My verdict on Apple’s new iPhone 16 after weeks of testing

There’s a lot to like about the look of the new iPhone 16, starting with the range of available colours. I’m one of the few people who didn’t have anything to criticise about Apple’s more muted pastel approach to the colour range available on the iPhone 15 series of handsets, but it’s fair to say that the slightly deeper shades of the iPhone 16 are going to have more broad appeal.

Both the 16 and the 16 Plus come in the same range of colours: Ultramarine, Teal, Pink, White, and Black. I’m testing out the Ultramarine iPhone 16 for this review and I’ve got to say, it’s the best of the bunch for me. I’ve seen every colour in person though, and can confirm it’s a much bolder pink this time around, and the teal tone is lovely too. And you can pick the white (which wasn’t in last year’s lineup) or black if you prefer a simpler look. You can’t go wrong.

Overall, the feel of the phone and its design is going to be very familiar to any iPhone user, but these models do have the same subtly curved rear glass present in the iPhone 15 for a better feel in your hand, and the USBC port that made its debut in the iPhone 15 too. They also sport the “Dynamic Island” on the display for showcasing useful information at a glance, and they’ve got a pair of new buttons: a customisable “Action Button” on the lefthand side (replacing the mute switch) and a new “Camera Control” switch on the lower righthand side for, well, controlling the camera (more on this in the next section).

On the iPhone 15, I used to use the “Action Button” to quickly launch the camera, and with the inclusion of the “Camera Control” I’ve found that’s not needed anymore. I don’t need to use the action button to control the mute switch like it used to, so I’ve enjoyed trying to find a few new ways to use it. Having a completely customisable button like this is handy and not available from most rivals. I’m finding it great as a quick way to turn on “Do Not Disturb” but you could also set it to turn on the torch, start a voice memo or access other controls, shortcuts and accessibility features.

The display is, overall, almost identical to the one on last year’s iPhone. But it will be a very noticeable upgrade to anyone coming from an older model like the iPhone 11 or 12, given that it has far stronger glass and better brightness in outdoor conditions, making it easier to read text in more environments. What it doesn’t have, though, is an “alwayson display” or adaptive refresh rate. You might not know whether you need these features, but they can be really useful depending on how you use your phone, and are widely available in Android competitors (and the Pro iPhones), making it a real shame that they’re still not included on the standard Apple models.

The camera improvements will be the most evident changes for most upgraders, whether you’re coming from an iPhone 11 or a threeyearold iPhone 13. What you’ll be able to see is the extra detail available from the 48megapixel “Fusion” camera and the macro closeup abilities of the 12megapixel ultrawide camera with autofocus. The main lens on the iPhone 16 brings you a 2x zoom too, making this a far more versatile photo and video companion compared to a model like the iPhone 12 or 13.

I love using all of the cameras on the iPhone 16. Its main camera is the most capable by far, and the 2x zoom into the large sensor is something I use all the time. It’s great for portraits – and, for most people, is going to go a long way towards making up for the lack of the dedicated telephoto lens that you’d need to buy the Pro iPhone models to get. Since the iPhone 14, the frontfacing selfie camera has included autofocus, and that’s something you’ll notice if you find you get blurry selfies on your current phone.

In use, all the results I’ve got from the iPhone cameras are very comparable to the shots from the iPhone 15. Overall, they’re excellent. By default, they feel neutral, balanced and have a lot of dynamic range so you can capture the whole scene clearly. Of course, there’s a lot of processing happening to these snaps and this is hard to avoid, but Apple’s new “Photographic Styles” give you lots of control over the look of your pictures.

You get to pick between lots of different colour and tonal styles to save as your default, and I’ve settled on the “Amber” with a slight reduction on the “tone” slider, which adds more contrast and deeper shadows to images, making them look a little more like the photos I get from my dedicated camera. The best thing about these “Styles” is how customisable and controllable they are, and you can tweak them after you’ve shot images too – I’ve particularly liked using “Amber”, “Gold”, “Natural” and “Stark Black & White” during testing.

To help you decide if you like the look of pictures shot with the iPhone 16, I’ve included a gallery of sample images (mostly shot in the “Amber” photographic style) below:

iPhone 16 camera sample photos

Open Gallery

As mentioned above, Apple’s new “Camera Control” switch (which is flush on the bottom righthand side of the phone) is its other most noticeable camera change. It’s most useful as a oneclick way to launch the camera and it responds to a half press, swipes and double half press inputs for customising various parts of the camera system. With those, you can use it to control how much you’re zoomed in or the amount of portrait mode “depth” in your image.

