iPhone 16 Pro hands-on: My 3 favorite things about this ridiculously overpowered supercomputer

I spent several hours with Apple’s new flagship iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max on Monday in the Steve Jobs Theater and quickly formed some first impressions. As I do in my iPhone reviews, I always try to keep in mind that most iPhone upgraders are coming from a phone that’s at least three years old.

Also: iPhone 16 hands-on: So packed with features, I almost forgot about its Pro model

And while the first thing lots of buyers may notice is the year’s new phone color — it’s Desert Titanium this year, which is actually just a shade of gold — the thing that most of us barely pay attention to is the latest advances in the brain that powers the iPhone. It’s always the case that it unlocks new capabilities, but this year that feels more true than ever with the new A18 Pro. Or at least it powers my favorite new feature — and a bunch of others that prove how ridiculously powerful this device is.

And yes, I’ll quit talking about chips and get to my three favorite features.

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1. Camera Control 

The new Camera Control button is about doing more with the iPhone camera and doing it quickly. This new button sits on the right side of the phone underneath the power button but the Camera Control button is a darker metal and sits more flush to the side of the phone. 

It’s also touch-sensitive, which is a feat of engineering. One press opens the camera app. A second press takes a photo. Press and hold and it starts recording video. A light press and a swipe to one side or the other lets you zoom in and out. A double light press and a swipe to either side lets you select different settings from zoom to depth of field to the new photo styles to several other options.

Also: Everything Apple announced at its ‘Glowtime’ event: AI features, AirPods, Apple Watch Series 10, more

If it sounds a little complicated, it’s not. You’ll quickly get the hang of it. I tried it and it’s is going to be super handy for people who take a ton of photos with the iPhone – and let’s be honest, there are a lot of us because the iPhone is the most used camera in the world. The Camera Control button gives the iPhone a feature no other phone in the world has right now. The Sony Xperia 1 V–> comes the closest with its dedicated shutter button, but it doesn’t do nearly as much.

People are going to love this feature.

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2. Size and finish

Both of the pro iPhones got bigger screens and thinner bezels this year, which makes them a little taller than last year’s pro models. The Pro expands from 6.1 inches to 6.3 and the Max grows from 6.7 inches to 6.9. Both ZDNET reviews editor Kerry Wan and I noticed it immediately in the iPhone 16 demo area – and we felt happy about it because we both tend to prefer the slightly taller and thinner form factors of most Android devices since it makes them a little easier to operate with one hand.

Also: iPhone 16 Pro vs. iPhone 15 Pro: Should you upgrade?

But there was another new physical characteristic of the iPhone 16 Pro models that got me just as excited. The titanium sides have a new finish that feels way more grippy. In fact, it’s so grippy that I’m tempted to do the unthinkable and try using it without a case. I’m also tempted to make the smaller 6.3-inch iPhone 16 Pro rather than the Max my daily driver – especially since the smaller pro model now has the same camera system as the larger one.

3. Upgrades to video and audio recording

The other area where the new A18 Pro chip really shows its power is in the new video and audio recording options available in the iPhone 16 Pro. First, you can now record in 4K at 120 frames per second, which gives you the power to do the kind of super slow motion you only see in big cinematic films. Even just a couple of years ago, you would have needed an expensive pro-level camera and a desktop computer with a powerful video card to shoot and edit pro-level 4K120 video. Now you can do it on an iPhone — and the footage Apple has shown so far looks virtually indistinguishable from pro equipment. 

Also: Every iPhone model that will be updated to Apple’s iOS 18 (and which ones won’t)

Next, Apple also upgraded the audio in the iPhone 16 Pro with what it calls “four studio-quality mics” that are paired with software and AI to do some crazy things I haven’t seen on a smartphone before. With the new Audio Mix software, you can now edit audio directly on the iPhone 16 Pro, which separates foreground and background sounds and lets you pick from several sound profiles, including a Studio profile that automatically dampens background sounds and a Cinematic profile that makes it sound like a movie edit. 

It can also now capture Spatial Audio surround sound during video recording (which you can also edit in Audio Mix). And the Voice Memos app is going to use these upgrades for an update later this year that will let you layer two different tracks. These audio features are a great example of where Apple is putting AI to use in practical, behind-the-scenes ways that are going to be a lot more approachable than typing in a chatbot. 

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More to come

Apple called the new A18 Pro chip as powerful as high-end desktop PCs, which sounds like hyperbole, but the above features are convincing enough to make me think it may be at least as powerful as high-end desktops from a couple of years ago. When we get our testing devices, we’ll run benchmarks and put the phones through some real-world scenarios to measure and compare the performance.

Also: Every iPhone 16 model compared: Which new iPhone should you buy?

Apple also claims the new A18 Pro chip is much more power efficient and will result in the iPhone 16 Pro Max having the longest battery life of any iPhone yet. We’ll also challenge that claim with our own battery tests.

The camera system upgrades to a 48 megapixel sensor for the ultrawide camera, which should result in better macro photos and a number of other improvements. We’ll be testing that as well in a new set of ZDNET smartphone camera tests. 

The AI features that Apple mentioned this summer at WWDC, including the newly upgraded Siri, won’t arrive until the iOS 18.1 update – and even then, they’ll still be in beta and some of the features won’t come until iOS 18.2 or later. But when the AI features do finally arrive, Apple’s new flagship supercomputer in your pocket looks like it’s going to have the oomph to run them without breaking a sweat.

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