The iPhone 16s are already here. After months of rumors and waiting, the keynote arrives and Apple surprises us with a multitude of news and details about the new phones. The first reviews are coming and we continue to discover new details and interesting points of view about the new iPhones. Then you open your iPhone on launch day and, like every year, you discover that nothing you have read or heard prepares you for the surprise they represent.
So, one more year, with the perspective that a week of use offers, let’s talk about the iPhone 16 Pro. A phone that, although it is easy to classify it as a continuation, surprises in every detail and every new function. A phone that, with its best hardware and software that helps it shine in almost everything it does, is here to surprise us and allow us to do so much more.
Camera Control: a fundamental change for all types of photography
One of the most talked about new features of the iPhone 16 Pro is the new Camera Control. The simplest description is a button, but to call it that is to overlook a lot of details. Just like we don’t call a trackpad a buttonthe first thing to understand is that the Camera Control allows us to interact completely with the camera of our iPhone through a single point. Open the camera, adjust the framing, change settings and take the photo, all with one finger and in one place.
Before the iPhone 16, making adjustments while framing a photo meant interrupting the process, even slightly. Touching the screen involved moving the hand, obstructing the view and thus losing much control over the framing. Now, with this physical control, everything becomes simpler. This allows us make adjustments like exposure or zoom without removing your fingers from the shutter buttonwhich makes it easier to concentrate on shooting. And if we need to take the photo without having been able to finish adjusting the variables so as not to let the moment pass, we have our finger exactly where it should be.
A small detail? It will depend on everyone’s opinions, but for a device that often serves as a camera, the ability to concentrate on shooting, centralize control in one place and have quick and clear access to a large number of options makes a big difference.
Best cameras: more than megapixels
The iPhone 16 Pro’s camera system follows the trend of recent years, improving key aspects without drastically changing the design. The main camera retains the fantastic 48 megapixels, but we now offers a 5x telephoto lens thanks to new tetraprism technologywhich means more powerful optical zoom and better stabilization. This function was, until now, exclusive to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, but it is now coming to the little brother of the professional range. Excellent news if among our preferences there is a more compact size phone.
The ultra-wide-angle lens has also undergone changes, increasing from 12 to 48 megapixels. The difference is more than evident when shooting in low light conditions. And allow me a digression here. Almost all indoor shots have too little light. You only have to look at what a photography studio or television set is like to see that the amount of light in these spaces is not something you usually find indoors. So, we are not talking about shooting in the middle of the night, but about a daily photo which will now offer us a much better result.
The quality in these scenarios is much sharper and with less noise. THE new A18 Pro chip also plays a crucial role hereof course, with much faster and more efficient image processing. Remember that Apple has integrated improvements in the Photonic Engine and in Intelligent HDR 5, which optimize photos and videos to obtain more realistic colors, greater dynamic range and less oversaturation in complicated light scenarios.
Screen: fewer borders and more noticeable size
The other notable change in the iPhone 16 Pro is the screen, which has grown to 6.3 inches. The edge of the screen is even thinnerand while it may seem like a minor change on paper, the difference in person is noticeable.
The screen elements are a little larger. Icons, menus and other parts of our daily iPhone use are increasing in size. A lot ? Obviously, the difference in size is not abysmal, but these additional millimeters and the almost total absence of borders result in a very noticeable perception of space. This is noticeable from the home screen to the videos or full screen content that we can see.
A familiar, but optimized design: strategic changes that make a big difference
The design of the iPhone 16 Pro is already familiar to us, but it’s filled with details that improve key points. We find, of course, the elegant titanium finish and the frosted rear glass which makes it virtually impervious to fingerprints.
Cameras with anti-reflective coating or improved screen glass resistance are also details to consider. Inside, a thermal redesign improves heat management, making the phone much cooler even during its configuration and data download, one of the times when it is most used. When recording videos or while charging – mention here the additional 5 hours of battery – the temperatures are much lower than those we were able to observe on the iPhone 15 Pro, and that is appreciable.
After a week of use, the iPhone 16 Pro presents itself as a strategic evolution which, although visually familiar, offers us key improvements on several levels, both in hardware and in the software that supports it. The Camera Control button transforms the way you take photos, the larger screen and improved cameras give us an even better phone. The changes may seem minor on paper, but once you hold it in your hands, it’s clear that this is a phone to take very, very seriously.
