iPhone 16 / 16 Pro Impressions!
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00:00I've just spent the last couple of hours hands-on with every new iPhone. So that's the iPhone 16 and
00:0416 Plus, as well as the iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max. So buckle up, this is the good, the bad,
00:10and the ugly. Okay, let's start with the normal 16 and 16 Plus. And aesthetically, aside from this,
00:15I have to admit, quite spicy new ultramarine colour, they're basically the same as the iPhone
00:2015s, including the same size screens. So the base iPhone gets a 6.1 inch screen, and then the Plus
00:25is basically the same phone, but stretched out to a 6.7 inch screen with a bigger battery too.
00:30There is an upgraded ceramic shield covering those screens, though, which Apple is saying
00:34is 50% stronger than the first gen ceramic shield, which is a large number. And everyone wins when it
00:39comes to durability improvements. But then they didn't really give any detail on specifically how
00:43that 50% was measured. So it will probably be some really niche test that's been done. And
00:49the day to day difference won't be nearly as transformative as that. But the one visual
00:53difference that you absolutely will notice are these cameras, they've gone from the boxy squarer
00:58camera arrangement on the 15s to now a straight line down the phone, kind of exactly how they
01:04used to be on the old iPhones. It really does make me feel like we're on some sort of roundabout when
01:09it comes to iPhone design, where instead of just deciding that one thing is better and sticking
01:13with it, we're actually just rotating between the different options to keep whatever's new
01:17feeling different. But yeah, the reason that Apple saying they've made the cameras like this again,
01:21is so that the main camera and the ultra wide can work together kind of like your eyes to be
01:25able to record spatial video that you can watch on the Apple Vision Pro. So big moment for the
01:33seven people who own one of them. They are also slightly better cameras than last year,
01:37because the ultra wide has now been given autofocus, which means when you go super close
01:42to something your phone can still keep it in focus, which is not a new feature. The pro phones
01:46have been able to do this for a while now. But Apple does this dance every year, the pros will
01:51always come with some new and exciting hero feature that the normal phones don't get. But
01:55then as soon as the pros get the next hero feature, then the normal phones are allowed to have the
02:00old stuff, which is, I think it makes sense. It means that Apple can differentiate their more
02:04expensive offerings. But also then if you don't want to pay pro prices, you can still get the
02:08features you want by waiting another year. And in the same vein, you now also get the action button
02:13that last year's pro phones had, which I personally find pretty uncomfortably positioned. I mean, for
02:18me, it's less of an action button and more of a slowly stretch as far as I can until I realise my
02:23fingers aren't long enough and then give up and then just resort to using my screen to open the
02:27app like on a peasant non action button phone anyway. But that's not to say that I haven't seen
02:32hundreds of fascinating ways that other people have used theirs. There's obviously the basic
02:37stuff like using it to take photos. But then also, I've seen people use this button to specifically
02:42turn on a dim flashlight that they can use at night. I've seen people use it to activate their
02:46insulin pump. I've seen people use it to make fart noises on command. So it's up to you what
02:51you make of it. Now the only other somewhat camera related feature is this, the new camera control
02:57button. So two separate new buttons in one year on an iPhone. How many people had that on their
03:04bingo club? I definitely did not. So it's a new button on the right hand side completely dedicated
03:09to camera stuff. And I'll give them some credit, they are getting a lot of functionality out of
03:15this one button. So tapping and holding will bring up the visual intelligence feature, which
03:19is not yet live, but it's kind of like Google Lens. It's a way to analyze information using
03:24your phone's camera. So like save the details of an event poster or find out what type of dog is
03:29in front of you, which may I just feel like we've seen so many companies do things like this. But
03:36then, hey, I guess there is still room for a company to do it really well. Time will tell if
03:41that is this. But then the other side of this camera control is photography stuff. So one press
03:46can open the camera app and then it can actually detect two stages of press, kind of like the track
03:51pads on a MacBook, if you've ever used one of those. So you can light press to start using it
03:55to be able to zoom in and out by swiping. But there's actually a lot more because then you can
04:00double light press to bring up this sub menu, which basically lets you select what you want
04:05the swiping to control. So it doesn't need to be zoom. It could be the exposure of your shot or
04:11the different photographic styles, for example. Okay. But honestly, I am confused why this exists.
