This was the reason for me to get an iPhone 16

After much hesitation, I bought the iPhone 16. One new feature had a major influence on my purchase. Most likely you didn’t have this on your bingo card, but I’ll be happy to explain it to you.

The best ‘normal’ iPhone in years

As far as I’m concerned, the iPhone 16 is the best ‘regular’ iPhone that Apple has released in recent years. Until now, the Pro iPhones always had one or even more really substantial advantages over them. A third camera lens for more zoomed-in photos, for example, a chicer design or simply more powerful specs such as more RAM or a faster chip. This year, however, the difference is smaller than ever.

Also read: iPhone 16 vs iPhone 16 Pro: these are the differences

The iPhone 16 differs very little from the 16 Pro

Let’s first see how little the iPhone 16 differs from the 16 Pro.

Specifications

In terms of specifications there is only a small difference. RAM is the same at 8 GB, but the 16 has an A18 chip and the 16 Pro has the A18 Pro chip. However, the difference between those two processors is so small that we… iPhoned Wouldn’t recommend anyone to buy the Pro purely because of the chip. By the way, the battery of the Pros is slightly larger than that of the regular models, but that difference is also minimal.

Camera controller

This year’s new feature is the Camera Control, a dedicated button to control the camera – including additional functions. You guessed it, but this button is also on the 16. Oh yes, and the action button is now also on the iPhone 16

Camera

Up to and including the iPhone 14, the camera was always one of the major advantages of an iPhone Pro. That has already changed last year. Because the regular iPhone now also has a 48-megapixel sensor. Only the telephoto lens is missing, but you know what: thanks to those 48 megapixels, both the iPhone 15 and 16 can take a cropped photo that in fact amounts to a 2x zoomed shot. Okay, that’s not the same as the 5x zoom of the Pro, but that little bit of zoom is often just enough.

Display

The biggest difference between the 16 and 16 Pro is in the display. Firstly, the 16 Pro and Pro Max have a slightly larger screen of 6.3 inches and 6.9 inches – that’s 0.2 inches more than on the standard models. Most importantly, the Pro screen supports ProMotion. This means that the display shows more images per second (120 instead of 60), which ensures smoother images. Once you’ve used it, you can hardly go back, but otherwise you really don’t know that you’re missing anything.

This really makes the iPhone 16 more fun than the 16 Pro

As you could read, the iPhone 16 differs little from the 16 Pro. As in: it’s only slightly ‘worse’ than its Pro brother. But you can’t ignore it, in terms of hardware it is slightly worse. But there is one area where the iPhone 16 is really better than the Pro, and that is recognisability and design.

I mean, just look at the colors of the iPhone 16. Blue… no, ultramarine looks super cool and green and pink are also nice. The changed camera island is also a real eye-catcher in my opinion. And anyway: if you get a new iPhone 16, everyone will see that you have a new iPhone. The 16 Pro (Max), on the other hand, is almost the same as a year ago.

I bought an iPhone 16 because of the color

So I have to confess (color): I bought an iPhone 16 in the color ultramarine because I just think it looks really cool. It makes me happy every time I pick it up – much happier than the boring colors of the iPhone 16 Pro at work. I could have bought a black iPhone 16 for less money, but no, it had to be blue. So call me superficial, but I bought this iPhone because of the design. I think it’s a bonus that the rest is barely inferior to a Pro. So now you just need to get a transparent cover.