iPhone 16 Pro: The Next Greatest iPhone Ever Made

You might be thinking, “The iPhone 15 just came out, I remember it like it was yesterday.” Well, time is not real and nothing matters, so here we go. Let’s talk about the iPhone 16 Pro, the next greatest iPhone ever made, again. We are getting so close to the iPhone 16 launch that a lot of the information out there is accurate. So first, let’s talk about design because that’s what you’re here for, isn’t it?

Design

Right off the bat, courtesy of a few different sources, we know that the displays for iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max will be getting bumped up to 6.3 and 6.9 inches, respectively. Now, on the surface, I know that sounds like these phones are starting to get way too big, and they are. But Apple is not as dumb as the rest of us because the increase in display size is also coming with an incredibly ambitious effort to shrink the bezels of iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max by a whopping 30% roughly for both of those models.

Apple is employing something called BRS (Border Reduction Structure), which is going to heavily decrease the size of the bezels. Thanks to Ice Universe, we know that Apple intends for iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max to have the thinnest bezels on not just any iPhone ever, but any smartphone. Yeah, that’s right, I’m talking to you Galaxy S24—you ain’t even special.

Display Technology

Speaking of Samsung, you know what is special? Their display tech.

Inside the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max, we’re getting some upgrades from South Korean news outlet ET News. This generation of Apple’s fanciest iPhones will be the first Apple devices to receive Samsung’s super high-performance M14 OLED panels. Since these M14 panels are so new and so cutting-edge, we don’t have much information on exactly what makes them head and shoulders above the competition. But we do know that a previous report from the Weibo leaker Instant Digital tells us iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max will feature 20% brighter displays in SDR content.

Combining these pieces of information and using our context clues, it’s fair to assume that the boost in brightness is directly thanks to those new Samsung OLED panels.

Design Changes

They didn’t stop there. Not only are they making upgrades and changes to the displays, but also major design changes. It’s going to look unrecognizable. You’re going to see it and be like, “Is that an iPhone?” As we’ve been saying for like a year now, we’re getting a new capture button.

Yes, even on the poor people ones, and placed right where you’re going to accidentally press it every day, all the time, forever.

The capture button will be taking the place of that millimeter wave antenna thing right below the lock and unlock button. Now, I know you love the millimeter wave antenna—you love looking at it every day and you’re like, “Wow, that’s the best part about my iPhone.” But don’t worry, it’s not gone. The millimeter wave antenna is going from the right side to the left side, just going to the other side of the phone.

The capture button is going to function similarly to the action button on your iPhone 15 Pro or Pro Max but be way cooler. Even though the capture button will be a mechanical button, it will have some pretty insane features. Not only will you be able to operate the camera’s zoom by lightly swiping over the capture button, but because it’ll be fully pressure-sensitive, you can use it like a two-stage shutter button on modern cameras. A light press to focus and then a harder press to record or snap a photo, making your iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max camera start to feel like a real one.

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Colors and MagSafe

As of right now, we are expecting iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max to come in natural titanium, of course, black, white, and a new color that’s being referred to as Rose.

This is definitely not the return of Apple’s Rose Gold color, no way. And guess what’s under that lovely new color? How about lovely new MagSafe?

MagSafe on iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max will be receiving some minor changes. In images shared by the French case company Shop System, you can see that the MagSafe rings and the pill-shaped magnet thing used to line stuff up will be shrunk in basically every way—a little thinner and more shallow.

Alongside the changes to the size of MagSafe, we’re also seeing a rumor that due to the battery changes that we’re all expecting in the iPhone 16 lineup, MagSafe charging could also see a minor improvement from 15 watts to 20 watts of charging power. Something that Apple could have easily done last year or the year before but decided to do this year, and you’re going to pay for it.

Camera

Now let’s talk about probably the most important change coming to iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max—probably the most important change of any phone every year: the camera. In an effort to not make it sound like I’m just reading the tech specs off a military fighter jet, let’s keep it simple. On the very normal human-sized iPhone 16 Pro, we can expect the following changes:

No changes to the main camera sensor because iPhone 16 Pro gets the same 48-megapixel Sony sensor that’s in the iPhone 15 Pro, but with slight improvements to dynamic range and noise control.

Woohoo! Also, expect an improved 48-megapixel ultrawide camera sensor with enhancements to low light and performance. But it gets cool here because as expected, we’re finally getting the more zoomy lens that the 15 Pro Max has. We’re getting it here on a normal-sized functioning adult phone, bringing zoom capabilities from the current three times zoom to a five times zoom on that 16 Pro.

Things are only slightly different on the very, very freakish Sam Cold nightmare-sized iPhone 16 Pro Max.

A new slightly larger custom main sensor based on the 48-megapixel Sony sensor, the improved 48-megapixel ultrawide sensor from the 16 Pro, and the five times optical zoom like on the 15 Pro Max. But we have another spicy rumor from what we’ll call a possibly reliable Weibo account that tells us the 16 Pro Max specifically could feature a super telephoto periscope camera, which would dramatically increase the optical zoom of this puppy. We’re talking potentially about a focal length of more than 300mm. For context, the currently available periscope lens within the 15 Pro Max is equivalent to 120mm, so 300mm is more than that.

Processor

Lastly, but definitely not least, iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max will be receiving a brand new A-series chip.

But John, they do that every year. I know, but this year is very important. This will be the first year where we 100% know that Apple plans on incorporating every possible nanometer of speed and power improvement to benefit their new Apple Intelligence. Currently, word from the Taiwanese news outlet Economic Daily News tells us that the A18 chips will feature a heavily upgraded neural engine with significantly more cores.

Every improvement made to Apple silicon neural engines, whether we’re talking M-series or A-series chips, directly impacts how efficiently and powerfully machine learning and AI tasks can and will be done.

Now that we know Apple’s intentions with Apple Intelligence, we know just how much the performance of these neural engines means to Sir Timothy Cook.

Sadly, that’s kind of all we know. We don’t have any concrete specifics about the A18 lineup of chips, so instead of saying any of it, how about I say none of it? You’re welcome.

Conclusion

iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max should be caressing your eyeballs very soon.

It’s only a couple of months away—September. I can see it from here. And you know what else I can see from here? Your dirty microwave. Go clean it.