04:18It feels like a really, really good feature, but for like 2% of iPhone users. I mean, for starters,
04:24one of the things they showed in the presentation was how you'll be able to use this button to
04:28control focus by lightly holding down on it, you know, just like you would with a proper camera
04:33shutter button. But when was the last time you actually wanted to manually focus your phone?
04:38There's already like a hundred pieces of hardware and software making sure that your subject is in
04:43focus automatically. We've actually been programmed out of needing to do that. There's the fact that
04:48phones are becoming more and more portrait devices. I take almost all of my photos like this now
04:54because every feed that I'd be potentially posting those photos on is vertical. But this camera
04:59control, while it does work in portrait is very clearly designed for landscape use. It's really
05:05fiddly and a little painful to reach for when your phone is upright. I wouldn't wish these finger
05:09gymnastics on anyone. And I nearly dropped the thing trying. It's actually quite reminiscent of
05:14my experience with the action button. But then also, yeah, isn't this what the action button was
05:20meant to do? Now, obviously, yes, the camera control button does the camera side of things
05:24better, but it just feels like a really weird un-Apple thing to do to add yet another button
05:28that somewhat overlaps in functionality with what's also just been added. And that's it for
05:34cameras on the normal iPhone 16s. There's actually pretty huge camera upgrades to the pros, which I'm
05:38getting to, but it feels like the main changes here are actually the battery, the power, and Apple
05:42intelligence. So the battery is bigger. That's actually all they said at the event. They said it
05:48will be a big boost, which is a technical term, I guess. So yeah, that I need to test in our upcoming
05:54battery comparison. In terms of power though, it's quite cool because we're actually jumping forward
05:58two generations in terms of the chipset. The iPhone 15s have the A16 chip. The iPhone 16s have
06:04the A18 chip, which means 30% faster CPU, 40% faster graphics, and 100% faster machine learning
06:11AI stuff. All with more efficient construction, which means the chip will use quite a bit less
06:16power for equivalent tests. And you know what? For today's fairly stable smartphone market,
06:22these are big improvement numbers. And considering that these aren't pro phones, the gaming experience
06:27is very impressive, which is also helped by a new thermal structure on the inside of the phone that
06:31gets rid of heat, allowing for 30% better sustained performance. But yeah, there's no beating around
06:36the bush. If there's one thing that Apple has made very clear about this generation of iPhones,
06:40it's that they want them to be known as the AI generation. I read a report recently that said
06:45300 million iPhones around the world have not been upgraded in four years. So there's a ton
06:49of people out there who are due an upgrade, but are likely holding off until it feels like a big
06:54turning point moment. And Apple wants now to feel like that turning point moment with Apple
06:59intelligence. So what's it going to let you do? Well, for starters, there's a base layer of Apple
07:05intelligence sprinkled throughout iOS here. Things like if you go into an email app, instead of the
07:10text by default, just being the first few lines of whatever the email was, it'll now summarize the
07:15entire email's content. Things like cleanup to erase distractions from your photos, which is
07:21not something we haven't seen on other phones, but it does work very quickly and effectively in
07:25my time with it. Or what I thought was really cool is reduce interruptions mode, which uses AI to
07:30silence most notifications, but then also allows what it thinks you need to see to still come
07:35through. This might well become the permanent mode that I keep my phone in. It's kind of like a
07:39lower risk version of do not disturb. But is it good? Well, based on an early play around,
07:44I will say that it all looks very pretty. It seems like the way that Apple will signal that something
07:49is an Apple intelligence feature is by making it glow like this. And every one of these animations
07:54is beautifully put together. That said, in terms of the actual output, it doesn't feel like Apple
07:59intelligence is doing much that others aren't already doing. All these features like being
08:03able to proofread the messages you're writing and rewrite those messages in another tone. It's all
08:08fine, but it's all been done. And I'm not sure it's stuff that I use very often, to be honest,
08:13like I am a really casual messenger. So when I type things out to people, I don't use like,
08:18dear sir, I would like to inquire. I'm always like, yo, what do you think to this? And Apple
08:22intelligence, like basically every other phone companies AI right now is not yet able to match
08:28that texting tone. But one big thing, Siri is finally getting Apple intelligence, which is
08:33going to make it a lot smarter. And thank goodness for that, because I am reaching my limit with
08:39here's what I found on the web. So the upgraded Siri should be able to rely much less on that
08:44and be much more able to directly answer the questions you're asking it. And also completely
08:48understand the context of the last thing you asked it when you're asking continuous questions.
