iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max, First Impressions: Apple Keeps Doing the Same Thing It Always Does, and That’s Good for the Company

I’m writing these words from my hotel room in California, a few miles away from the Steve Jobs Theater. In this auditorium, Apple recently unveiled the new iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max, among many other products, to great fanfare.

I had the opportunity to test these new Apple smartphones. In short, the company has opted for nearly identical hardware with minimal extra details. On this occasion, it seems that the main argument for renewing the iPhone Pro and iPhone Pro Max is the new software features.

iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max Specs

iPhone 16 Pro: Same Design, Slight Improvements

The back of the iPhone 16 Pro continues to look the same.

The iPhone 16 Pro has the same exterior design as the iPhone 15 Pro. It’s comfortable in your hand, not too heavy, and has a nice texture. In addition, it has two interesting new features: It’s slightly larger and has drastically reduced the size of the bezels.

The change in size is practically imperceptible in your hand. Good news for those who say, “I don’t want a bigger iPhone.” You’ll hardly notice it. As for the size of the bezels, it’s clear that Apple has improved this element considerably. It doesn’t affect the thickness of the phone, which remains the same.

The iPhone 16 Pro features a Grade 5 titanium finish and is available in four colors: natural (silver), black, white, and desert. The desert color is new to this model and is very lovely. It’s a sand tone, not as golden as in the promo photos, and seems to change slightly with the light. It’s very, very nice.

Beyond the design, Apple has improved the camera, processor, cooling, and other details that I couldn’t evaluate in such a quick test. However, we'll publish a review with all the details in a few days.

The Camera Control Button, the Big Design Novelty

This year’s big design novelty is Apple’s new Camera Control button embedded in the side of the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max. This elongated button has haptic technology, which means it’s not physical but works based on how you press it. So, depending on how hard you touch it, you'll activate one function or another in the camera.

For example, to open the camera, click on it once. If you want to take a picture, click on it again. This convenient way of activating the camera is very useful when taking a picture quickly. It’s much faster and easier than the current way to access the screen.

But it’s not the only thing you can do. If you keep the button pressed, the video camera will open (but you have to open the camera first). Tap lightly without clicking to open the last camera setting you used. A light tap without clicking twice opens the photo tool selection menu (with zoom, styles, and more).

The button also works as a little slider. Once you select a tool, such as zoom, you can choose the type by sliding your finger to the side. It’s very intuitive.

At the top right, you can see the new Camera Control button in action. In this case, a user is selecting camera features.

However, getting started with the Camera Control button isn’t so intuitive. Distinguishing between a “click” and a “tap” isn’t easy at first. Maybe it’s just a matter of time before you gets used to it. You’ll see in the review. It also has vibrating feedback. In its favor, I have to say that the slide function works as expected, as it follows your finger perfectly when you slide it. It’s also perfectly placed where a camera shutter would be when you hold the phone horizontally to take a picture.

Apple has done a great job with this button, but I feel that only pro users or those who use the camera options the most will take advantage of it. This button will also make it a little more difficult for case manufacturers. According to the company, official cases will have an extension for the button to make it work smoothly.

Specifically, this button doesn’t only work in the native Camera app. Third-party apps like Snapchat can access it with the API. You can use the button to quickly select which contacts you want to send a photo to on social media. However, Apple limits the use of this button in third-party apps to options related to the camera and taking pictures.

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New iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus: More Power and a New Camera Button That Expands Photographic Options

A Wink to Pro Users

Although our review of the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone Pro Max will include all the details about the camera, I would like to highlight some features that Apple has included. By the way, both smartphones arrive with the same camera setup, with a 5x zoom also present in the smaller model.

The first is 4K recording at 120 fps and the ability to record a video and then select the fps. In this way, users can adjust the playback speed after recording. The same goes for Photographic Styles, Apple’s “filters.” You can take a photo with one of these filters, but then you can restore the original or even see (in real-time) what the image would look like with the filter before you took it. 

The iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max include many filters.

Curiously, Apple also allows users to automatically adjust the skin tone of people in photos in its new smartphones.

But what really surprised me was the video, specifically the audio recording capabilities. The iPhone 16 Pro has different sound mixing modes, and I think this can make a difference for people who mostly use the video camera. 

