Which model should you buy?

Original release date: September 20, 2024 | Storage capacity: 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB | Screen size: 6.3 inches | Features: A18 Pro chip, Always-on 120Hz ProMotion display, USB-C port (USB 3), Titanium frame, Camera Control button, Action button, 25W MagSafe charging, Apple Intelligence | Cameras: 48MP wide, 48MP ultrawide, 12MP 5x telephoto, 12MP front | Color options: Natural Titanium, Desert, White, Black | Dimensions: 5.89 x 2.81 x 0.32 inches | Weight: 7.03 ounces

Read our full iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max review

The iPhone 16 Pro is the iPhone we’d recommend to most people. Yes, its starting price of $999 might be steep, but a smartphone is a long-term investment. If the question is “which iPhone is most likely to keep you happy for the next three to five years,” we think the iPhone 16 Pro’s advantages over the standard iPhone 16 and 16 Plus are still meaningful enough to be worth the extra $100-200 — even if the gap isn’t as wide as it’s been in years past.

For one, the iPhone 16 Pro’s blasted titanium frame feels higher-quality than the aluminum one on the base iPhone 16. It’s a bit heavier than the standard 16 and the older iPhone 15 Pro, but it’s far from an anchor, and its slightly curved edges are pleasing to hold. It runs on the slightly faster A18 Pro chip, which doesn’t make a huge difference with everyday tasks but is more future-proof all the same, particularly if you have any interest in gaming or content creation. And while every iPhone 16 has a USB-C charging port, the Pro models support faster data transfer speeds (provided you have the right cable).

The most prominent upgrade is the display. While the OLED screens on the iPhone 16 Pro and standard iPhone 16 are equally sharp and bright, the former’s is more spacious at 6.3 inches (instead of 6.1 inches), despite the phone itself only being 0.08 inches taller and 0.02 inches thicker. This is mainly due to the Pro’s thinner bezels, which grant you more room for streaming videos and reading web pages in a device that isn’t significantly more cumbersome to hold.  

On top of that, the Pro’s screen has an adaptive refresh rate up to 120Hz, which can make scrolling web pages, gaming and streaming video noticeably smoother. Some will tell you that the average person doesn’t need this, and it’s true that not everything plays at 120Hz. But using a smartphone is nothing if not interacting with a small screen, and once you’ve seen a faster refresh rate in action, it is difficult to give up.

It’s a frustrating situation: You can get a budget Android phone with a 120Hz display for around $300, yet Apple continues to use “ProMotion” as a way to upsell people from devices that already cost hundreds more. Nevertheless, our job is to tell you what’s best — and the Pro’s screen is simply more modern. It’s also an always-on display, unlike the panels on the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus, so you can view your notifications at a glance without having to physically touch the device.

Another step up is the camera system. The iPhone 16 Pro has a trio of rear cameras: a 48-megapixel main camera, a 48MP ultrawide shooter and a 12MP telephoto camera. That last one is the biggie, as the regular iPhone 16 lacks a dedicated telephoto lens entirely. Beyond that, the Pro’s main camera has a larger sensor, so it’s a bit better in low-light environments, plus it supports portrait mode at night. You can take sharper macro shots for close-ups, and there are other enthusiast features like the ability to shoot ProRAW or record 4K Dolby Vision and ProRes video up to 120 frames per second. 

If none of this jargon means anything to you, know the regular iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus are still great point-and-shoot cameras. Those devices can now take macro photos as well, plus they have the same upgraded Photographic Styles feature that can help touch up shots you may find overprocessed. They also share the Camera Control button for quickly (if sometimes awkwardly) accessing the camera app, adjusting settings and snapping pics. All that said, the 16 Pro is better, especially if you take your photos with a little more intent.

The Pro gets slightly better battery life as well, though it’s not the longest-lasting smartphone we’ve tested. Apple rates it at up to 27 hours of video playback, up from 22 hours with the standard iPhone 16, but both devices will likely need a top-up before you go to bed. The base model’s battery is easier to replace, too, which is aggravating for Pro owners given the higher price. 

Apple is very bluntly selling each iPhone 16 on how well they’ll work with its new “Apple Intelligence” AI features, but you shouldn’t base any purchasing decisions on that functionality right now. As of this writing, the tricks include a marginally more robust Siri, ChatGPT integration, email and notification summaries, writing assistance and image generation tools, a Clean Up feature that can remove unwanted objects from photos (much like Google’s Magic Eraser) and a “Genmoji” custom emoji maker, among others. More updates will arrive over time. 

Some of these AI features can be useful at points; other times… not so much. Little about them will truly change the way you use a smartphone today, and whether anyone really needs them to write a paragraph-long email or read a brief article is up for debate (to put it charitably). For now, it might be best to view Apple Intelligence as an intriguing first step toward a future that may or may not be realized down the road.

