iPhone 16 Professional and Professional Max assessment: Constructed for Apple Intelligence*

We are actually properly into the period through which yearly smartphone updates have turn into slightly abnormal. The place the Apple Retailer traces would as soon as stretch across the block and appeal to native information crews, immediately the primary query everybody asks is, “Ought to I improve this yr?”

The iPhone 16 Professional and Professional Max match into this zeitgeist neatly. Sure, they’re higher. They’re quicker, have higher cameras, and embrace one new characteristic (the Digicam Management button). However for many of the issues most individuals use their iPhones for, many of those enhancements gained’t make a lot of a distinction over final yr’s mannequin, or the yr earlier than.

Enter Apple Intelligence. When {hardware} fails to excite, it’s as much as slick new software program to make you’re feeling such as you simply must get the brand new iPhone. And with all the excitement round generative AI these days, Apple Intelligence is that gotta-have-it software program. It’s a set of latest AI options that summarizes notifications and emails, makes Siri quite a bit smarter, permits you to generate customized pictures and emojis, transcribe calls, and extra.

So vital is that this AI stuff to the iPhone 16 that Apple’s advertising and marketing calls them the primary iPhones “constructed for Apple Intelligence.” (Sure, the iPhone 15 Professional works with Apple Intelligence however Apple now not sells that mannequin.) There’s only one downside: Apple Intelligence isn’t out but, and it’s going to dribble out in a number of phases over months. It’s additionally coming to common non-Professional iPhone 16 fashions.

So, why purchase and iPhone 16 Professional or Professional Max? Let’s see if Apple’s newest Professional iPhones could make a case for themselves.

Notice: The iPhone 16 Professional and iPhone 16 Professional Max have similar options and efficiency, save for the apparent (measurement and battery life). This assessment covers each fashions.

iPhone 16 Professional design: It’s an iPhone

The iPhone 16 Professional and Professional Max look very very like final yr’s Professional telephones at a look. Technically, each fashions are only a contact bigger and heavier than their predecessors, and mixed with slimmer bezels you get a barely bigger show: 6.1 inches turns into 6.3, and 6.7 turns into 6.9.

The titanium physique and colours are principally the identical. There’s white, black, and pure titanium. Final yr’s particular shade, blue titanium, has been changed by desert titanium, which has a bronze look to it.

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The one factor that basically seems to be or feels any totally different is the brand new Digicam Management button, situated about the place the 5G mmWave antenna was on earlier iPhone U.S. fashions and the SIM tray was on some worldwide fashions—about 2/third of the best way down the best facet beneath the facility button. This new characteristic additionally comes with the common iPhone 16.

Regardless of the scale distinction, the shows roughly appear like these on the iPhone 15 Professionals, with equal brightness, ProMotion, and always-on capabilities. A small enchancment I actually recognize is that the show now goes all the best way all the way down to a mere 1 nit of brightness. It’s simply the factor for many who use their cellphone in mattress with the lights off—however once more, that is additionally accessible on the non-Professional fashions.

The dimensions enhance over final yr’s iPhones is just not dramatic, however I nonetheless discovered myself gravitating extra to the 6.3-inch iPhone 16 Professional whereas I used to want the Professional Max. The marginally bigger show makes the smaller of the 2 Professional telephones extra usable with out saddling me with the undesirable bulk of Apple’s largest cellphone. For those who’re a kind of who doesn’t love the scale of the Professional Max however makes use of it since you want that display screen measurement, take a detailed have a look at the Professional this yr.

There’s nothing improper with this yr’s design, however the iPhone is in critical want of a refreshed design. Large, heavy, thick steel slabs with massive, offset digital camera bumps that make the cellphone wobble in your desk (and make it onerous to seat correctly on some charging stands or wi-fi chargers in vehicles) simply really feel a little bit outdated and uninteresting in 2024. Not a lot has modified since iPhone 12.

iPhone 16 Professional options: Digicam Management

Most of what’s new within the iPhone 16 Professional is on the within, however the one huge new exterior characteristic for your entire iPhone 16 line is the Digicam Management button. It’s an actual bodily button set flush with the sting of the physique, contact and strain delicate, with haptic suggestions.

Press the button as soon as and also you open the Digicam app. You’ll be able to choose a third-party digital camera app to launch in Settings > Digicam, and and app like Instagram will usually launch proper into its picture/video-taking mode. As soon as within the Digicam app, a agency press takes a photograph. Press and maintain to take a video for so long as you maintain the button.

Faucet as soon as frivolously and also you’ll pop up a Digicam Management operate (zoom by default) which you regulate by swiping forwards and backwards or dragging the management on the show. Double-tap frivolously for an inventory of various features that may be adjusted on this means: publicity, depth, digital camera choice, photographic types, or tone. It does quite a bit—and it’s not at all times apparent what to press to do one thing.