I like a lot about this button, especially for fast camera access, but it’s sadly not always the most intuitive to use. I think many users will benefit from turning off its ability to make adjustments (an option available in the accessibility settings) and I’m most looking forward to a feature Apple teased in September that’ll allow it to be used to lock focus and exposure, much like a larger mirrorless or DSLR camera.

So far, I’ve found that the best use of the “Camera Control” is for onehanded camera use (if you’re holding a coffee cup in your other hand, for example) and for quickly launching the camera. It’s certainly useful, but just needs some improvement.

It’s also worth mentioning that there are upgrades to videos on the iPhone 16 too, with the phone now capturing “spatial audio” for more immersive videos, along with “wind noise reduction” to get rid of irritating background blustery wind sounds in your clips. It also offers excellent “Audio Mix” options to tweak the sound of your videos after you’ve captured them, helping you make them more intimate or more cinematic.

The brandnew A18 chip is something new to the iPhone 16, which would typically inherit a processor from the iPhone of the previous year. This chip, along with increased RAM, is what will allow the iPhone 16 to run the Apple Intelligence (AI) features launching later this year on all the newest iPhone models.

These features are available in beta at the moment for some users, but I’ll review them when they’re widely available for everyone – they’re set to include ways to help you with rewriting and proofreading text, as well as summarising notifications and emails.

Beyond promised features for the future, the A18 is still a powerful upgrade to the brains of Apple’s standard iPhone model. With this chip, it’s able to be much faster and more efficient than previous models, benefiting its “machine learning” and enabling the latestgeneration “Photographic Styles” as well as making the phone 60% faster than the iPhone 12 for most tasks, and 40% faster than last year’s iPhone 15 for graphicsintense gaming.

When it comes to battery life, the iPhone 16 remains a worthwhile option, although Apple isn’t promising loads more longevity on a daily basis when compared to last year’s models. What’s most impressive is that the larger iPhone 16 Plus should last for an extensive 27 hours of video playback, which is a boost of an extra hour compared to the iPhone 15 Plus. The regular iPhone 16 gains two extra hours of video playback, for a total of 22 hours.

The phone is equipped with fast wireless charging over MagSafe and Qi2, and can restore 50% of its battery capacity in 30 minutes with the right adapter. In daily use, I’ve found I have absolutely no issue with the amount of battery life that the iPhone 16 delivers, and it won’t run out before the end of a normal day of messaging, social media, listening to music and podcasts and watching a few videos. It might run out earlier if used intensively but is no trouble to recharge with one of the best power banks.

The new iPhone 16 models come with Apple’s latest software upgrades in iOS 18, but it’s important to note that they don’t yet come with the “Apple Intelligence” or “AI” features that the brand is using in the marketing campaigns for these phones.

At launch, iOS 18 is a more customisable version of previous Apple software, giving you the ability to tweak your home screen layout by putting apps almost wherever you like and giving you dark mode or tinted icons for personalisation.

The newest operating system also features a more customisable Photos app, and noticeable improvements to the Calendar and Messages apps. There’s also a whole new Passwords app for managing and storing all your logins and wifi passwords securely.

In general, iOS 18 is a great update for personalising your phone, but it’s also an update that’s available for models as old as the iPhone XR, so it’s hardly a fresh feature exclusive to the iPhone 16 models.

When it becomes available for Brits in December, Apple Intelligence promises to unlock more capabilities from the iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro models.

It will use the powerful chips in these phones to help summarise your notifications, to rewrite text with systemwide Writing Tools (that will be able to rewrite, proofread and summarise your emails, notes and more) and to bring you a more advanced and capable Siri assistant with a deeper integration and greater understanding of context.

Essentially, you will be able to speak more naturally and still be understood by the assistant, and it’ll understand more about your contacts, your calendar and the people in your photos.

The features of Apple Intelligence are set to roll out gradually and only when they’re ready, so don’t expect them to all launch at once even when they do start coming to phones in the UK. They will also primarily run on your device or within Apple’s “Private Cloud” which is meant to be transparent enough for independent checks from security researchers. You also aren’t required to use any AI features, they’re optional and “optin” only.

The iPhone 16 follows the same storage options as previous models, offering 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB configurations. If you’re upgrading from an older iPhone with smaller storage, like the 64GB iPhone 12 or SE, I think you’ll notice the extra room for your files, photos, documents and videos.

I find the added capacity is most useful when I’m downloading offline content to watch or listen to during a trip, or if I need space for more demanding apps such as big games. Ultimately, unless you find yourself running out of space on your current iPhone, you might not see a big difference.

However, I think it’s always preferable to have a little extra room for a few films from Netflix, downloading a whole series on BBC iPlayer films or your favourite playlists on Spotify or Apple Music.

