iPhone 16 Pro vs iPhone 16: All the differences

Intro

If, like me, you find the big ones too big, well, read on. In this article, we focus only on the smaller models, exploring all the differences between the premium iPhone 16 Pro and the more affordable iPhone 16.

Picking between these two is not easy, but this year, the differences are bigger than usual – the iPhone 16 Pro has a slightly bigger screen, a dedicated 5X telephoto camera and longer battery life. And the iPhone 16… well, it has quite a few upgrades, but unfortunately it still runs at 60Hz and has no ProMotion. Disappointing, to say the least.

But these are far from the only differences, so let’s see if you should get the iPhone 16 or go all out with the iPhone 16 Pro.

Design and Display Quality

The iPhone 16 Pro is now bigger, but not by much

For years, the regular iPhone and the Pro model were roughly the same nice and compact size, at about 6.1 inches. But this year, for the first time, we have a bigger, 6.3-inch iPhone 16 Pro model, while the regular version sticks with the smaller, 6.1-inch size from the past.

Compact phone lovers might be troubled by this now bigger Pro model, but it’s not a huge increase in size. The Pro model now gets thinner bezels too, which help shrink the dimensions a bit.

The rest is familiar stuff: a triple camera on the Pro, and a dual camera on the vanilla model (but now in a pill-shaped island).

There is also a divide in materials. The iPhone 16 Pro uses a fancy titanium frame, while the iPhone 16 uses aluminum. Both devices come with a frosted glass back, but the regular 16 model has way more vibrant color options.

All four iPhone 16 models get a couple of new buttons.

The Action Button is above the volume keys on the left, and a new Camera Control now appears below the power button on the right (the mmWave antenna on US models is moved to the bottom left, in case you are wondering). 

Having more physical keys is great! You already know how the Action Button works from the 15 Pro series, but the Camera Control is brand new. It is said to act like a camera shutter key: press it lightly to focus, press it all the way to take a picture. And since it’s a capacitive button, you can also use it as a kind of a trackpad to zoom in and out, or a number of other predefined functions.

You get a USB-C port on the bottom on both the Pro and the regular model, but the Pro supports faster USB 3 transfer speeds, while the regular version only supports USB 2 speeds. IP68 water and dust protection is the same on both.

Next up, screens. A slightly bigger, 6.3-inch display on the iPhone 16 Pro gives you more space to work with, while the iPhone 16 has a 6.1-inch screen.

Sadly, the big upgrade everyone was hoping for on the regular iPhone 16 model did not happen yet again. Yes, we are talking about ProMotion, which is still only available on the iPhone 16 Pro devices. It’s just frustrating having a 60Hz vanilla iPhone 16 in 2024/2025, and that phone costs $800!

At least there are some smaller screen updates that have made their way to both the iPhone 16 and 16 Pro. First, they can both go down to just 1 nit, dimmer than before, which helps for comfortable use at night.

And both also get a new Ceramic Shield cover that Apple says is tougher than the glass on any other smartphone.

Performance and Software

To Pro or to simp

Apple is ready to jump head first into AI with the iPhone 16 family and you know that requires a bit more firepower.

Both the iPhone 16 and the 16 Pro arrive with new 3nm chipsets, but slightly different ones. The iPhone 16 Pro gets the A18 Pro, while the iPhone 16 has an A18 chip, no Pro.

What is the difference? Well, most is actually the same, both use second-gen 3nm manufacturing technology, the most advanced of any phone at their launch. The CPU seems to also be the same with 2 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores on both. There is a difference in graphics, though, as the Pro uses a 6-core GPU, while the vanilla version has a 5-core GPU.

When it comes to storage, you have a base model with 128GB storage on both. The Pro, however, is available in an insane 1TB option, while the vanilla iPhone 16 maxes out at 512GB of storage.

Both the 16 Pro and the 16 support the new Wi-Fi 7 which can deliver better speeds and lower latency, and will be especially helpful on congested networks. With a new Snapdragon X75 modem, you also can get improved reception in some areas. Tests of this new modem also show faster download speeds on all three major US carriers, so that’s a nice extra.

Camera

Zoom, zoom, zoom

Apart from ProMotion, camera quality has been the other noticeable difference between a Pro and non-Pro iPhones.

And this year, that difference is growing as the iPhone 16 Pro gets not only a more capable, 5X zoom camera, but also a brand new 48MP ultra-wide shooter with better low-light performance. ProRes video, recording to an SSD and a few other power user features also remain available only on the Pro model.

