In recent years, Apple started giving the iPhone Pro models a significant chip upgrade to increase the performance gap between the phones, but this year they’re all on the same starting point: the A18 chipset. The iPhone 16 Pro devices have the A18 Pro, which features larger CPU cache sizes and an extra graphics core for slightly better overall performance. That said, in my benchmark tests, the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus are just behind the Pros and still more powerful than any other phone on the market.

I played AAA games like Resident Evil and Assassin’s Creed Mirage, though I did run into a few more stutters than on the Pro models (and just as many crashes, though this could have been because I was running a developer beta of iOS 18.1). I want to note that these games are currently the cream of the crop in graphical fidelity, so I’m purposefully stress-testing. Most of the titles you’ll play will run perfectly. The Pro models this year have improved thermal performance, but Apple made some tweaks to improve the heat dissipation on the standard iPhones too, and I have not noticed the phones getting significantly hot.

More importantly, every iPhone 16 model will be capable of running Apple Intelligence, the suite of artificial intelligence features coming in an update in October. I go over exactly what’s included in Apple Intelligence in my iOS 18 guide, and have broadly evaluated the current experience in my iPhone 16 Pro review. There are some helpful day-to-day features, like real-time transcriptions in Voice Notes or call recordings, but we’ll have to wait until Apple brings the full kit.

Battery life is a high note. I eked out better battery life on the iPhone 16 Plus than on the Pro Max, hitting more than seven hours of screen-on time with 36 percent left in the tank at 1 am. The iPhone 16 is no slouch, giving me six hours of screen-on time with around 20 percent remaining. And that’s with a mix of doomscrolling on Instagram, picture-snapping, navigation, and music streaming. These devices will get you through a full day and then some. Speaking of the battery, it’s easier to replace on the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus (not the Pro models), and iFixit gave it a 7/10 in overall repairability, which is a huge improvement over prior years.

It’s a shame Apple did not bring an updated spec for the charging port. When Apple switched to USB-C last year, it kept the same data transfer speeds for the iPhone 15—480 megabits per second. The Pro, on the other hand, has USB3 speeds of up to 20 gigabits per second. It’s a massive difference (and an unnecessary one), but this only matters if you find yourself moving files from your iPhone to another device with a cord.

Good Cameras

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu

The iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus hold their own in the camera department. I found no significant differences even in low light when shooting with the main camera and the ultrawide. The Pro phones edge them out here and there, but the gap is small. Autofocus is new in the 12-MP ultrawide, so you can take macro photos. I can’t stop taking close-up shots of my pup’s nose. Boop!

Apple hosted its iPhone 16 launch event on September 9. The company released its iPhone 16 series along with other key products. During the presentation, Apple Apple’s Product Manager Piyush Pratik who talked about the much-anticipated Camera Control feature on iPhone 16 series soon gained eyeballs, making people curious about his Indian-origins.
People to social media site X to celebrate his achievements.One user wrote “Just got to know about an Indian at iPhone 16 Launch. Piyush Pratik, Product Manager at Apple – IIT Delhi Gold Medalist – Stanford – Worked at Bain & Co., InMobi. Damn, what a profile.”

Here’s what we know about Piyush Pratik

According to his LinkedIn profile, Piyush Pratik is an IIT alumni. He is a dual degree holder from the Indian Institute of Technology- Delhi. He studied Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech.) and Master of Technology (M. Tech.), Biochemical Engineering & Biotechnology from IIT, DELHI.
Pratik then went on to do his MBA from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. He passed out in 2019.
In between his higher studies, he worked at companies like Biocon, Bain & Company and InMobi. Before joining Apple in July 2019, he worked as Product Growth with InstaFit in the Mexico City area. He has been with Apple for more than 5 years.

Here’s his LinkedIn profile description

Piyush studied at an IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) to freeride on the laurels of alumni such as Sundar Pichai and Vinod Khosla. He took advantage of one of the best engineering colleges globally by excelling at theatre. His acting skills were recognized by Bain and soon he was playing the role of an expert and telling companies what to do. Piyush’s successful acts range from selling a $500M housing project to the Ghanaian government, to being a Product Manager of iPhone, to watching Avengers Endgame 10+ times. Piyush loves free food, which motivated him to continue working in technology after Stanford. He invests a significant part of his earnings on Netflix, Amazon Video, Hulu, Apple TV+, HBO Max, and Disney+ subscriptions to name a few, so he can get material for small talk.