Apple iPhone 16 Review: Unexpectedly Irksome

Price When Reviewed

$799

Best Prices Today: Apple iPhone 16

$799

$829.99

Another year, another iPhone. In 2024, the focus from Apple, like almost every phone maker, is on AI.

Apple Intelligence aims to do all sorts of things for you to make your life easier, but it’s absent from the iPhone 16 range for now (in the UK), despite the phones being built for the AI system.

Fortunately, there are also upgrades to the camera, battery life and two new physical buttons but is it one of the best phones you can buy?

Design & Build

• New colours
• Action button
• Camera control

It’s no surprise that Apple hasn’t overhauled the design of the iPhone for 2024. So, the iPhone 16 is the typical combination of familiarity along with small tweaks here and there.

The overall look is the same as the last few generations, meaning the iPhone 16 has that old-friend feeling (assuming you’ve used an iPhone before) while having enough to make it new.

For starters, there are new colours available, including the striking Ultramarine option I’m testing here. It’s a vibrant mix of blue and purple without being garish, though you’ll probably cover it up with a case anyway.

Chris Martin / Foundry

Other colourways comprise Teal, Pink, White and Black. Like the iPhone 15, I like the colour-infused glass on the back with its frosted finish but it’s still more slippy than I’d like.

From the front, the phone looks essentially identical to its predecessor, but there are changes on the sides and back. The camera module now has the lenses next to each other, rather than in a diagonal arrangement within a square module.

I prefer the look of the cameras this year, but it does make the phone more wobbly when on a flat surface, even with the official case on.

Chris Martin / Foundry

There’s a practical reason for this which I’ll cover in the camera section, where I’ll also go into more depth on the new Camera Control button/slider. This sits on the right side so under your index finger when shooting in landscape orientation.

On the left, you’ll find the Action button, which was a Pro-only feature last year. This customisable button can do various things, but it replaces the iconic alert slider, which is a shame. I’d rather have that physical switch for muting and free up the Action button for something else like Shazam, translation, or a shortcut to an app.

The physical size and shape of the iPhone are almost identical to previous generations, making it a nice balance of compactness but with enough screen. If you are upgrading from an iPhone 14 or earlier model, there are more noticeable upgrades.

The biggest of these is the switch from Lightning to USB-C for the physical port and Dynamic Island as a display feature. Haptic feedback is premium but I find it too aggressive at times for my liking, particularly when you get a phone call.

Chris Martin / Foundry

As usual, the phone is IP68 dust and water-resistant, and Apple has one of the best eco-friendly processes in the industry. The iPhone 16 uses more recycled materials than any model before it, including 95% recycled lithium in the battery and 100% recycled copper foil in the MagSafe inductive charger.

The packaging is also 100% fibre‑based for the first time.

Screen & Speakers

• Almost the same
• 1 nit brightness
• Still 60Hz

The display on the iPhone 16 is almost identical to last year, only it can drop to just 1 nit of brightness for dark situations when you don’t want to be blinded.

Otherwise, it’s still a 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR, meaning it’s an OLED panel with impressive specs and features like True Tone, wide color, Haptic Touch, and more.

Chris Martin / Foundry

There’s no issue with image quality, as you would expect from Apple. The screen is crisp and vibrant and can reach a peak outdoor brightness of 2000 nits according to the firm.

I’ve had no problems using it and if you’re upgrading from an iPhone 14 or older then you’ll be gaining Dynamic Island. It’s a clever way to make use of the pill-shaped section of the screen which houses things like the front-facing camera to give you snippets of information and a shortcut to the app showing said information.

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Related Topics:AppleiPhoneIrksomeReviewUnexpectedly

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