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I’ve combined emotions in regards to the Digicam Management button. The complete press to launch your most-used digital camera app is a big boon. It’s quick, you are able to do it with out fidgeting with the display screen, and it means that you can substitute the digital camera launch in your lock display screen with one thing else with out dropping any utility. Urgent the button as a shutter, or holding it all the way down to take video, works nice. It’s a gamechanger for snapping pictures whereas sporting gloves.

The pressure-sensitive features, however, are too fiddly. It’s too simple to unintentionally do a lightweight press whenever you imply to click on the shutter, or vice-versa. Sliding forwards and backwards to regulate a management requires lots of effective motor management in a small area; I typically discovered myself going previous the zoom I meant and having to rigorously nudge my finger only a millimeter the opposite option to go get it proper.

I don’t actually take pleasure in the best way utilizing the Digicam Management button makes the entire digital camera interface go away, both, because it’s not at all times my solely or final adjustment earlier than I take the shot. Ultimately, I turned that Clear Preview choice off in Settings and infrequently used the Digicam Management button for changes. I at all times use it to launch the digital camera and as a shutter, although.

So far as picture and video high quality goes, Apple is as soon as once more making small however vital strides. A quicker video pipeline allows as much as 4K at 120fps. The Pictures app permits you to change the playback framerate. Improved microphones permit for wind noise discount and higher general sound high quality. The brand new Photographic Types are a little bit extra nuanced with simpler management and will be utilized non-destructively after the shot is taken. The ultrawide digital camera has been upgraded to 48 megapixels, although to my eye the photographs don’t look very totally different from the older 12MP digital camera. The 5x telephoto lens is now not restricted to the Professional Max mannequin, so those that just like the smaller Professional measurement can take pleasure in zoomier zoom. And it’s clearly the largest improve from customary to Professional aside from titanium.

My favourite new characteristic? The flexibility to alter audio combine on a video with a faucet, between Customary, In-Body, Studio, and Cinematic. They make an enormous distinction. (This characteristic is yet one more that’s additionally accessible on the usual iPhone 16.)

However these are comparatively minor modifications. Energy-users making an attempt to movie their subsequent indie epic on iPhone will love these items however the overwhelming majority of customers will discover that, possibly, in the event that they squint good, the brand new iPhone takes barely higher footage than the outdated one. The most important digital camera improve this yr is unquestionably the devoted button, and the non-Professional fashions get that, too.

If you wish to shield your new iPhone, learn our finest iPhone 16 Professional and 16 Professional Max case evaluations.

iPhone 16 Professional efficiency: A18 Professional

The A18 Professional is much like the A18 discovered within the common iPhone 16, with a couple of small upgrades. It’s received the identical 2 efficiency and 4 effectivity CPU cores however with bigger caches, which ought to enhance efficiency a bit. There’s a further GPU core. The media engine (video encode and decode, picture processing, and many others.) is beefier.

Each chips are made on an upgraded 3nm manufacturing course of that delivers higher energy effectivity, and Apple has improved thermal design and administration to assist decrease throttling when the telephones get scorching.

How does all this translate into efficiency? Properly, this factor is quick. Single-core CPU efficiency is 15 p.c increased than the A17 Professional, and it crushes each different smartphone available on the market. Multi-core efficiency is round 10 p.c quicker, and significantly quicker than any Android cellphone. It isn’t a stretch to say this iPhone is like having an M1 Macbook Air in your pocket, and in some methods, quicker.

The GPU will get a pleasant uplift in efficiency, too. In actually superior high-end graphics purposes, particularly these with ray tracing, we’re seeing an enchancment of 30 p.c or extra.

New to our testing suite is Geekbench AI, a cross-platform benchmark that performs a set of widespread machine-learning duties like object identification, picture segmentation, and machine translation. It may be run on the CPU, GPU, or Neural Engine; we’re testing the latter to see enhancements in Apple’s devoted AI {hardware} over time.

The Neural Engine within the A18 Professional is wherever from 10-40 p.c quicker than that within the A17 Professional. It’s onerous to match the identical take a look at on totally different {hardware} when it makes use of totally different software program frameworks, however no different cellular gadget seems near Apple’s NPU efficiency.

Yearly we are saying Apple has, on stability, the quickest smartphone round. And this yr we repeat that. It’s not what most individuals are shopping for iPhones for–they’ve been greater than quick sufficient for years. There’s something to be mentioned for the future-proofing of getting an overpowered iPhone immediately in order that it could possibly proceed to run highly effective software program for years to come back.

Then again, the iPhone 16 Professional has 8GB of RAM, identical as final yr’s iPhone 15 Professional and the usual iPhone 16. That doesn’t appear to be quite a bit for a $1,000+ cellphone today. And when you don’t assume that can matter in a couple of years, simply ask the iPhone 15 house owners whose year-old cellphone can’t run Apple Intelligence as a result of it has 6GB of RAM, whereas the iPhone 15 Professional house owners can.

iPhone 16 Professional battery: A large enhance

Maybe one of the best enchancment of the iPhone 16 Professional {hardware} is its incredible battery life. Apple stuffed in barely bigger batteries this time round, however battery life is a mixture of so many issues—processor and RAM effectivity, energy utilization of wi-fi chips, effectivity of the show, and extra. And all of it’s higher.

