iPhone 16 Pro: release date, new cameras, A18 Pro, Camera Control and more – here’s what you need to know
The new iPhone 16 Pro comes with a load of power, ready for Apple Intelligence
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Appleofficially revealed the iPhone 16 Pro as part of its latestApple event(aka theiPhone 16launch event) on September 10, and we’ve now had a chance to put the company’s newest mid-sized flagship to the test.
For our full impressions of the new Pro phone, check out ouriPhone 16 Pro review, but rest assured that it’s “one of thebest iPhonesApple has ever made” and a “solid glimpse of what’s to come” with regards toApple Intelligence.
For an at-a-glance look at the iPhone 16 Pro, check out the below guide, which contains details on the new phone’s specs, features, and price. Plus there are a lot more details to digest, such as howevery iPhone 16 model has 8GB of RAM, howthe iPhone 16 has a major wireless charging boost that Apple barely mentionedand howApple wants you to scan your friend’s dog with iPhone 16’s Visual Intelligence… well sort of.
iPhone 16 Pro: what you need to know
iPhone 16 Pro price, release date and preorders
As of September 13,iPhone 16 preorders are live. They will run until September 20, whenthe whole iPhone 16 range will ship. If you’re struggling to decide which colors to get,here most popular shades according to you.
Despite concerns, theiPhone 16 Pro pricestarts at the same point as its predecessor in the US and UK, and actually decreasing in price for Australia: $999 / £999 / AU$1,799, with storage going from 128GB up to 1TB.
However,delivery dates for the iPhone 16 Pro are starting to slipbeyond September 20. That’s despitepre-order numbers for the iPhone 16 Pro reportedly being lowerthan its predecessor.
Keep an eye on ouriPhone 16 dealspage for any discounts or carrier deals that could bless the iPhone 16 Pro.
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iPhone 16 Pro specs
We’ll dig through the main iPhone 16 Pro upgrades later on, but here’s a quick look at the main specs.
The iPhone 16 Pro’s big upgrades
While Apple may have chosen evolution over revolution with its iPhone generations, I feel there are enough upgrades with the iPhone 16 Pro to make it stand out compared to previous generations. Read on.
Meet the Camera Control button
Glance quickly at the iPhone 16 Pro and you’ll think not much has changed over its predecessor other than new color option in the form of Black Titanium, White Titanium, Natural Titanium, Desert Titanium. But look closer an you’ll see the all-new Camera Control button.
This button sits below the power button and uses capacitive sensors and touch recognition to trigger various camera functions. For example sliding your finger across the oblong button can adjust functions like exposure, depth of field or the zoom. Double pressing the button can cycle through camera settings, the idea being that you can access a load of camera functions without needing to reach and touch the screen and thus mess up the framing of a shot.
And Apple promises that later on this year, Camera Control will introduce a two-stage shutter that lets you automatically lock focus and exposure on a subject with a light press of the button, then let you reframe the shot without losing focus. It will so get the ability to “unlock visual intelligence” to help users learn about objects and places at speed, and do things like click and hold Camera Control to pull up the hours or ratings for a restaurant they pass, add an event from a flyer to their calendar, quickly identify a dog by breed, and so on.
Apple said third-party developers will be able to bring Camera Control to their apps to expand the functionality of the button; hopefully this’ll be more impactful than theDynamic Island.
A bigger display
To me it’s arguably been a long time coming, but the iPhone 16 Pro now has a largerOLEDdisplay, coming in at 6.3 inches rather than 6.1 inches. Apple achieved this by slimming the display bezels down to what almost looks like noting and slightly tweaking the dimensions of the new Pro over theiPhone 15 Pro.
I think it looks rather good, and can see myself appreciating the larger screen without a notably larger phone footprint;I currently use the iPhone 15 Pro Maxand that can feel a little big at times.
Add in the lastest Ceramic Shield coating, which Apple claims is twice as tough as any other glass on other smartphones, and there’s potential for the iPhone 16 Pro to have a rather impressive screen. Naturally, the LTPO panel and dynamic 1Hz to 120Hz refresh rate remains present and correct.
More capable cameras
To go with the new Camera Control button, the iPhone 16 Pro has a trio of new rear cameras. First up it the 48-megapixel main camera, which doesn’t get a resolution boost but is a “Fusion” camera. That means it can offer different shooting modes in one and has a faster quad-pixel sensor that can record4Kvideo at 120 frames per second; Apple noted that offers some pro-grade shooting options with Dolby Vision and slick super-slow-motion video.
Speaking of video, there iPhone 16 Pro has four new “studio-quality mics” to better capture sound when recording video, alongside capturing Spatial Audio, and then enabling it to be edited using the Audio Mix feature to focus on the voice of a person on camera.
The ultra-wide camera has been bumped up from a 12MP sensor to a 48MP quad-pixel sensor that can capture wide shots in 48MP ProRAW and HEFI formats, and also promises more detailed macro shots. As someone who likes shooting close-ups of watches and plants, this has my attention.
As does the 5x optical zoom 12MP telephoto camera that the iPhone 16 Pro gets as a pseudo hand-me-down from theiPhone 15 Pro Max. I’ve been enjoying that camera on the 15 Pro Max so I’m glad it’s made it to the new Pro, as that puts a good telephoto snapper into a more compact frame.
