Apple iPhone 16 Pro First Impressions: It Could Be the Best Smartphone for Photographers

The PetaPixel team flew down to Cupertino to witness the 2024 Apple Keynote event and get our first glimpse at the new iPhone 16 Pro. With all the recent push lately to add AI features to the photography aspects of the phone it’s nice to see Apple working on updated camera hardware instead. I want to relay my first impressions about the new Pro series phones and build a list of the most important features to test further.

The new iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max feature larger displays than ever before. | Apple

Apple iPhone 16 Pro: Upgraded Hardware Takes Center Stage

Apple has decided to eschew last year’s decision of putting different cameras on different Pro models leaving the only differing factor as screen size. The Pro model features a 6.3-inch screen and the 6.9-inch is on the Max model. Surprisingly we didn’t see anything new with the screen specs and peak brightness is still 2,000 nits.

The new camera control button is excellent in theory but it might be fiddly in practice. | Apple

Battery life is definitively improved with roughly four hours more of video playback than the previous iPhone 15 Pro phones. Wired USB-C charging times are about the same as before but the wireless MagSafe Charging is now almost up to par with the wired speeds.

The new main camera looks the same on paper but it reads out twice as fast as before. | Apple

The cameras are now improved almost across the board with the standard Pro model, with a new and exciting main camera that features the same 48-megapixel resolution and f/1.78 aperture but is roughly twice as fast when it comes to readout speeds. Not only does this unlock 4K at 120 frames per second recording but it could also possibly allow for more images to be compiled with a single shutter press. This is something we definitely want to test further.

The ultra-wide camera sees a big jump in megapixels this year. | Apple

The ultra-wide camera has also been improved to a new 48-megapixel sensor with autofocus that can deliver decent macro capabilities with more detail than before. The aperture seems to be the same as before at f/2.2.

The 5X telephoto camera seems to be the only one that is largely unchanged from before. | Apple

The only camera module that seems to be reused from the iPhone 15 Pro Max is the 5X telephoto f/2.8 lens which is now present on both the Pro and Pro Max. I would have liked to have seen an improvement here because this camera does have limitations and some users will probably miss the 3x camera that was on the 15 Pro.

Apple iPhone 16 Pro: A New Button Geared Towards Photographers

One thing that I found particularly fascinating was the new Camera Control button. This provides haptic feedback and has a satisfying click when you press it fully. The idea is that you can press the button to activate the camera app, and then double-press it to bring up a series of manual controls. By sliding your finger on the button you can switch between controls and then adjust them quickly. In practice I found the operation to be a little fiddly and slow so I want to test it much further and see if it is a quick and practical way of making adjustments.

The new camera control button has a sliding function, and even 3rd party app developers are beginning to customize for it.

I also want to further test the new creative filters that Apple has released. They now have what are called undertones that give a nice shift of color without harming skin tones. They also have more traditional-looking filters like vibrant and black and white, or more surreal settings like ethereal and luminous. Regardless, all of these filters can be customized fully and can have the opacity toggled as well as revert any of these to a different one at a later date.

4K 120fps is a huge upgrade this year but you still have to record Log footage to an external device.

The aforementioned 4Kp120 mode is now present but can only be used with the new main camera module. It still needs an external recorder if you want to shoot the Log format, however. The new slow motion feature can be re-timed after making the recording and you can even use the cinematic shallow depth of field mode with 4Kp120 as well. Sadly, we still don’t seem to get a compressed Log format that can be recorded on camera at this time.

120 fps slow-motion capture is scaleable now down to 1/5th timings. | Apple

Apple iPhone 16 Pro: Apple Takes a Different Stance on AI

Lastly, what I noticed about the keynote was less emphasis on generative AI for photos and even fairly conservative use of AI for things like summarizing information from emails or messages or using Siri as a more powerful personal assistant. It’s worth noting that as of the writing of this article, the majority of these new AI-based tools have not yet been released and will be given with future updates.

The new creative styles that can be applied are designed to work well with various skin tones.

The only real use of generative AI in photography seems to be for making custom emojis and stickers or for erasing unwanted subjects in the backgrounds of images. In this regard, Apple seems to be taking a more measured approach than the what competition is pushing for. Perhaps this is a safer move given how polarized users are when it comes to the use of generative AI.

We are left with lots of questions but the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max are very promising indeed.

There will be a full review when we can test production smartphones but it’s safe to say that there are plenty of new changes that pique my interest and I’m excited to test the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max further.