Having the extra space means there’s no need to constantly manage your storage or worry about running out of room for apps and files.

One bit of welcome news is that the iPhone 16 sticks to the same price as the iPhone 15 launched at last year. This means it is more affordable than when the iPhone 14 launched in 2022. It starts at £799 for 128GB of storage, while the iPhone 16 Plus starts at £899.

Is the iPhone 16 worth buying? Well, the first thing I’d ask any prospective upgrader is how old their current phone is and if they’re certain they need to upgrade. It’s worth considering how many iPhone features are available from older models that you might be able to find refurbished or at cheaper prices from other retailers. For example, the iPhone 14 still has a powerful chip, a highly capable dual camera system and impressive battery life. Go with that, and it’ll cost you £200 less than the new phone.

What it’s important to decide, then, is whether the latest features (in particular, the new buttons, most powerful processor, more advanced camera, and USBC port) and the promise of Apple Intelligence are going to make enough of a difference in your daily experience of using your phone.

Don’t think they will? Then it may be sensible to stick with your current phone (if it feels sluggish, it may need a battery replacement, which only costs around £90 at an Apple Store) or consider which of the features you need and if they’re offered on the iPhone 14 or iPhone 15. In general, I don’t think anyone who currently owns a handset that’s only two years old needs to be looking at an upgrade yet. Apple’s phones are built for longterm use of around three to four years (if not more).

If, after thinking all that through, you still feel like you need an upgrade, I can confirm that the iPhone 16 is a terrific iPhone that anyone would be delighted to own.

I love the new colour range, especially the Ultramarine of the model that I’m testing, and when you’re upgrading from an older phone it’s worth remembering just how much extra brightness this screen now has and how much more versatile it is with the addition of the USBC port with simpler charging and more compatibility with accessories.

The camera system is a prolevel setup with a 2x zoom and closeup focus for more photography opportunities, and it’s excellent when shooting videos. The new buttons also make it more personalised, and help you to get right to taking a photo or video faster than before. Anybody upgrading from an iPhone 11, 12 or 13 is going to find the iPhone 16 to be a huge leap forward.

Apple iPhone 16: Other models to consider

The main phone I’d now recommend instead of the iPhone 16 is its predecessor, the iPhone 15. It’s still sold as new by Apple and has seen a £100 price cut with the launch of the new one, making it even better value than it was mere weeks ago.

It’s a terrific handset with prolevel features including the “Dynamic Island” within the display, the USBC connector, a 48megapixel camera that enables a 2x zoom and even more detail within photos. I also love the subtle pastel colours of this model.

There are only a handful of differences between the iPhone 15 and the iPhone 16, and most of them aren’t significant enough to prevent me from recommending it.

The other main competitive rival I’d recommend would be for those mulling over a switch to the Android operating system. The latest Google Pixel phones are excellent, and the Google Pixel 9 is a brilliant handset with a smooth interface, smart features, fantastic cameras and a distinctive design. The Google Pixel 9 is my favourite allaround Android of 2024 for most people, and it’s the one to go for if you’re tempted by Android.

Simon Cocks is Hearst UK’s Technology Ecommerce Editor, overseeing tech shopping content and strategy across a range of titles including Good Housekeeping UK, Esquire UK, Digital Spy, Men’s Health UK and Women’s Health UK.

Simon specialises in testing the latest smart gadgets, home entertainment gear, headphones, speakers, portable chargers, radios, ebook readers and smartphones. He’s reviewed top tech products from brands including Google, Apple, Amazon, JBL and Bose.

A magazine journalism graduate from Kingston University in 2014, Simon also worked on the Discovery and Silkroad inflight magazines. He then gained experience writing about entertainment at SFX and Total Film. He also contributed reviews and interviews to TwitchFilm (later ScreenAnarchy), CultBox and Frame Rated.

He joined Good Housekeeping UK as the Editorial Assistant for Special Projects and was part of Good Housekeeping’s Consumer Affairs Team between 2014 and 2019. In this role, he conducted price comparison research, wrote detailed household and moneysaving advice guides and edited thousands of indepth reviews for the Good Housekeeping Institute.

He has focused on technology and gadgets since 2020, where he started by testing out power banks and instant cameras. He writes reviews, roundups, news articles and deals updates, and also covers top tech deals during sales like Amazon Prime Day, Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

When not testing out the latest gizmos, you’ll find Simon either catching up with the newest releases at his local cinema or out shooting with his beloved compact camera.You can follow Simon on Instagram at @simonrcocks, on Threads at @simonrcocks, and on Twitter/X at @simoncocks.