The regular iPhone 16, however, still has a 48MP main camera that matches the one on the 16 Pro.

iPhone 16 Pro vs iPhone 16 Camera Differences:

iPhone 16 Pro	iPhone 16
48MP main camera 1/1.28″ sensor f/1.78 aperture 24mm lens	48MP main camera 1/1.56″ sensor f/1.6 aperture 26mm lens
48MP ultra-wide camera f/2.2 13mm lens	12MP ultra-wide camera f/2.2 13mm lens
12MP 5X zoom camera f/2.8 120mm lens	No zoom camera at all
4K120 slow motion video	4K120 slow motion video
Studio-quality four-mic array Audio Mix feature	Regular mics Audio Mix feature

One useful new feature on both phones are the new Photographic Styles, which are Apple’s advanced photo filters. Previously, you could only set a filter when you capture a photo, but now you can change a Style and adjust it after the shot. This will make these a lot more useful.

And this year, the iPhone 16 also gets Spatial Video support, which was previously a Pro model feature. Spatial Video is basically 3D video that looks incredibly real on the Apple Vision Pro and other AR/VR headsets. Not many people own such a headset to enjoy this format but it’s nice to have that option.

Audio Mix allows you get crisper and more isolated voices in video

In terms of video features, however, the big one is super crisp 4K120 slow motion video, available only on the 16 Pro. The vanilla 16 model maxes out at 1080p120, which we have had for years. 

Only the Pro model gets the new four quality studio mics, while the vanilla version stick with regular mics, so audio capture should sound better on the Pro.

Both models, however, get improved Wind Noise reduction in video recordings and calls.

The new Audio Mix video editing feature also arrives to both. With it, you can make voices stand out and isolate them from background noise.

Good news is that for AI-powered image and video editing features, the 16 and 16 Pro have the same ones. With iOS 18.1 in October, Apple is adding Clean Up to Photos which allows you to remove an object, much like the Magic Eraser on Pixel phones. You can also blur someone’s face easily with this feature when you just draw on top of it.

Audio Quality and Haptics

When it comes to audio quality, Apple says loudspeakers have improved in a meaningful way on the Pro models, which is good news.

You also get four new “studio quality” mics on the 16 Pro, which will be super cool for recording voice notes and videos. The vanilla iPhone 16 sticks with the familiar regular mics.

We don’t expect any difference between the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 when it comes to haptics: both will have the same Taptic Engine inside after all.

Battery Life and Charging

The Pro has longer battery life

We don’t know the exact battery size of the iPhone 16 Pro and the 16 model, but Apple gives us official battery life estimates, and the 16 Pro lasts longer.

Here are all the official battery life numbers by Apple.

iPhone 16 Pro vs iPhone 16 Battery Life

	16 Pro	16
Video Playback	27 hours (+22%)	22 hours
Video Streaming	22 hours (+22%)	18 hours
Audio Playback	85 hours (+6%)	80 hours

Below, you can find rumored battery sizes, which are not official. We will have the official numbers after the first teardowns in a few days and will update you with that.

	iPhone 16	iPhone 15
[non-Pro]	3,561 mAh (+6%)	3,349 mAh
Pro	3,577 mAh (+9%)	3,274 mAh

We were hoping to see faster charging with the iPhone 16 series, but we only get that partially.

Wired charging speeds have not changed, so the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 are still rated to charge at up to 20W via a wire. Not super fast, to say the least.

However, MagSafe wireless charging is now faster than before at 25W, so we have the funny situation of having faster wireless charging than wired charge. We have not seen this happen on any other phone.

You need to have the new 25W MagSafe charging puck and pair it with at least a 30W charging brick to get the full benefit of this faster wireless top-up speeds. With all those conditions met, you should get a 50% top-up in 30 minutes, while previously a 30-minute charge gave you around 35% charge back.

Specs Comparison

And here is an overview of the iPhone 16 Pro vs iPhone 16 specs:

Which one should you buy?

So… which one should you go for?

Let’s start with price. A base 128GB iPhone 16 costs $800, while the same storage 16 Pro will set you back $1,000, so we have a price difference of $200.

Those $200 dollars buy you a slightly bigger screen on the Pro model, slightly longer battery life, a 5X zoom camera and smooth 120Hz ProMotion display.

A bunch of other features are also only available on the Pro version: 4K120 slow motion video, fast USB 3 data transfer, recording ProRes and ProRaw formats, and a better GPU for gaming.

The gap between the Pro and the regular model has gotten bigger this year, and we think it makes more sense to spend a bit extra and get the fancier iPhone 16 Pro.

What do you think? Do you miss any particular features on the regular iPhone 16 the most?