“Pro features at an affordable price” – the first reviews of the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus have been released

Today, major media outlets and bloggers published the first reviews of the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus, and here we have collected excerpts from these materials. Key features include the new A18 performance chip with Apple Intelligence, faster charging, an improved wide-angle camera with macro capabilities, updated photographic styles, and an all-new capacitive camera control button.

Image source: James Martin/CNET

Design

Reviewers unanimously note that the design of the iPhone 16 is similar to the iPhone 15, but the color palette has become brighter, adding options such as Ultramarine, Pink and Teal. The location of the cameras has changed from the previous diagonal to vertical, which provides the possibility of spatial video and photography for the Vision Pro headset.

TechRadar’s Philip Berne believes the biggest design change is on the back of the devices: “The camera modules are positioned vertically. The Fusion’s 48-megapixel main camera sits atop a 12-megapixel wide-angle lens. The True Tone flash is offset to the side, making it look like an iPhone X camera bump on steroids due to the larger lenses. I really like this look.”

Camera control button

Journalists call one of the most noticeable innovations in iPhone 16 the new capacitive camera control button Camera Control. According to reviewers, this button, located on the right side of the device, takes the smartphone’s photographic capabilities to the next level by simulating a physical shutter button. It also accepts gestures to adjust zoom and exposure settings.

«The camera control button can sense pressure […], replicating the physical shutter button of today’s best cameras. It can also recognize swipes to switch between certain settings, such as zoom control, exposure adjustment […] While all of this may take some getting used to, it is a step in the right direction, says John Velasco.

According to CNET’s Lisa Eadicicco, “Apple has created a new miniature interface specifically for the camera, and it’s a lot of fun to play with. Beyond the camera control button and Dynamic Island, it’s great to see Apple updating the iPhone interface for the two things we do most often on our phones: taking photos and switching between apps.”

However, some authors have expressed concerns that users may be put off by the “complexity of Camera Control” because it requires them to develop a new habit. Many owners may ignore it, just like the MacBook Pro touchpad previously.

Apple Intelligence

One of the key features of the iPhone 16 is support for Apple Intelligence artificial intelligence features, although many of them are still in development. At the core of the phone’s ability to run AI tools is the new A18 chip.

John Velasco is upset that the iPhone 16 is coming out of the box without AI support, although he is confident that Apple Intelligence will usher in a new era for the iPhone. He highlighted a few of his favorite Apple Intelligence features that he learned during beta testing: “Siri is much more communicative than ever before, and Photo Clean Up’s power for photo editing has improved dramatically.”

Velasco is especially looking forward to Visual Intelligence, Apple’s answer to Google Lens. This feature will be exclusive to the iPhone 16 lineup and will not be available on previous models. Linked to the camera control button, Visual Intelligence lets you quickly search for anything just by taking a photo, and it can also be integrated with any app or service running on your phone.

The remaining Apple Intelligence features, according to reviewers, “won’t be anything special or innovative.” They believe that “Google is still ahead of Apple when it comes to AI features, however, Apple is moving in the right direction.”

Camera improvements

‌IPhone 16 receives several key camera upgrades, including an improved ultra-wide-angle camera with macro support for the first time on a standard iPhone. Apple has also updated its photographic styles, improving how the camera handles skin tones, shadows and highlights in real time.

According to John Velasco, the iPhone 16 “finally has the ability to take proper macro photos thanks to its updated ultra-wide-angle camera.” He highlighted the “unprecedented detail” of images taken in macro photography mode.

Lisa Idicicco was impressed by the improvements to the ultra-wide-angle camera, which is much better at shooting in low-light conditions. However, she said the Google Pixel 9 “produced a slightly better image that was a little brighter and kept objects in focus even if they were moving.”

Idichikko noted significantly updated photographic styles. In her opinion, the camera software has become much better at detecting skin tones, colors, highlights and shadows. It’s now possible to switch between different photographic styles when previewing a photo before pressing the shutter, which is especially convenient to do using the new camera control button. Idicicco believes the new styles will help users with no photography or video editing experience “create dramatic, vibrant images by doing little more than just pressing a button.”

Below are the videos on which this roundup of reviews is based: