iPhone 16 announced - should you upgrade?

Apple's Glowtime event took place yesterday and, of course, they introduced us to the iPhone 16 and all its variants. The question is, from a business point of view, should you upgrade from your iPhone 15 (or 14...or 13...or 12!)?

Design

Right off the bat I want to say I prefer the new colour choices with the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus. The 15 was very pastel and kind of dull. The new options are much brighter and bolder. The Pro and Pro Max remain beautiful in Titanium - but Blue is gone, replaced by Desert, a gorgeous bronze colour.

iPhone 16/16 Plus Colours

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iPhone 16 Pro/Pro Max Colours

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Both the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus are the same size as the 15 in terms of physical size and display. The Pro and Pro Max are slightly larger than their predecessors though - 6.3" and 6.9" versus 6.1" and 6.7" on the 15 versions - so if screen size is valuable to you then this is where you will want to focus.

Apple have redesigned the camera layout on the back and, for me, made it less intrusive. Instead of the chunky, square diagonal camera layout on the iPhone 15, the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus has a vertical camera layout, almost halving the space required. Not only is smaller, it just looks better.

Of course, this isn't possible on the Pro and Pro Max so you still get the square block on the rear of the phone. More on the cameras later though.

Based purely on design options I would 100% upgrade from a standard or Plus to the 16 equivalent - the colour options and smaller camera block just suit me much better. Upgrading to the Pro or Pro Max is a more difficult decision as, screen size apart, there's little to choose between the 15 and 16 on design alone. The Desert Titanium colour is very, very tempting though...

As a status symbol the iPhone 16 is a definite upgrade on the 15. Just saying!

Spec

As you would expect, the iPhone 16 is an upgrade on earlier versions. Whilst Appledidn't launch the phone with their new Apple Intelligence AI software (that's coming in a new iOS in October) they did launch it with the AI-ready A18 chip.

It features:

• 6‑core CPU with 2 performance and 4 efficiency cores
• 5‑core GPU (6-core in the Pro and Pro Max)
• 16‑core Neural Engine

That's for the nerds - what that translates to in the real world is a huge speed boost in 16 and 16 Plus (as much as 40%) and a not insignificant 20% speed boost in the Pro and Pro Max versus their predecessors. For those who do a lot with their phones as part of their job this will add up to a significant time saving.

The A18 is also more efficient which, alongside the larger battery, gives you much longer battery life:

• iPhone 16: 22 hours video playback
• iPhone 16 Plus: 27 hours video playback
• iPhone 16 Pro: 27 hours video playback
• iPhone 16 Pro Max: 33 hours video playback

Obviously that's under testing in ideal conditions, but it's still up to four hours more, which isn't bad at all.

Capacity

The iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus both offer 128GB, 256GB and 512GB options, whilst the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max go up to 1TB (128GB not available on Pro Max). That's mor ethan enough memory options for most!

Camera

The 48MP dual camera system comes with a tonne of specs that will only be of interest to serious photogrpahers/videographers but for most users, you'll be interested in the new Spatial Capture and Photographic Style options which allow you to create some seriously stunning images with little effort or experience.

Take photos or shoot video with Spacial Capture and you can "relive those moments in immersive 3D with Apple Vision Pro", whilst the latest generation of Photographic Styles "gives you greater creative flexibility than ever before, so you can make every photo even more you".

What I like more than these toys is the Camera Control button on the side of the phones which give quick access to camera tools like exposure, depth of field, lens types and digital zoom. If this works as intended it'll be a God-send and I think you'll really like it.

From a business point of view the iPhone 16 and the coming Apple Intelligence will likely improve your productivity just by being faster and the longer lasting battery. From a personal point of view the additional bells and whistles with the camera and other stuff will be fun. Sounds like a win-win, right?

• Full iPhone 16 / 16 Plus specs
• Full iPhone 16 Pro / Pro Max specs

To upgrade or not?

A resounding yes. The bump in spec, the new design and colour options and the coming Apple Intelligence are well worth an upgrade this time round. To take full advantage of Apple Intelligence you will need the A18 chip - which is two generations up on the A16 Bionic installed in the iPhone 15 and it's this that you're likely to find most advantageous.

Sowhen can you upgrade? Pre-orders for the iPhone 16 open up Friday 13th September. You can speak with our team now to discuss your business mobile needs, including getting your hands on the new iPhone as soon as possible. Give us a call on 0161 683 4247.