If you ’re currently sporting Apple ’s 2023 flagship and debating whether it ’s worth upgrading to the latest iPhone 16 , then you ’ve come to the right home .
We ’ve reviewed theiPhone 16and compared it to theiPhone 15so you’re able to watch whether or not to raise to the latest modelling .
Keep reading to get word more about the differences between the iPhone 16 and iPhone 15 .
If you need to see how the iPhone 16 compare to other Apple handsets then be certain to control out ouriPhone 16 vs iPhone 14andiPhone 16 vs iPhone 13round - ups .
Specs comparison table
Pricing & availability
The iPhone 16 has a lead off RRP of £ 799/$799 for the 128GB - sized handset .
Unsurprisingly as it ’s last year ’s role model , the iPhone 15 has a cheaper start RRP of £ 699/$699 .
Design
At first glance , you ’d be forgiven for thinking the intent of the iPhone 16 is unaltered from the iPhone 15 , as it disport the same matted edges and rounded corner . However , face closer and you ’ll see a handful of cardinal differences .
Firstly in stead of the clone switch that ’s found on the iPhone 15 ( and all the iPhone role model that came before it ) there ’s theAction Buttonwhich was first introduced on theiPhone 15 Proseries . The Action Button is customisable and works as a cutoff to various functions , include open apps , hold in smart domicile devices and more .
The iPhone 16 also includes the newCamera Controlbutton , used to open your handset ’s camera and correct camera preferences . How utile this button is might be down to personal preference , however , as we found it took more time to utilise the Camera Control button than it would to just bug on the covert .
Flip the two iPhones over and you ’ll acknowledge the rearward camera layout differs slightly . While the two lens system of the iPhone 15 are diagonally aligned , the two of the iPhone 16 are vertically align to help better spatial TV capture .
The colour options also differ calculate on the iPhone . While the iPhone 15 privilege lighter shade including pink , jaundiced , gullible and downcast plus a lusterlessness black offer , theiPhone 16 sports bolder coloursincluding black , white-hot , pinkish , teal , and ultramarine .
Otherwise , both the iPhone 16 and iPhone 15 sport aIP68dust and body of water electric resistance rating alongsideCeramic Shieldat the front .
success : iPhone 16
Screen
The iPhone 16 ’s screen is basically identical to the iPhone 15 , and this is not necessarily a bad matter . Both handsets boast an impressive display which sour well across all use font but peculiarly when take in movies and gaming , as people of color is vibrant and blacks are well contrast .
Both sportsman 2000 nit flower brightness and a Dynamic Island which was previously reserve for theiPhone 14 Proseries . TheDynamic Islandacts as an supernumerary quad for utile information from compatible apps , such as seeing Now meet from Spotify and following direction through Maps .
Another law of similarity , which disappointed us last twelvemonth and again this year , is the lack ofProMotiontechnology which essentially intend neither iPhone has a 120Hz refresh pace , instead capping out at just 60Hz . This is a vast deletion , especially considering mostAndroid phonessport a smoother 120Hz refresh charge per unit , including evenbudget smartphones .
Camera
Like its harbinger , the iPhone 16 has a duple photographic camera at its rear , made up of a 48MP main and a 12MP ultrawide . However , the remainder is that its 48MP main electron lens is a ‘ fusion ’ camera which offers four - in - one pixel binning technology and a digital 2x telephotograph .
The iPhone 15 also offers a 2x zoom feature which is useful as the deficiency of a telephoto lens means the 2x zoom does a adept line of closing the gap between the camera and subject .
Although we did enjoy taking photos with the iPhone 15 and find photos look more detailed and sharper than the iPhone 14 , the iPhone 16 does boast a few necessary advance . Thanks to a raw anti - reflective coating , the iPhone 16 reduces lens flare which was a huge event we set up with the iPhone 15 .