08:53I would go as far as to say that Siri has been the weakest pillar of iOS for quite a while now.
08:57Like so many times I ask it to remember something or open an app and it like accidentally calls my
09:03mom. However, key, key caveat here, Apple intelligence, like all this stuff you're
09:08seeing here isn't actually coming till later in the year, which kind of makes this feel like a
09:13Google pixel event where the product comes first and then the feature later. And that obviously
09:18takes something away from the excitement, especially for an event where half the focus is these AI
09:23features. But I assume it's the immense complexity of getting these features, right. Combined with
09:29the awful consequences if they don't get them right. So that's the base iPhone 16. I'd say
09:34decent all round upgrade, nothing revolutionary. The presentation was a lot of like telling you
09:39about some really cool stuff that the phone does, but then you slowly realizing halfway through that
09:43the things they're telling you were already features on last year's iPhone 15s. It feels
09:47like they're making it purposefully murky what was on last year's phone, because if you actually
09:50focused on just what is different compared to that, it's not actually a huge amount. And the
09:55screens still have that 60 Hertz refresh rate, which makes them feel a little bit laggy compared
09:59to most similarly priced other phones. But then at the same time, I also wouldn't hold out expecting
10:04any revolutionary upgrades to the base iPhones from now on. Like I think all the really cutting
10:09edge stuff, Apple will want to save to release on the pro phones first. Anyways, so let's talk
10:14about those. The iPhone 16 Pro and the iPhone 16 Pro Max. Now I would say these are actually quite
10:20a pretty set of phones. From the back, there's not a whole lot different except this new desert
10:25titanium color, which is, I mean, how many times can you make a gold look different? I like it.
10:30I'm just finding it hard to love it because it's so safe. But from the front, the upgrade is pretty
10:36obvious because the displays are bigger. For the smaller Pro, 6.1 inches has now become 6.3. And on
10:42the bigger Pro Max, 6.7 has become 6.9. And I think that's a bit of a feat because these new phones,
10:48they are a bit bigger, but quite a bit of that size increase has actually come thanks to a further
10:52trimming down of the borders around the screen, which mean these things look very fitting for the
10:58year 2024. They might actually have the slimmest even borders on any mainstream smartphone. And
11:02yeah, let's be very clear. The new iPhone doesn't de-age you. It doesn't make you more successful.
11:07We are talking about the millimeters of bezel on the display, but it makes the phones look
11:12cutting edge while giving you some of the largest viewing areas in both the compact
11:17and the jumbo form factors. I'm just remembering the days when Android tablets had seven inch
11:22screens. We are there with phones. Isn't that kind of wild? There is also an upgraded battery
11:27on the Pro phones too, which as you know, I'm all about, but again, shockingly little detail
11:32provided about what and how. All they said was it now has faster wireless magsafe charging and that
11:37this is the best battery on an iPhone, which is great. It just probably means I'm going to be
11:42awake all night when it comes to the battery test. So thoughts and prayers would be appreciated.
