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Intro
What are the new features in the iPhone 16 Pro? And is this finally the moment for iPhone 13 Pro owners to upgrade?
The 16 Pro looks similar to the 13 Pro, but it makes a few slight changes on the inside. It has slightly longer battery life, a faster processor and a 5X zoom camera with longer reach than the 3X zoom on the 13 Pro. It also comes with a slightly larger screen, and a few cool new video recording features like 4K120 slow motion video and Audio Mix.
iOS 18.1 Update: The iPhone 16 Pro also supports Apple Intelligence, while the 13 Pro does not. With iOS 18.1 now available, you get notification summaries, writing tools and the new Clean Up tool in Photos on the 16 Pro. Expect even more soon. With iOS 18.2 in December, the iPhone 16 series will get the long-awaited ChatGPT integration, Visual Intelligence, as well as Image Playground, Genmoji and Image Wand. Finally, we expect iOS 18.3 around March of 2025 to deliver the big revamp to a much smarter Siri assistant.
Is it worth upgrading for all of this, or should you stick with your good old iPhone for yet another year? Let's investigate.
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Similar size as before, but the 16 Pro comes with a couple of new buttons
iPhone 16 Pro on the left has much slimmer bezels (Image by PhoneArena)
The overall design of the iPhone 16 Pro and 13 Pro are very similar, with flat sides and a triple camera system on both.
The 16 Pro gets a bigger 6.3-inch screen, up from 6.1" on the 13 Pro, and the borders around the screen are also impressively slim, which gives it a modern look.
The 16 Pro also weighs a tiny bit less than before thanks to the use of titanium, a lighter material than the stainless steel on the 13 Pro.
Here are the exact sizes of the two:
iPhone 16 Pro
iPhone 13 Pro
Height 149.6 mm
Height 146.7 mm
Width 71.5 mm
Width 71.5 mm
Thickness 8.25 mm
Thickness 7.7 mm
Weight 199 g
Weight 204 g
Bezel Size 1.2 mm
Bezel Size 2.4 mm
The more noticeable changes are the new buttons.
The Action button replaces the mute switch and can be programmed to pretty much every function in the phone (we already saw it on the iPhone 15 Pro series). It's a bit hard to reach though at the top left of the phone.
The new Camera Control on the 16 Pro on top (Image by PhoneArena)
The Camera Control is brand new and located just below the power button on the right side of the phone. It is dedicated to camera functions, but good news is that you can set it to open third-party apps like Halide, not just the stock Apple camera app.
For the most part, it's similar to a shutter button on a real camera. Since it's a capacitive surface, you also can swipe and tap on it. For example, you can swipe up and down to zoom in and out, or to swap Photographic Styles, or a number of other functions. This sounds cool on paper, but in real life this feels a bit overengineered – most of those adjustments will be easier made on the bigger screen of the phone rather than this tiny button.
Another new feature for iPhone 13 Pro owners is a USB-C port, a welcome change from the proprietary Lightning port. That's great, no longer the need to carry two separate cables around.The 16 Pro also has the Dynamic Island with Face ID instead of the notch on the 13 Pro.
IP68 water and dust protection are the same on both phones.
Display Differences
The 16 Pro screen can drop to 1 nit at night (Image by PhoneArena)
Apple has moved to a 6.3-inch screen on the 16 Pro, a slight shift from the 6.1-inch display on the 13 Pro.
This seems like a good thing for the average user – as we spend more time on our phones, more screen space is always welcome.
Apple has also trimmed the borders around the screen by nearly a half, for a very modern look on the 16 Pro.
Another welcome change you will notice when comparing the 16 Pro vs 13 Pro is lower minimum brightness, so it gets down to 1 nit on the newer model for more comfortable viewing at night. Max brightness, however, has not changed and both get around 1,000 nits typical max brightness.
