Preview: Don’t Buy the iPhone 16 Pro

Why buy a top-of-the-range iPhone? In the past, the answer was simple: you wanted the best cameras, most premium design, best battery life, and most power. That’s still true, but the Pro line is only marginally better now, and to make a case for itself, Apple has had to target the Pro line at actual professionals.To start with the basics: because the iPhone 16 and 16 Pro lines are so similar, Apple has made a couple of meaningful changes to make the Pro seem more luxurious. The Pro’s screen increases from 6.1 inches on the 15 Pro to 6.3 inches on the 16 Pro, and the Pro Max goes from 6.7 inches to 6.9 inches. Combined with roughly 30 percent thinner bezels, these should be impressive screens. Though the cameras aren’t much better than those on the 16 line, they are now the same between the Pro and Pro Max phones. The Pro line runs on the A18 Pro chip, which is supposedly much faster for AI tasks, but given how delayed Apple’s AI rollout has been, that won’t mean much. While it supposedly has the best battery life ever available on a modern iPhone, Apple remains determined never to reveal the size of its batteries. Given that they didn’t provide battery life figures, I’d expect the phones to last only marginally longer than the 15 Pro. There are also no changes to charging speed.Courtesy AppleThe Pro line only distinguishes itself with Pro-exclusive software features — features that could easily run on the regular iPhone 16 but have been restricted by Apple. In photo editing, you can now color calibrate on the device and tweak filters after the photo has been taken. In video editing, you can record slow-motion footage better than ever, fine-tune it, and shoot it directly to external storage. More importantly for sales, Apple combines all of this with some handy on-device audio editing features. Yes, you can do all of this with third-party apps, but Apple has smoothly integrated them into the phone’s software. It has great slow-motion controls, really handy color calibration tools, and adjustable filters. While third-party apps can offer most of this, Apple’s integration is more seamless. Combine this with the new audio editing features, and it’s clear that Apple is trying to win over creative professionals — particularly TikTokers — or those aspiring to be one.If that’s not you, though, you shouldn’t buy this phone — or at least, I see no reason to, based on this announcement. Perhaps using the phone will blow me away and change my mind, but I somehow doubt it. Given how similar the iPhone 16 is, I’d save your money — or save even more and buy a refurbished 15 Pro, which offers a very similar experience for much less. The 16 Pro starts at $999, with the Pro Max starting at $1,199 — but with 256GB of storage, rather than the standard 128GB — and pre-orders begin on Friday. The phones hit stores on September 20.

Preview: Don’t Buy the iPhone 16 Pro

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