We use Geekbench 4’s outdated battery rundown take a look at, which loops the Geekbench 4 CPU and GPU exams (with quick breaks between) till the battery dies. We do that after setting the show to a continuing brightness of 200 nits with all adaptive brightness options off. That’s about as vibrant as you’ll set it in a standard workplace atmosphere.

We anticipated and enchancment, however not this a lot of 1! The iPhone 16 Professional lasted 54 p.c longer than the iPhone 15 Professional, and the 16 Professional Max stored working for about 43 p.c longer than the 15 Po Max! We received nearly 19 hours on the Professional Max and about 16.5 hours on the Professional.

I can’t say I skilled a 50 p.c enchancment in battery life in my day-to-day use, however it positively lasted hours longer. For a number of days, I took my iPhone 16 Professional off the charger within the morning at 90 p.c (the place I set my cost restrict with iOS 18’s new choices) and completed the day with 40 p.c. Solely once I ran by a number of strenuous benchmarks or performed a high-end 3D recreation for hours on finish did I ever come near working by the battery.

All people loves longer battery life, and the iPhone 16 Professional and Professional Max ship a giant enhance over final yr’s mannequin. And when you’re coming off a cellphone that’s two or three years outdated, it’s going to really feel like your new iPhone is lasting actually twice as lengthy.

iPhone 16 Professional Apple Intelligence: Not included

If the brand new iPhone just a bit quicker, or takes a little bit bit higher pictures or movies, it’s not going to encourage customers to improve. Battery life would possibly, however what we’re searching for are main new options. Digicam Management is one, however the huge one, the one which’s imagined to promote you on the iPhone 16, is Apple Intelligence, Apple’s title for its home-grown suite of generative AI instruments.

The advertising and marketing tagline for the iPhone 16 Professional is “Good day, Apple Intelligence.” Apple calls it “the primary iPhone constructed for Apple Intelligence.” It should summarize all of your notifications! It should make pictures and customized emojis! It should erase folks from the background of your pictures! It should remodel Siri into a brilliant good private assistant that truly understands you! The Digicam Management button will launch a brand new Visible Intelligence characteristic that provides you AI-powered information on no matter you level your digital camera at!

You’ve most likely seen the adverts showcasing these superior options. They might make you wish to run out and purchase an iPhone 16.

There’s just one downside: It isn’t out but. And it’s not going to be out quickly, probably not. Apple Intelligence is coming to iPhone 16 in bits and items over the subsequent half yr, or longer when you don’t stay in an English-speaking area. Apple isn’t even clear about whether or not your entire European Union will get Apple Intelligence in any respect.

We now have a breakdown in our information that describes the options and when they’re coming, however solely the primary tranche of AI options can be found for us to check in beta: notification/e mail summaries (very helpful), writing instruments (much less helpful), and a Siri replace that makes it perceive you a little bit higher (meh) and provides the display screen a full glowing edge (good).

In different phrases, the promoting level of iPhone 16 is nothing greater than a pinky-swear from the world’s most dear megacorp. It is a cellphone designed to run, and marketed on, untestable guarantees.

We’re moderately certain in regards to the high quality and value of the AI options coming in iOS 18.1 as a result of we’ve been testing it for weeks, however with out the flexibility to completely take a look at the others, we are able to’t probably think about them as a feather within the iPhone 16’s cap. So think about this half one in every of our assessment.

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Do you have to purchase the iPhone 16 Professional?

Greater than ever, it’s onerous to advocate the Professional mannequin iPhone over the non-Professional mannequin. It’s a tiny bit quicker, has a devoted 5x telephoto digital camera, and may take some actually fancy high-end video in codecs that solely professionals will care about. It has ProMotion and an always-on show, however frankly, it’s form of loopy that Apple doesn’t embrace these issues on the common iPhone at this level.

The large promoting factors—longer battery life, the Digicam Management button, Apple Intelligence (ultimately)—are all accessible on the non-Professional mannequin which additionally now has the Motion button, the brand new Photographic Types, and macro pictures, too.

In benchmarks and specs sheets, the iPhone 16 Professional is clearly higher than final yr’s iPhones, however whenever you use it day-after-day, does it actually really feel totally different? With out Apple Intelligence, probably the most substantive enhancements are longer battery life and the Digicam Management, each of that are on the common iPhone 16.

Maybe, when all the key Apple Intelligence options are literally accessible, our suggestions will change. However for now, the iPhone 16 Professional, for nearly as good as it’s, may not be value your cash. Our advice is to hold on to your present iPhone if it’s solely a yr or two outdated. For those who’re coming from an iPhone 13 or earlier, it’s time to improve, however even then, the iPhone 16 or 16 Plus is a greater deal than the iPhone 16 Professional for all however probably the most demanding and choosy iPhone photographers and videographers.