11:47There's another new chip. So while the base iPhone 16s get the A18, the 16 Pros get the A18,
11:53well, Pro, which is a slightly juiced up version also with improvements to cooling that lets the
11:58phone do a few more things with a lot of those things being related to the camera. And this
12:04is where it gets fruity. So the main camera is still 48 megapixel like it was last year,
12:08but the sensor has been updated to be able to capture information faster, which means two
12:13things. One, they're saying that you can now capture photos with zero shutter lag, something
12:17that the iPhone was already pretty good at, but this might further extend its lead. But then also
12:22it means the 16 Pros can shoot video faster. And what I mean by that is that the 15 Pros could
12:28shoot 4K video at 60 frames per second. These new phones can shoot that same 4K resolution,
12:33but now at 120 frames per second, which is enough frames that you can now slow that 4K down into
12:38slow motion territory. And it feels like the way Apple is selling this is basically that you can
12:43now just keep 4K 120 as your default recording option. And what that then allows you to do is
12:48after you've taken any kind of video, you can then just decide whether you want that to play
12:51back in normal speed, half speed, quarter speed, or even 20% speed. I do like how seamless they've
12:57made it to record this 120 FPS footage. But then at the same time, if you did actually want that
13:02to become your default, you're going to need more storage than the 128 gigabytes still being offered
13:08as the default on the smaller Pro iPhone. It's just, it's just not enough for almost 2025.
13:14The ultra wide camera, previously 12 megapixel is now also up to 48 too, to match that main camera,
13:20which is a good upgrade. I really like the freedom that comes with feeling like all the cameras on my
13:25phone are great. And that all I need to worry about is which one do I want to use as opposed
13:29to which one is technically the best that I should try to use. And the ultra wide is a bit of a two
13:34in one upgrade because upgrading your ultra wide also upgrades your closeup macro photography,
13:38because it's the same camera. So that means up to 48 megapixel macro photos, which is pretty
13:44delicious. The phones have four studio microphones around them now, which is, well, it's actually
13:49really good for a number of reasons. More and better mics means that your phone can hear you
13:53better. So that's obviously good for your audio quality in videos, but also just generally like
13:58how well Siri can hear you. And there's even now different audio mixing modes. So after you've taken
14:03a video, you can decide whether you want the focus on just the audio of the people in the shot,
14:07or also if you want to get in more of that background chatter. There's actually quite a few
14:11new, very advanced software features like this, like a new control pad to adjust the color profile
14:16of your shots in real time. And it has got me thinking, this is all really cool stuff. These
14:21are all technically very difficult to achieve impressive features. But it also feels in a way
14:27like a few too many tools for any one human to be able to use. It feels like a lot of the extra
14:33features now while impressive are tailored to actual industry professionals, as opposed to the
14:38casual user who just wants the best point and shoot camera. And I'm not saying that that point
14:43and shoot experience is getting worse. It just doesn't feel like Apple's attention is focused on
14:48making it significantly better. Anyway, the final camera thing is now the smaller Pro iPhone now
14:53also inherits the five times optical zoom camera that last year only the Pro Max got. Meaning this
14:59must be one of the smallest phones with a five times optical zoom lens. It's usually something
15:03that only the big phones get because you have to create space between your camera sensor and your
15:07lens. Most companies do this by lying their cameras vertically across their phone, but Apple's created
15:12that space by using a tetraprism that's bouncing the light multiple times within a more compact
15:17space. And slight segue for 30 seconds. If you want to protect those shiny new cameras, then ESR's
15:23new MagSafe stash stand case, our sponsor, just makes sense. Because you see this camera protector
15:28here. Well, that also doubles as a stand to prop your phone up at any angle, but it's even better
15:33because your stand is baked into the cameras. It's allowed them to make the back of the case ultra
15:37thin, giving these cases the fastest MagSafe charging of any stand case. And to top it all
15:42off, they're well-priced with shock absorbing air guard corners, meaning that every case actually
15:47exceeds military protection standards. So what's my take on the 16 Pros? Well, I think so far that
15:53the new features this year are a bit of a mix because on one hand, it feels like less hardware
16:00improvements than usual because Apple is relying on Apple intelligence to do the heavy lifting for
16:04sales. But then Apple intelligence is both not ready yet and also not really seeming, at least
16:10on first glance, like anything groundbreaking right now. But then on the other hand, we are getting
16:14decent improvements to basically all the key pillars of a phone. The screens, the battery, the
16:19camera, even the microphones. And so for me, what a lot of it's going to come down to is how much
16:23better are these phones at all of that core stuff? The testing begins. And remember to check out the
16:30ESR MagSafe stash stand cases in the description, which you can get in three different flavors.
16:34You've got the classic case, the cloud case, which is super soft, and then the cyber tough case,
16:39which is no joke, seven times military grade protection.