I have been using the iPhone 16 for a month. Here’s what stands out

From snapping photos by the beach on a weekend getaway to capturing cute moments with my cats and shooting gear for my CNET stories, I use the iPhone 16 camera often. But almost every time I go to take a photo , I find myself bypassing the new camera control button in favor of the camera icon on my iPhone’s lock screen or home screen.

Apple has big plans for the camera control button that go beyond simply launching and manipulating the camera. When visual intelligence launches, Camera Control will essentially turn into an AI button, making it possible to ask questions about the world around you via Apple, ChatGPT or Google with the push of a button.

But this experience is not yet a reality. After spending a month using the iPhone 16, my impressions are the same as when I first reviewed it in September. Camera control can be fun to play with, but it’s not a reason to buy a new iPhone. Instead, the iPhone 16’s appeal is about how all the little things — like the Action button, Dynamic Island, and now the Camera Control button — add up when taken together. All of these extras make the iPhone 16 seem like a better value than the iPhone 14 just two years ago when it launched for the same price, without any of these extras.

Otherwise, the iPhone 16 has shown some battery life and performance improvements over the iPhone 15. And if you’re upgrading from an iPhone that’s a few years old, like the iPhone 12, you’ll likely see a step up in camera performance.

Read more: What I learned after swapping my Apple Watch for Samsung’s Galaxy Ring

Camera control is not the main attraction

The camera control key, which lets you launch the camera and adjust your shot, is the most significant new feature available on the iPhone 16 at launch — especially since Apple Intelligence isn’t out yet. While the button makes it easier to quickly swipe through camera settings or zoom length, it hasn’t become second nature like pressing the button on my screen.

Honestly, I forget the camera control button is even there most of the time. It’s hard to break a habit, especially for a task like launching the camera that I’ve done a certain way for as long as I’ve used an iPhone. If you’re going to introduce a new mechanism for using something as essential as a phone camera, it needs to be significantly faster or easier. In its current form, I don’t think Camera Control achieves this goal.

That said, you can do a lot more than just launch the camera with that button, including opening third-party camera apps, magnifiers, or a barcode scanner app. As I wrote in my initial review, you can slide between settings to adjust exposure, depth, zoom, picture styles and tone, and you can switch between camera lenses. It might be a useful way to toggle these settings and modes without obscuring the screen with your finger, but it doesn’t seem like it meaningfully changes the photography experience in a way that makes it tempting to upgrade.

On the bright side, it’s somewhat convenient when I’m trying to take a photo with one hand, as it’s easier to tap a button on the edge of the phone rather than the screen when my hands are full. I also liked using the button to preview Photo Styles — which turned out to be one of my favorite iPhone 16 features — while I’m framing my shot.

Read more: The Apple Watch Series 10 proves that the iPhone needs this feature

The camera is a big step up from older iPhones

The iPhone 16’s camera will feel like a step up if you’re coming from an iPhone that’s several generations old. I compared the iPhone 16’s camera to the iPhone 12’s to see how much it’s changed, and I noticed bolder colors, sharper zoom quality, and more accurate skin tones that don’t look as washed out.

Take a look at the pink flower photo below to see one of the best examples of how the iPhone 16 camera shines over the iPhone 12. The pink color is much more vibrant and realistic in the iPhone 16 photo, and elements like grass and leaves are also sharper.

iPhone 16

iPhone 12

The results show how far the iPhone camera has come in four years. Apple’s latest phone has a 48-megapixel main camera compared to the iPhone 12’s 12-megapixel camera, along with support for macro photography and a closer 10x digital zoom.

Apple has made incremental but significant improvements to the iPhone’s camera over time, which is why the improvement is more noticeable when coming from an older phone. Compared to the iPhone 15, the iPhone 16 gains macro mode, support for the new version of Photographic Styles, an updated main “fusion” camera that Apple says can take photos with 2x optical zoom, better photos in low light when use the ultra-wide camera and the ability to capture space photos and videos for viewing on Apple Vision Pro.

That might sound like a lot, but these are mostly iterative changes that add up in a bigger way when upgrading from a phone that’s at least two, if not three or four, years old.

A closer look at iPhone 16 battery life and performance

Compared to last year’s iPhones, the iPhone 16 performed slightly better than the iPhone 15 in the graphics and overall computing power benchmarks. It also outperformed the Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus in Geekbench 6, the general computing test, but lagged behind Samsung’s phone in the graphics test.

iPhone 16 Geekbench results

Geekbench 6 Single Core 3,193 2618 2247Geekbench 6 Multicore 7783 6580 6815

iPhone 16 3DMark results

3DMark Wild Life Extreme 3705 3029 4808

When it comes to battery life, the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus both outperformed last year’s iPhones in CNET’s 45-minute battery test. This test involves performing a mix of everyday tasks such as streaming video, playing games, making a 10-minute video call and scrolling through social media, in order to see how 45 minutes of continuous daily use affects the battery.