Original release date: September 20, 2024 | Storage capacity: 256GB, 512GB, 1TB | Screen size: 6.9 inches | Features: A18 Pro chip, Always-on 120Hz ProMotion display, USB-C port (USB 3), Titanium frame, Camera Control, Action button, 25W MagSafe charging, Apple Intelligence | Cameras: 48MP wide, 48MP ultrawide, 12MP 5x telephoto, 12MP front | Color options: Natural Titanium, Desert, White, Black | Dimensions: 6.42 x 3.06 x 0.32 inches | Weight: 7.99 ounces

Do you want a larger device than the iPhone 16 Pro? Are you willing to trade pocketability for longer battery life? Are you cool with spending at least $1,199 on a smartphone? If your answer to those questions is “yes,” skip the 16 Pro and get the iPhone 16 Pro Max instead.

It has all the same benefits of our top pick, but with a roomier 6.9-inch display and the longest-lasting battery of any iPhone. It can last closer to two days per charge, whereas the smaller Pro is more likely to tap out around one day. It also starts with 256GB of storage, which doubles that of the Pro and helps justify the increased cost at least somewhat.

The downside is that it’s a tank. The iPhone 15 Pro Max wasn’t exactly tiny, and this latest model is slightly taller and wider, so you’ll probably need two hands to operate it comfortably if your mitts aren’t on the larger side. Ultimately, we’re assuming that most people would prefer the more hand- and pocket-friendly size of the regular 6.3-inch Pro, even if it means sacrificing a half-day or more of battery life. That’s an easier call to make now that there’s no difference between the two phones’ camera setups. But if you just want the biggest beast of an iPhone, the 16 Pro Max is it.

Original release date: February 28, 2025 | Storage capacity: 128GB, 256GB, 512GB | Screen size: 6.1 inches | Features: A18 chip (4-core GPU), 60Hz display, USB-C port (USB 2), Aluminum frame, Action button, 7.5W Qi wireless charging, Apple Intelligence | Cameras: 48MP rear, 12MP front | Color options: White, Black | Dimensions: 5.78 x 2.82 x 0.31 inches | Weight: 5.88 ounces

Read our full iPhone 16e review

Here’s the reality: There’s no such thing as a true budget iPhone in 2025. The $429 iPhone SE was the closest thing Apple had to a value-oriented model coming into the year, but it was officially discontinued in February, and its severely outdated design made it difficult to recommend long before that. The new iPhone 16e is the SE’s ostensible replacement, but it costs $599, well above what anyone could call “affordable” when there are so many genuinely decent Android phones that sell for hundreds of dollars less.

So when we recommend the iPhone 16e in this spot, think of it less like a budget pick and more like “the cheapest competent iPhone you can reliably buy.” It’s easy to see how it could be better, but it still gets you most of what makes the iPhone experience worthwhile. It looks and feels much more substantial than the old iPhone SE, with a larger and more vivid 6.1-inch OLED display, cleaner lines and flat aluminum edges. Its A18 chip is nearly the same as the one in the standard iPhone 16, just with one fewer GPU core; either way, it’s powerful enough to run Apple Intelligence and most games fine. Its battery life is fantastic, with an even higher video playback rating (26 hours) than the base iPhone 16. It has a USB-C port, Face ID and the programmable Action button. Most importantly, it’s the least expensive route into iMessage, Apple Pay, FaceTime, AirPlay and all the other iOS perks locked in Apple’s walled garden, for better or worse.

However, the standard iPhone 16 does bring meaningful upgrades for $200 more. The main one is a better camera setup, as it has a second, 12MP ultrawide lens and a larger main sensor with better image stabilization. The 16e’s single-camera system is still perfectly fine for most situations, but night shots look softer, portraits are a bit blurrier and there’s no macro mode. Annoyingly, the iPhone 16e also lacks MagSafe, locking it out of a host of useful accessories, and it’s limited to slow 7.5W wireless charging. There’s no ultra-wideband chip to more precisely locate AirTags, and the standard iPhone 16’s display can get brighter. (Both are stuck at 60Hz, though.) That screen also has the Dynamic Island, which makes it easier to check timers, Uber ETAs, sports scores and the like at a glance. The 16e, by comparison, has the static “notch” from older iPhones. The standard 16 is also available in more colors, whereas the 16e only comes in a more basic black or white.

In many ways, the iPhone 16e feels like it was designed backwards to make the regular iPhone 16 look like a better value. Nevertheless, if you can afford an iPhone 16 or 16 Plus but can’t spend another $200 or $300 for a 16 Pro or 16 Pro Max, you should still get one of the base models over the 16e.

Really, bargain hunters should look to the refurbished market for discounts on older iPhones first. If you can find an iPhone 15 from a reputable seller for $100+ less than the 16e, that’d be ideal, as it offers many of the 16’s core upgrades and anything older won’t have a USB-C port. If you see an iPhone 15 Pro around the same price, it’s no contest — that one is better than the 16e pretty much across the board. But even a refurbished 15 is unlikely to be all that cheap, and every older iPhone will inevitably lose update support sooner. Still, that might not matter so much if you just want an Apple phone for basic iOS things and can find an acceptable price-to-storage ratio. Taking advantage of trade-in deals or, to a lesser extent, monthly installment plans that lower upfront costs seems especially prudent these days as well. 

As it stands now, the lack of a competitive budget model in the iPhone lineup is disappointing, and it appears that won’t change anytime soon. Apple will be Apple. But if you just want to walk into an Apple store and buy an iPhone that works, the 16e is fine enough, even if it’s not a slam-dunk value.