The CIE 1931 xy color gamut chart represents the set(area)of colors that a display can reproduce,with the sRGB colorspace(the highlighted triangle)serving as reference.The chart also provides a visual representation of a display's color accuracy. The small squares across the boundaries of the triangle are the reference points for the various colors, while the small dots are the actual measurements. Ideally, each dot should be positioned on top of its respective square. The 'x:CIE31' and 'y:CIE31' values in the table below the chart indicate the position of each measurement on the chart. 'Y' shows the luminance (in nits) of each measured color, while 'Target Y' is the desired luminance level for that color. Finally, 'ΔE 2000' is the Delta E value of the measured color. Delta E values of below 2 are ideal.
The Color accuracy chart gives an idea of how close a display's measured colors are to their referential values. The first line holds the measured (actual) colors, while the second line holds the reference (target) colors. The closer the actual colors are to the target ones, the better.
The Grayscale accuracy chart shows whether a display has a correct white balance(balance between red,green and blue)across different levels of grey(from dark to bright).The closer the Actual colors are to the Target ones,the better.
The 16 Pro also gets a new version of the Ceramic Shield with 2X the protection compared to the previous generation. This likely refers to the display being better protected against drops, but not against scratches (so you still probably want to have a screen protector on).
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Both have a 120Hz ProMotion screen for smooth scrolling, but the 16 Pro can drop to 1Hz and it also supports an Always-on screen feature that you don't have on the older model.
Despite the change from a notch to Dynamic Island for Face ID on the front, the face recognition has not changed in speed or functionality either.
Performance and Software
Faster chip with AI skills
A18 Pro chip in iPhone 16 Pro is faster, good for AI and has better cooling for games (Image by PhoneArena)
For years, we've been talking about processor speed and benchmarks, and while that is improving this year too, the big story this time is about Apple Intelligence.
With the new A18 Pro chip, the 16 Pro series are the first in the industry to use second-gen 3nm tech and the chip has a more powerful neural engine to deal faster with machine learning tasks.
A welcome change in the design is better heat dissipation on the A18 Pro, which will helps gamers a lot, but is also great for intense tasks like Ai, too.
In benchmarks, we see a big boost in performance, especially for CPU performance.
For gaming, the gains are big at first, but then after a few minutes of intense tasks, both phones throttle to quite similar levels (the 16 Pro is still a bit faster though).
It's also no surprise that the 16 Pro gets 8GB of RAM, the minimum requirement for AI.
The iPhone 13 Pro does NOT support Apple Intelligence at all, as it only has 6GB of RAM.
Remember that Apple Intelligence is arriving on the iPhone 16 Pro in stages.
iOS 18.1 is already here with the first set of Apple Intelligence novelties like notification summaries, writing tools and the Clean Up feature in Photos.
iOS 18.2 is expected in December and it will bring the Siri ChatGPT integration, Visual Intelligence, Image Playground, Genmoji and Image Wand.
Finally, iOS 18.3 should come around March 2025 and finish the job with the big revamp to a smarter Siri.
Other smaller changes likely include a new modem, the Snapdragon X75, which promises better connection and signal reception.
The iPhone 16 Pro also gets Wi-Fi 7 support vs Wi-Fi 6 on the iPhone 13 Pro. This gives you up to 2.4X faster speeds and improved latency in perfect conditions.
Camera
5X zoom and a brand new ultrawide camera
Upgraded triple camera on the 16 Pro (Image by PhoneArena)
With three cameras on the back, the iPhone 16 Pro and 13 Pro share some similarities, but really a lot has changed in these three years.
