing the visibility of the screen and the lifetime of the screen for buyers is a big win.

3. Lithium-iron-phosphate batteries or perhaps silicon anode batteries. There are battery chemistries that have double, triple, quadruple the life cycle of lithium-ion or lithium-polymer batteries. Obvious big win for everyone if their phones have usable batteries that can go for 5 to 10 years.

4. Diffused lighting for FaceTime. Not like a flash, but a lighting system to provide diffused lighting to make FaceTime sessions better. It only needs to be good to 3 feet or so, so it's not like you need a gigantic ring light. And perhaps it can act as a nice diffused flash light for times you are digging around the kitchen cabinets.

5. I prefer an industrial design where the bottom edge is rounded, like on the MBP, MBA and the iPhone 5C. A simple visual to show which side is the display side, makes it a little easier to pick up, and makes it a little gentler in the hand.

grandact73

No one cares about more buttons. What I want is better battery, brighter screen, better camera, smaller bezels, and smaller notch.

Rogue01

mike1 said:

Looking forward to upgrading my 12 Pro this year.

Your 12 Pro has one feature that new phones don't - the ability to turn off Apple's horrible HDR in the camera.  You get realistic photos, compared to the cartoon-like looking photos with bad simulated enhancements that make sunlight too bright and fake looking.  And you don't even have the option to see or save the original photo.  It is HDR or nothing.  I wish Apple would bring back the setting to turn off HDR, or least save both photos to choose from.

Ofer

mike1 said:

Looking forward to upgrading my 12 Pro this year.

Same!

Ofer

“ Lastly, the screen may finally say goodbye to black gaps at the top. Rather than a notch or the Dynamic Island, Apple could do away with it entirely by implementing an under-display Face ID system.”

I’d love to see them get rid of the notch entirely and use an under display faceid system. But o seriously doubt we’ll be seeing that on the 16. All rumors point to that option still being at least two years away.

fred1

The same every year, with few exceptions: better camera, faster chip, better battery life, better screen. Not that I’m against these, but where’s the innovation? Dynamic Island was a nice addition, but one of the very few we’ve seen all of these years. 

Kierkegaarden

Ofer said:

“ Lastly, the screen may finally say goodbye to black gaps at the top. Rather than a notch or the Dynamic Island, Apple could do away with it entirely by implementing an under-display Face ID system.”

I’d love to see them get rid of the notch entirely and use an under display faceid system. But o seriously doubt we’ll be seeing that on the 16. All rumors point to that option still being at least two years away.

I agree — I’m guessing this could be what they have in store for the 2027 (20th anniversary) model.  In the meantime, the bezel will continue to shrink and maybe also the DI.  I just don’t see the point of changing the DI until they maybe eliminate it completely.  I don’t see Apple going to a “hole punch” design, as it looks silly and would look too similar to the silly models that have this.

danox

The battery size will still be the smallest of all the smartphone flagships? And the same is true with the iPads and the MacBook laptops because with Apple Silicon they can.

The M4 SOC is even more frugal/faster at peak performance when compared to their competition and the A18 will be no different.

longfang

fred1 said:

The same every year, with few exceptions: better camera, faster chip, better battery life, better screen. Not that I’m against these, but where’s the innovation? Dynamic Island was a nice addition, but one of the very few we’ve seen all of these years. 

Why does there need to be “innovation” every year?

longfang

grandact73 said:

No one cares about more buttons. What I want is better battery, brighter screen, better camera, smaller bezels, and smaller notch.

Surely what’s import is better battery life, as opposed to better battery but worse battery life.

dewme

tht said:

I won't be upgrading for another couple of years, maybe, but I'm hard pressed for hardware features that are blow-away. What I think would be great for mass market consumer:

1. Increased robustness of the glass and metal frames. Drop it on rough concrete and the glass won't crack, yet will still be resistant to abrasions. Same with the metal frame, except it would be for denting and deformation. One way they can protect the glass is to recess the glass with the metal band lipped around it. Would make for a thicker looking phone, but would cut down on occurrences of cracked glass a lot. A whole lot, perhaps enough that some significant fraction of people won't buy cases.

