The iPhone 16 and 16 Plus are official, with Action Buttons inherited from the 15 Pro and a new look for the camera bump. We just got some hands-on time with them in Cupertino, California, following the announcement, and the good news is that the color is back, baby: they’re beautiful.
The rear cameras are now stacked vertically in a smaller pill-shaped camera bump. This arrangement is more suitable for capturing spatial video, so we can all forget about Vision Pro. It’s also a fresh look for the regular iPhone, and Apple likes to throw one out every few years to keep things going.
They have the same size screens as their predecessors: a 6.1-inch display on the iPhone 16 and a 6.7-inch display on the 16 Plus. Other than the vertical lenses again, the design hasn’t changed much — but the 16s has some new and brighter colors. They are more saturated than the washed-out colors of the 15 series, with vibrant new ultramarine, teal, and pink options combined with white and black.
But these non-Pro iPhone 16 models also get a new feature: the “camera control” that acts as a dedicated shutter button and a way to change various settings in the Camera app and elsewhere . The new button comes with several other camera upgrades to the 16, which now has the “equivalent” of four lenses despite only having two lenses.
There are other updates that are less visible. The iPhone 16 also includes the new A18 chip, which is said to be 30 percent faster than last year’s model, and is said to be more rugged and less prone to scratches or breakage. That’s the only good news, though the new chip is most important when Apple Intelligence arrives, which may not be until 2025. A new “glow-up” Siri is a centerpiece of Apple’s suite of AI features, but it is one that most people will have. to wait a little longer.
The 16 and 16 Plus will be available next week starting at $799. Will the new buttons be worth the upgrade? That’s what I’ll find out as soon as I get my hands on them for longer than an afternoon.