iPhone 16 45-minute battery test

Test	iPhone 16	iPhone 16 Plus	iPhone 15	iPhone 15 Plus
Battery 45 minutes	100% to 97%	100% (no drop)	From 100% to 95%	From 100% to 98%

In CNET’s 3-Hour YouTube Streaming Test, which measures battery life every hour over a 3-hour period while streaming a YouTube video at full brightness, the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus performed essentially the same as the devices last year.

iPhone 16 3-hour battery test

Test	iPhone 16	iPhone 16 Plus	iPhone 15	iPhone 15 Plus
Streaming on YouTube	1 hour: 97%; 2: hours 91%; 3 hours: 86% (60 Hz)	1 hour: 98%; 2 hours: 93%; 3 hours: 89% (60 Hz)	1 hour: 97%; 2 hours: 91%; 3 hours: 85% (60 Hz)	1 hour: 99%; 2 hours: 94%; 3 hours: 89% (60 Hz)

Although benchmarks and tests don’t tell the whole story, it’s good to see some performance gains as these phones will be able to run Apple Intelligence, meaning they should be able to support demanding AI tasks for years to come. the following.

Read more: ‘A Cambrian explosion’: AI’s radical reshaping of your phone, coming soon

Overall iPhone 16 thoughts a month later

The iPhone 16 isn’t a big change compared to the iPhone 15, but it doesn’t have to be. The days of upgrading your iPhone every year seem to be behind us, and the iPhone 16 is proof. Instead, you’ll get the most benefit by experiencing how several years’ worth of updates come together cumulatively to make iPhone feel faster and more responsive than before.

It’s easy to criticize the iPhone 16 for not being as exciting or monumental as previous iPhones, especially since it didn’t launch with Apple Intelligence, its flagship feature. Plus, the iPhone 16 lacks key improvements I was hoping to see in this generation, such as an always-on display to see the time and other information at a glance and faster wired charging. I’d welcome those improvements over the camera control button any day — though I may change my mind when the visual intelligence kicks in.

But the more I think about what you’re getting for the same $800 price compared to two or three years ago, the more the iPhone 16 grows on me.

No more “one big feature” to upgrade. But if you’re coming from an iPhone 13 or earlier, you’ll probably find a lot of little things to like about the iPhone 16.

Features of iPhone 16

	Apple iPhone 16	Apple iPhone 16 Plus
Screen size, technology, resolution, refresh rate	6.1-inch OLED Super Retina XDR display; Resolution 2556 x 1179 pixels	6.7-inch OLED Super Retina XDR display; Resolution 2796 x 1290 pixels
Pixel density	460 ppi	460 ppi
Dimensions (inches)	5.81 x 2.82 x 0.31 inches	6.33 x 3.06 x 0.31 inches
Dimensions (millimeters)	147.6 x 71.6 x 7.8 mm	160.9 x 77.8 x 7.8 mm
Weight (grams, ounces)	170 g, 6 oz	199 g, 7.03 oz
Mobile software	iOS 18	iOS 18
cAMERA	48 megapixel (fusion), 12 megapixel (ultraide)	48 megapixel (fusion), 12 megapixel (ultraide)
Front camera	12 megapixels	12 megapixels
Video capture	4K at 60 fps; space video in 1080p at 30fps	4K at 60 fps; space video in 1080p at 30fps
maker	A18	A18
RAM/storage	128 GB, 256 GB, 512 GB	128 GB, 256 GB, 512 GB
Expandable storage space	No.	No.
The battery	Video review up to 22 hours; up to 18 hours of video playback (streamed). 20W wired charging. Up to 25W MagSafe wireless charging with 30W or higher adapter; Qi2 to 15W	Video review up to 27 hours; video playback up to 24 hours (streamed). 20W wired charging. Up to 25W MagSafe wireless charging with 30W or higher adapter; Qi2 to 15W
Fingerprint sensor	None (Face ID)	None (Face ID)
connective	USB-C	USB-C
Headphone jack	No.	No.
Special features	Apple Intelligence, action button, camera control button, dynamic island, screen brightness range from 1 to 2000 nits, IP68 resistance. Colors: black, white, pink, sky blue, ultramarine.	Apple Intelligence, action button, camera control button, dynamic island, screen brightness range from 1 to 2000 nits, IP68 resistance. Colors: black, white, pink, sky blue, ultramarine.
US pricing starts at	$799 (128GB), $899 (256GB), $1,099 (512GB)	$899 (128GB), $899 (256GB), $1,199 (512GB)
UK pricing starts at	£799 (128GB), £899 (256GB), £1,099 (512GB)	£899 (128GB), £999 (256GB), £1,199 (512GB)
Pricing in Australia starts at	AU$1,399 (128GB), AU$1,599 (256GB), AU$1,949 (512GB)	AU$1,599 (128GB), AU$1,799 (256GB), AU$2,149 (512GB)