Which mannequin must you purchase?

Unique launch date: September 20, 2024 | Storage capability: 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB | Display screen dimension: 6.3 inches | Options: A18 Professional chip, At all times-on 120Hz ProMotion show, USB-C port (USB 3), Titanium body, Digicam Management button, Motion button, 25W MagSafe charging, Apple Intelligence | Cameras: 48MP large, 48MP ultrawide, 12MP 5x telephoto, 12MP entrance | Shade choices: Pure Titanium, Desert, White, Black | Dimensions: 5.89 x 2.81 x 0.32 inches | Weight: 7.03 ounces

Learn our full iPhone 16 Professional and iPhone 16 Professional Max evaluate

The iPhone 16 Professional is the iPhone we’d advocate to most individuals. Sure, its beginning value of $999 could be steep, however a smartphone is a long-term funding. If the query is “which iPhone is most probably to maintain you cheerful for the subsequent three to 5 years,” we predict the iPhone 16 Professional’s benefits over the usual iPhone 16 and 16 Plus are nonetheless significant sufficient to be price the additional $100-200 — even when the hole isn’t as large because it’s been in years previous.

For one, the iPhone 16 Professional’s blasted titanium body feels higher-quality than the aluminum one on the bottom iPhone 16. It’s a bit heavier than the usual 16 and the older iPhone 15 Professional, however it’s removed from an anchor, and its barely curved edges are pleasing to carry. It runs on the marginally sooner A18 Professional chip, which doesn’t make an enormous distinction with on a regular basis duties however is extra future-proof all the identical, notably you probably have any curiosity in gaming or content material creation. And whereas each iPhone 16 has a USB-C charging port, the Professional fashions assist sooner knowledge switch speeds (offered you’ve gotten the proper cable).

Essentially the most outstanding improve is the show. Whereas the OLED screens on the iPhone 16 Professional and commonplace iPhone 16 are equally sharp and vivid, the previous’s is extra spacious at 6.3 inches (as an alternative of 6.1 inches), regardless of the cellphone itself solely being 0.08 inches taller and 0.02 inches thicker. That is primarily because of the Professional’s thinner bezels, which grant you extra room for streaming movies and studying internet pages in a tool that isn’t considerably extra cumbersome to carry.  

On high of that, the Professional’s display screen has an adaptive refresh charge as much as 120Hz, which may make scrolling internet pages, gaming and streaming video noticeably smoother. Some will inform you that the common individual doesn’t want this, and it’s true that not every part performs at 120Hz. However utilizing a smartphone is nothing if not interacting with a small display screen, and when you’ve seen a sooner refresh charge in motion, it’s tough to surrender.

It’s a irritating state of affairs: You will get a finances Android cellphone with a 120Hz show for round $300, but Apple continues to make use of “ProMotion” as a strategy to upsell folks from gadgets that already value a whole bunch extra. However, our job is to inform you what’s greatest — and the Professional’s display screen is just extra fashionable. It’s additionally an always-on show, in contrast to the panels on the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus, so you possibly can view your notifications at a look with out having to bodily contact the system.

One other step up is the digital camera system. The iPhone 16 Professional has a trio of rear cameras: a 48-megapixel major digital camera, a 48MP ultrawide shooter and a 12MP telephoto digital camera. That final one is the biggie, because the common iPhone 16 lacks a devoted telephoto lens fully. Past that, the Professional’s major digital camera has a bigger sensor, so it’s a bit higher in low-light environments, plus it helps portrait mode at evening. You possibly can take sharper macro photographs for close-ups, and there are different fanatic options like the power to shoot ProRAW or file 4K Dolby Imaginative and prescient and ProRes video as much as 120 frames per second. 

If none of this jargon means something to you, know the common iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus are nonetheless nice point-and-shoot cameras. These gadgets can now take macro images as effectively, plus they’ve the identical upgraded Photographic Kinds function that may assist contact up photographs you could discover overprocessed. Additionally they share the Digicam Management button for shortly (if generally awkwardly) accessing the digital camera app, adjusting settings and snapping pics. All that mentioned, the 16 Professional is healthier, particularly should you take your images with a bit of extra intent.

The Professional will get barely higher battery life as effectively, although it’s not the longest-lasting smartphone we’ve examined. Apple charges it at as much as 27 hours of video playback, up from 22 hours with the usual iPhone 16, however each gadgets will seemingly want a top-up earlier than you go to mattress. The bottom mannequin’s battery is simpler to interchange, too, which is aggravating for Professional house owners given the upper value. 

Apple may be very bluntly promoting every iPhone 16 on how effectively they’ll work with its new “Apple Intelligence” AI options, however you shouldn’t base any buying choices on that performance proper now. As of this writing, the tips embrace a slightly extra strong Siri, ChatGPT integration, electronic mail and notification summaries, writing help and picture technology instruments, a Clear Up function that may take away undesirable objects from images (very similar to Google’s Magic Eraser) and a “Genmoji” customized emoji maker, amongst others. Extra updates will arrive over time. 

A few of these AI options will be helpful at factors; different occasions… not a lot. Little about them will really change the way in which you utilize a smartphone right now, and whether or not anybody actually wants them to jot down a paragraph-long electronic mail or learn a quick article is up for debate (to place it charitably). For now, it could be greatest to view Apple Intelligence as an intriguing first step towards a future that will or will not be realized down the street.

