Apple iPhone 16 Pro

The iPhone 16 Pro is the best compact flagship phone you can buy, avoiding the battery life issues that affect the Pixel 9 Pro. However, the headlining AI features are disappointingly unavailable right now, and other bug bares like slow charging remain.

The Apple iPhone 16 Pro has all the features and power of the Pro Max tucked into a smaller design that's easier to handle.

While we think that the standard iPhone 16 or larger iPhone 16 Plus might actually be the best iPhone for most people, there's no doubt that the iPhone 16 Pro offers a premium experience. Apple Intelligence probably isn't the best reason to upgrade, but there's plenty to like in the camera system, especially if it's been a while since you last upgraded.

The Apple Intelligence capabilities are promising, even if some of it feels like Apple playing catch-up. The marketing sure feels overhyped. But the rest of the iPhone 16 Pro's hardware is polished and powerful too. (More buttons!) I only wish Apple would copy more of Google's call screening features because one thing's for sure: since I switched to these iPhones from the Pixel 9 series I recently reviewed, the spam calls will not stop.

That’s not to say the iPhone 16 Pro is a bad phone — it’s a great phone, with some fascinating ideas about smartphone photography embedded in it. But it’s also clearly unfinished, and I think it’s worth waiting to see if Apple Intelligence can complete some of these thoughts before spending the money on an upgrade.

The iPhone 16 Pro is a great flagship with excellent, fast cameras and editing tools. But you may need to charge it more than once to last all day.

The iPhone 16 Pro gets a bigger display and the 5x tetraprism zoom from the Max without a price hike. Add in promising Apple Intelligence features, a smarter Siri and longer battery life, and this is a compelling flagship phone value. I just wish the charging speed got a boost and that Visual Intelligence and ChatGPT weren’t coming later.

We tested the battery life, the new-and-improved 48MP ultrawide camera, and more — Apple's claims about the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max were discovered to be spot on.