PhoneArena Camera Score
Photo
Video
Phone
Camera Score
Photo Score
Main (wide)
Ultra Wide
Selfie
Zoom
Apple iPhone 16 Pro
154
158
82
24
28
25
Apple iPhone 13 Pro
136
138
72
20
27
19
Phone
Camera Score
Video Score
Main (wide)
Ultra Wide
Selfie
Zoom
Apple iPhone 16 Pro
154
150
76
23
27
24
Apple iPhone 13 Pro
136
135
72
19
26
18
Find out more details about photo and video scores for all phones we have tested on our PhoneArena Camera Score page
In our PhoneArena Camera Score, we found the 16 Pro to bring a noticeable improvement. When it comes to image quality, the big difference is improved detail. However, many of those improvements also come from new features and not image quality alone.
The main camera has moved from 12MP to 48MP and that gives you far better detail and low light performance. You also get 2X zoom quality with sensor crop on the 16 Pro, which you did not have on the 13 Pro.
The ultra-wide camera also gets a similar bump from 12MP to 48MP with benefits to detail and night-time photos.
And finally, the 3X zoom camera is replaced by the 5X tetraprism zoom lens from the Pro Max for more reach. That is great if you want ot film your kids' concert or really anything far away (you do lose out on 3X portraits, though).
Camera Control on the 16 Pro
Photographic Styles first arrived on the iPhone 13 series, but now with the 16 Pro you get brand new Styles that have more controls and best of all, you can edit and apply them after the fact. Keep in mind that you need to shoot in HEIF format for this to work.
As for video, you get a more capable 4K Cinematic video on the 16 Pro.
The big new 16 Pro feature, however, is glorious 4K120 slow motion. This upgrades the 1080p120 slow motion of the 13 Pro and we, as creators, are excited. Even some high-end professional cameras don't support 120fps beyond 1080p, and this will surely unlock a ton of creative opportunities.
It's also great having the new Audio Mix feature, which can cut off background noise and works impressively well.
Another feature Apple focused on with the 16 Pro is called Visual Intelligence. It is basically Google Lens made the Apple way. It functions similarly as it allows you to do a visual search and get useful information about what you see, but it's also great that it is not hidden deep in menus and you can just long press the Camera Control and start using it right away.
Battery Life and Charging
Ever so slightly longer battery life and zippier MagSafe
Slightly longer battery life on the 16 Pro (Image by PhoneArena)
While we don't yet know the exact iPhone 16 Pro battery size, we do know that it will last longer.
Apple rates the iPhone 13 Pro for 22 hours of video playback, while the 16 Pro is rated for 27 hours, a significant change.
Audio playback has also improved from 75 hours on the 13 Pro to 85 hours on the 16 Pro.
As for battery capacity and size, the iPhone 16 Pro comes with a 3,582 mAh battery, nearly 16% larger than the previous model (which had a 3,095 mAh battery).
Of course, we had to double-check all of Apple's battery numbers, so here is what we found in our battery testing.
What does this mean in real life? Previosuly, a 30-minute top up with MagSafe gave you back around 30% of battery, and with this faster version of MagSafe you are getting 50% back in 30 minutes.
The 16 Pro brings a few improvements, but no big new feature to convince 13 Pro users to upgrade (Image by PhoneArena)
Three years surely bring quite a few changes and improvements, but we are not sure you have enough in the iPhone 16 Pro to push you to upgrade.
The brand new Apple Intelligence features are the one thing advertized the most, but they are a slow roll-out, stretching into 2025. As for the fundamental smartphone experience, you get some niceties like the upgrades on all three cameras and faster MagSafe, plus we love the convenience of a USB-C port.
However, if you are looking for some huge new upgrade that monumentally changes the way you use your phone, you won't find it in the iPhone 16 Pro.
For those who are wondering what's coming next, rumors suggest the first big iPhone redesign in a few years with the 2025 iPhone 17, so that is the model to get if you want a phone that actually looks different.
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Victor, a seasoned mobile technology expert, has spent over a decade at PhoneArena, exploring the depths of mobile photography and reviewing hundreds of smartphones across Android and iOS ecosystems. His passion for technology, coupled with his extensive knowledge of smartphone cameras and battery life, has positioned him as a leading voice in the mobile tech industry.
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