Unique launch date: September 20, 2024 | Storage capability: 256GB, 512GB, 1TB | Display screen dimension: 6.9 inches | Options: A18 Professional chip, At all times-on 120Hz ProMotion show, USB-C port (USB 3), Titanium body, Digicam Management, Motion button, 25W MagSafe charging, Apple Intelligence | Cameras: 48MP large, 48MP ultrawide, 12MP 5x telephoto, 12MP entrance | Shade choices: Pure Titanium, Desert, White, Black | Dimensions: 6.42 x 3.06 x 0.32 inches | Weight: 7.99 ounces

Would you like a bigger system than the iPhone 16 Professional? Are you prepared to commerce pocketability for longer battery life? Are you cool with spending no less than $1,199 on a smartphone? In case your reply to these questions is “sure,” skip the 16 Professional and get the iPhone 16 Professional Max as an alternative.

It has all the identical advantages of our high decide, however with a roomier 6.9-inch show and the longest-lasting battery of any iPhone. It may final nearer to 2 days per cost, whereas the smaller Professional is extra prone to faucet out round in the future. It additionally begins with 256GB of storage, which doubles that of the Professional and helps justify the elevated value no less than considerably.

The draw back is that it’s a tank. The iPhone 15 Professional Max wasn’t precisely tiny, and this newest mannequin is barely taller and wider, so that you’ll most likely want two fingers to function it comfortably in case your mitts aren’t on the bigger aspect. Finally, we’re assuming that most individuals would favor the extra hand- and pocket-friendly dimension of the common 6.3-inch Professional, even when it means sacrificing a half-day or extra of battery life. That’s a better name to make now that there’s no distinction between the 2 telephones’ digital camera setups. However should you simply need the most important beast of an iPhone, the 16 Professional Max is it.

Unique launch date: February 28, 2025 | Storage capability: 128GB, 256GB, 512GB | Display screen dimension: 6.1 inches | Options: A18 chip (4-core GPU), 60Hz show, USB-C port (USB 2), Aluminum body, Motion button, 7.5W Qi wi-fi charging, Apple Intelligence | Cameras: 48MP rear, 12MP entrance | Shade choices: White, Black | Dimensions: 5.78 x 2.82 x 0.31 inches | Weight: 5.88 ounces

Learn our full iPhone 16e evaluate

Right here’s the fact: There’s no such factor as a real finances iPhone in 2025. The $429 iPhone SE was the closest factor Apple needed to a value-oriented mannequin coming into the 12 months, however it was formally discontinued in February, and its severely outdated design made it tough to advocate lengthy earlier than that. The new iPhone 16e is the SE’s ostensible substitute, however it prices $599, effectively above what anybody might name “reasonably priced” when there are such a lot of genuinely respectable Android telephones that promote for a whole bunch of {dollars} much less.

So after we advocate the iPhone 16e on this spot, consider it much less like a finances decide and extra like “the most cost effective competent iPhone you possibly can reliably purchase.” It’s simple to see the way it might be higher, however it nonetheless will get you most of what makes the iPhone expertise worthwhile. It appears and feels far more substantial than the outdated iPhone SE, with a bigger and extra vivid 6.1-inch OLED show, cleaner strains and flat aluminum edges. Its A18 chip is sort of the identical because the one in the usual iPhone 16, simply with one fewer GPU core; both means, it’s highly effective sufficient to run Apple Intelligence and most video games wonderful. Its battery life is unbelievable, with an excellent larger video playback ranking (26 hours) than the bottom iPhone 16. It has a USB-C port, Face ID and the programmable Motion button. Most significantly, it’s the least costly route into iMessage, Apple Pay, FaceTime, AirPlay and all the opposite iOS perks locked in Apple’s walled backyard, for higher or worse.

Nevertheless, the usual iPhone 16 does convey significant upgrades for $200 extra. The principle one is a greater digital camera setup, because it has a second, 12MP ultrawide lens and a bigger major sensor with higher picture stabilization. The 16e’s single-camera system continues to be completely wonderful for many conditions, however evening photographs look softer, portraits are a bit blurrier and there’s no macro mode. Annoyingly, the iPhone 16e additionally lacks MagSafe, locking it out of a number of helpful equipment, and it’s restricted to sluggish 7.5W wi-fi charging. There’s no ultra-wideband chip to extra exactly find AirTags, and the usual iPhone 16’s show can get brighter. (Each are caught at 60Hz, although.) That display screen additionally has the Dynamic Island, which makes it simpler to examine timers, Uber ETAs, sports activities scores and the like at a look. The 16e, by comparability, has the static “notch” from older iPhones. The usual 16 can also be accessible in additional colours, whereas the 16e solely is available in a extra primary black or white.

In some ways, the iPhone 16e feels prefer it was designed backwards to make the common iPhone 16 appear to be a greater worth. However, should you can afford an iPhone 16 or 16 Plus however can’t spend one other $200 or $300 for a 16 Professional or 16 Professional Max, you must nonetheless get one of many base fashions over the 16e.

Actually, discount hunters ought to look to the refurbished market for reductions on older iPhones first. If you could find an iPhone 15 from a good vendor for $100+ lower than the 16e, that’d be superb, because it presents most of the 16’s core upgrades and something older received’t have a USB-C port. In the event you see an iPhone 15 Professional across the similar value, it’s no contest — that one is healthier than the 16e just about throughout the board. However even a refurbished 15 is unlikely to be all that low-cost, and each older iPhone will inevitably lose replace assist sooner. Nonetheless, that may not matter a lot should you simply need an Apple cellphone for primary iOS issues and might discover an appropriate price-to-storage ratio. Profiting from trade-in offers or, to a lesser extent, month-to-month installment plans that decrease upfront prices appears particularly prudent nowadays as effectively. 

Because it stands now, the dearth of a aggressive finances mannequin within the iPhone lineup is disappointing, and it seems that received’t change anytime quickly. Apple will likely be Apple. However should you simply wish to stroll into an Apple retailer and purchase an iPhone that works, the 16e is ok sufficient, even when it is not a slam-dunk worth.