For example, in an environment with a lot of echo and noise, Apple recorded two people talking with one of its new smartphones. It didn’t use a microphone, but the  On Screen mode of the video recording to eliminate echo and noise from other people or objects off-camera. The result was spectacular. The iPhone 16 Pro captured clear audio and filtered out all sounds that were not the voices of the people speaking.

Apple Intelligence Arrives With the Best Strategy: No Big Promises, but With the Intention of Being Useful

“Artificial intelligence” is undoubtedly the buzzword of the moment. Devices of all kinds sometimes use this word in a forced way to talk about their new features. However, I think Apple’s approach to AI is the most appropriate. Apple Intelligence, the set of AI-powered software features, has been created with utility in mind, and that’s something I really like.

Did you get a lot of emails while you were sleeping? You don’t have to read them all because Apple Intelligence summarizes everything they discussed. Got an email from a friend asking if you could pick him up at the airport? Apple’s AI studies the context and provides concrete and complete answers for both “yes” and “no” with a single click. Is someone or something “extra” in a photo? Apple Intelligence suggests you remove it and take care of it. Want to see all the pictures of your son playing soccer? Thanks to the artificial intelligence system, you can now search for your child’s name in Gallery and the phrase “playing soccer” to see all the results.

This is how Apple Intelligence summarizes an email chain.

In addition to these features, Apple highlights Writing Tools. Apple Intelligence not only corrects text when you ask but also summarizes it, lists the main points, or rewrites it in the tone you want, such as “friendly,” “concise,” or “professional.”

Apple’s AI also comes to Siri. The eternal promise of an improved voice assistant is finally a reality. Now, users can ask for more tasks than just the weather or reminders. During the demos, someone asked Siri how to configure a particular iPhone feature, and the assistant generated the answer. It also understands context and remembers conversations. If you ask, “What time is the sunrise in California?” and then add, “What about Miami?” it knows what you mean the second time. It may seem basic, but it was something you couldn’t do before.

During the demos, all these specific examples I mentioned worked correctly. Still, it remains to be seen how all these features would work in a natural environment (and in other languages, if possible). I will try to test this as soon as possible. And I emphasize “as soon as possible” because...

The AI-Powered iPhone That Will Arrive to Many Parts of the World Without AI

Apple Intelligence will only be available in the U.S. and in English starting next month. During the presentation, the company confirmed that it would release these features in Spanish, French, Japanese, and Chinese “over the next year.” Whether or not it will release them in Europe remains a mystery, although Apple has included French in the list (Spanish could be for Latin America), which provides hope to European users.

But the problem isn’t just language. In June, Apple said it would delay launching Apple Intelligence in Europe because of “regulatory uncertainties.” This announcement fueled the controversy surrounding the arrival of its AI in the region. A few weeks later, however, a sliver of hope appeared. Although one of the iOS 18.1 beta notes specified that these features wouldn’t be available in countries such as Spain, the macOS Sequoia beta notes didn’t include such an exception. Therefore, one could interpret that some of the features of the new version of the desktop operating system might reach Europe. I know, it's a lot of guesswork, but Apple hasn’t officially announced anything beyond including the languages I mentioned earlier.

It’s a shame that Apple is launching its iPhone 16 at two speeds. In addition to having a brutal impact and repercussion, Apple Intelligence features could be indispensable to everyday life beyond what they demonstrated in the demos.

The iPhone 16 Pro Is the iPhone That Apple Needs

Let’s face it, it’s hard to keep improving phones and still create a “wow” effect. This is true for all manufacturers, not just Apple. Smartphones have reached a point of maturity where, in many cases, the new traditional (in other words, non-folding) models are very similar in design, cameras, processor, and battery.

Apple has been following this strategy for several years, and it continues to work for the company. Improvements between generations are accumulative, with no significant design changes. And people keep buying iPhones.

If you compare the iPhone 15 Pro to the iPhone 16 Pro, you may see insufficient reasons to buy Apple’s new smartphone. However, I would bet that few people change their iPhones every year. Ultimately, I’m talking about replacements with much longer life cycles, where the jump between generations is noticeable enough to justify the change. Apple knows this. It works for the company.

Still, Apple has introduced minor details in the iPhone 16 that make the experience more complete. The Camera Control button won’t be for everyone, but there are new elements, like the much-improved audio while recording video, that more than users might like.

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