2. Nano-texture option with tandem OLED. The phone is used a whole lot more in bad lighting conditions than any other device. Provide the option for buyers. Increasing the visibility of the screen and the lifetime of the screen for buyers is a big win.

3. Lithium-iron-phosphate batteries or perhaps silicon anode batteries. There are battery chemistries that have double, triple, quadruple the life cycle of lithium-ion or lithium-polymer batteries. Obvious big win for everyone if their phones have usable batteries that can go for 5 to 10 years.

4. Diffused lighting for FaceTime. Not like a flash, but a lighting system to provide diffused lighting to make FaceTime sessions better. It only needs to be good to 3 feet or so, so it's not like you need a gigantic ring light. And perhaps it can act as a nice diffused flash light for times you are digging around the kitchen cabinets.

5. I prefer an industrial design where the bottom edge is rounded, like on the MBP, MBA and the iPhone 5C. A simple visual to show which side is the display side, makes it a little easier to pick up, and makes it a little gentler in the hand.

Excellent ideas from top to bottom. How close are these new battery chemistries to being viable for cost-effective large scale production of cells the meet the form factors and heat constraints needed to fit inside an iPhone? I assume the EV market in very hot on getting these advantages into their products.

I’m personally very satisfied with my iPhone 14 Pro Max, other than its hefty weight, so i don’t see myself upgrading for a couple/few years. The wildcard that could change my projections have more to do with Apple Intelligence. If Apple Intelligence actually delivers value that I can consume and benefit from on a daily basis even the iPhone 14 Pro Max will likely be underpowered and lead me towards an earlier replacement. This I still a big unknown for me. Most of what I’ve seen so far with Apple Intelligence obviously does good demo and will make a fine show pony, like AVP, but I don’t really need any of that right now in my life.

Things may change and undoubtedly everyone’s needs are different. But I’d be far more attracted to a new iPhone that incorporated some or all of the features you’ve mentioned. Even the camera on my current phone, and previous three iPhones, is far better than anything I’ll ever need. I’m sure Apple will continue to improve all aspects of every new iPhone model, which they have to do to stay competitive. That’s fine. Bling, sexiness, and impressive performance always sell. Pragmatism and practicality are boring. 

charlesn

Ofer said:

mike1 said:

Looking forward to upgrading my 12 Pro this year.

Same!

I'm on Apple's iPhone upgrade program, so I trade-in for a new Pro model every year and, as an avid photographer, photo quality is the thing I care about most. And I've been shooting photos for over 50 years, so I know my way around a camera, be it digital or film. Personally, my satisfaction with iPhone photos peaked with the 13 Pro model and has slid ever since. I'm really not loving the 15 Pro output at all. Yes, technically speaking, there's no doubt the hardware has improved in terms of increased resolution and low light ability. But at the end of the day, a photo (at least for me) needs to capture the same feeling and look of whatever I shot IRL, and this is where I find myself consistently disappointed with the 15 Pro output, which I would summarize as being not a good representation of what my eyes saw. I often find that colors and lighting are just not quite right. Whatever Apple is doing with the (over) processing of images these days--which sure sounds impressive with the Photonic Engine, Deep Fusion and Smart HDR 5--ultimately seems to render worse results for me, not better. I've actually considered picking up an old 13 Pro just for the camera. 

kingofsomewherehot

tht said:

...
3. Lithium-iron-phosphate batteries or perhaps silicon anode batteries. There are battery chemistries that have double, triple, quadruple the life cycle of lithium-ion or lithium-polymer batteries. Obvious big win for everyone if their phones have usable batteries that can go for 5 to 10 years.

EVERYone (including the manufacturers) wants a better battery. but LFP needs more mass/size to hold the same charge (but doesn't have as much fade over time)

Silicone expands too much... the phone would need to be thicker, with a void around the battery to accommodate this, and we all know how Apple feels about making phones thicker.