That said, the larger iPhones do tend to have the best battery life. Apple says the iPhone 16 Pro Max delivers the best battery life on an iPhone, though we’ll have to test that claim. If battery life is your number one priority, choose between the largest models: iPhone 16 Plus and iPhone 16 Pro Max.
All of these iPhones have an Action Button, which replaces the Mute switch and is now configurable, so you can replicate the Mute switch functionality or perform another action, such as turning on the flashlight or triggering of shortcuts. They all also have a new Camera Control button (yes, it’s a button). You can use it to open the camera and take a photo, but a light press shows the different camera modes and you can slide your finger left or right over the button to cycle through the different other modes, zoom levels, and more. Eventually, you can use this button to trigger Visual Intelligence, which is like Apple’s version of Google Lens—point your iPhone at a real-world object to get more information about it.
Photo: Julian Chokkattu
Every iPhone 16 model can now use a cool video feature called Audio Mix. It lets you change the sound of your videos when you edit them by choosing a sound profile. These include “In-Frame,” which focuses audio on anyone in the frame; Studio, as if you were in the studio, cutting out all the background noise; and Cinematic, which ensures that who is in the center of the frame is clear, with minimal noise around. This feature will be better on the iPhone 16 Pro models as they have upgraded microphones.
The redesigned Photographic Styles are also available across the range. They’re almost like filters but better—instead of changing the look of the entire image, these “Styles” can preserve skin tones so they don’t look weird, and can adjust others other parts of the image such as shadows and highlights. Apple also gives you more control over how your skin tone looks, rather than taking a more one-size-fits-all approach like Google does with its Pixel phones.
Apple Intelligence is the headline feature, and the only way to test the new artificial intelligence capabilities is to use a phone that supports it: the iPhone 16 range, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max. I covered these features in greater detail in our iOS 18 guide, but as a summary, they include a revamped Siri experience, the ability to generate emoji (and Genmoji!), and handwriting assistance features such as proofreading and changing the tone of your messages.