However , its 12MP ultrawide sportsman a narrower f/2.4 aperture compared to the iPhone 15 ’s f/2.2 which allows for less light to be captured .
Overall we found both the iPhone 16 and iPhone 15 were able to bewitch detailed shots with excellent lucidity , although some iPhone 16 images did tend to look “ a fiddling concentrated ” . In improver , both provide a natural bokeh effect with the wide aperture .
As touched upon to begin with , the new erect coalition of the iPhone 16 ’s photographic camera means it ’s better for spatial video and picture gaining control but this is only really important if you use a mixed reality headset , like theVision Pro , to view your content . Otherwise , you ’re improbable to notice this difference .
Speaking of video , both French telephone can memorialise in either 4K@60fps or 4K@30fps in Dolby Vision HDR which we hailed as “ one of the best video recording capture experiences around . ”
Performance
Apple enter the A18 chip alongside the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus , whereas the iPhone 15 runs on the A16 Bionic processor , which debut with 2022 ’s iPhone 14 Pro serial .
The A18 chip is a seriously potent C.P.U. that we found was both on par with the A18 Pro alternative , find in the iPhone 16 professional , and seduce well than even the highest - scoring Android smartphone of 2024,RedMagic 9s Pro .
Not only is the A18 processor impressively fast and able-bodied to handle anything from scrolling through apps to AAA gaming with ease , but , unlike the A16 microprocessor chip , it also supports Apple Intelligence .
Having said that , the iPhone 15 with A16 processor is still a perfectly capable processor for unremarkable exercise , with apps and daily games opening quickly and performing swimmingly .
The fact the iPhone 15 does n’t supportApple Intelligence(which we ’ll get into briefly ) and the unfitness to power console - point AAA games are perhaps the great reasons to opt for the iPhone 16 rather .
Software
doubtless the biggest ground to opt for the iPhone 16 isApple Intelligence , which is arguably the most awaited software system launch of 2024 . Due to its less powerful processor , the iPhone 15 simply ca n’t support the software .
Apple Intelligence is fundamentally Apple ’s AI toolkit and include features such as ChatGPT integration , an all - raw Siri and much more ( however at the time of writing , not all Apple Intelligence features have launched and it ’s currently only available in the US . )
Apple Intelligence aside , both handset sport theiOS 18software update which introduced useful features likeRCSsupport for SMS messaging and a fully customisable Home screen and Control Centre .
Although Apple has n’t stated the precise number of software update the handsets will get , think 2020 ’s iPhone X is still receiving upgrades then this bodes well for the later handsets .
Battery
As two comparatively small handsets , much like the Pixel 9 andSamsung Galaxy S24 , the iPhone 16 and iPhone 15 are course limited with how declamatory their battery cell can actually be .
We found the iPhone 16 could last all day on a single charge , albeit only with a small percentage left in the tank , which is the same with the iPhone 15 . However , lighter user might get out with not reload until the fall out lunchtime .
In our tests , we find that 60 mins of Netflix depleted the iPhone 16 ’s shelling by 7 % while the same amount of streaming discharged the iPhone 15 at 8 %
While both offer a max charging speed of 30W , we in reality find the iPhone 16 took a banging 101 minute of arc to charge from 1 - 100 % whereas the iPhone 15 took slenderly less meter at 92 minutes . The iPhone 16 can also back up to 30W of wireless charging with aMagSafecharger .
Verdict
Although at the surface it may appear the iPhone 16 is relatively unchanged from the iPhone 15 , there are multiple attentive improvements on offer including a new chipset , quick wireless charging and a new colour lineup .
Arguably the biggest reason to elevate to the iPhone 16 from the iPhone 15 is to experience Apple Intelligence , as the iPhone 15 does n’t have a powerful enough processor to support the software .
However , if you are n’t fussed about the Apple Intelligence toolkit then we ’d advise against upgrading from the iPhone 15 , as it continue a powerful and perfectly capable handset for most exploiter .