On the software side, there are new Photographic Styles to let you adjust the look of a shot, and also roll it back to another one if you don’t like the result. Plus there are tools to adjust the intensity of specific colors in a shot rather than applying a one-size-fits-all adjustment. Apple says the photo style now have a better understanding of skin tones.
All this sounds quite comprehensive and I’d been keen to try it; while thebest Google Pixels phonesandbest Samsung phonesoffer similar capabilities, I’ve always found it’s easier to more consistently get the shot I want out of the iOS Camera app than Android equivalents.
Even more power
I’ve never once though theA17 Prochip in the iPhone 15 Pro was slow, but for the iPhone 16 Pro Apple has upgraded to theA18 Pro. Built on a second-generation 3-nanometer process, the chip sports a new 16-core Neural Engine for chewing through AI-related tasks an image processing faster than before, has a 17% increase in system memory bandwidth, sports a 6-core GPU that’s 20% faster than the one on the A17 Pro, and has a 6-core CPU that’s 15% faster while using 20% less power.
As such, Apple noted that hardware-accelerated ray tracing gets up to 2x faster for even more realistic light sources and reflections. And when in Game Mode in iOS 18, there’s more consistent frame rates, while also offering responsive connections to AirPods, game controllers, and other wireless accessories.
While the iPhone 15 Pro models could run console games likeDeath Stranding, they didn’t exactly get fast frame rates. Apple said improved performance is on the card, and I’m rather hoping the A18 Pro can deliver upon that.
The performance of the A18 Pro also extends to image signal processing and ProRes video recording, and should offer 2x the data throughput when video encoding.
Apple said the iPhone 16 Pro has a bigger battery than before but the folks at Cupertino tend not to give actual specs. Suffice to say, I’d expect the iPhone 16 Pro to last though a good day’s worth of use with some power left in the tank. Apple says the iPhone 16 Pro offers 27 hours of video playback.
Wireless charging can hit up to 25W, and it seems thatwired charging should be able to reach 45W, which is a significant upgrade on the iPhone 15 Pro’s charging speed.
The first Apple Intelligence iPhone
“Powered by the A18 Pro chip and built for Apple Intelligence.” Those are Apple’s words, butwhen the iPhone 16 Pro is releasedit won’t have the AI-centric features.
Rather the ability to use generative AI models to tap intovisual intelligencein the Camera Controls function or generate summaries of calls, or even use theClean Uptool for photo edits likeGoogle’s Magic Eraser,won’t be available until after the phone launches, and even then in select nations.
That’s disappointing. I get that there are AI features that slowly roll out for the likes of theSamsung Galaxy S24andGoogle Pixel 9, but for a new iPhone to arrive without any Apple Intelligence features isn’t ideal.
Still when it does arrive as a free update iniOS 18, we should see a smarter and more capable Siri that can figure out things like how to adjust the blur in the background of a photo, and pull specific shots from the Photos app into the Darkroom editing tool. So I feel there’s promise here.
There is a sting in thatApple Intelligence will be blocked for almost two billion people – and we don’t know for how long.
My analysis
Roland Moore-Colyer has been covering iPhone rumors, news, analysis, hands-on experiences and more for around a decade. Having moved from Android to iPhone, he’s an experienced users of the best iPhones, tapping into their hardware and software features, and putting the cameras through extensive testing.
I’d have liked the iPhone 16 Pro to come out of the gate swinging with a fist full of Apple Intelligence, but I’ll have to wait. Nevertheless, I think there are a good amount of upgrades the iPhone 16 Pro offers over its predecessor (and certainly over older Apple smartphones) to make it worth your consideration.
Indeed, as TechRadar’s Editor-at-Large, Lance Ulanoff, noted in hisiPhone 16 Pro review, this phone “will be a big leap if you’re still using, for instance, an iPhone 12 Pro, but it’s not necessarily worth trading in your iPhone 15 Pro.”
On the AI front, Lance notes that the iPhone 16 Pro is “a solid glimpse of what’s to come” on the AI front, and that Apple Intelligence itself “is an intriguing addition that’s quite useful in some situations but unrealized in others.“I’d already felt the recent iPhone Pro models had refined the Apple phone formula to a scalpel-like edge. But clearly there’s more to hone. I’m quietly hyped about the gaming performance of the A18 Pro, and Lance has confirmed that the new Camera Control button “makes this the most traditional camera-like iPhone ever”.
So, should you buy an iPhone 16 Pro? Well, if you’re desperate for a new iPhone and have been making do with an older one, then absolutely. If you’re using a more recent Pro model, then we’d suggest waiting until Apple Intelligence rolls out properly before upgrading based on that feature along, but the bottom line is: the iPhone 16 Pro is pretty much the best iPhone you can buy today.
Roland Moore-Colyer is Managing Editor at TechRadar with a focus on phones and tablets, but a general interest in all things tech, especially those with a good story behind them. He can also be found writing about games, computers, and cars when the occasion arrives, and supports with the day-to-day running of TechRadar. When not at his desk Roland can be found wandering around London, often with a look of curiosity on his face and a nose for food markets.
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