It’s been nearly a year since I started using the iPhone 16 Pro as my primary device, and over that time, it has become my go-to phone for everything from banking to photography. I’ve used it mostly naked or with a super slim case, and from day one, I added a Spigen Glas.tR EZ-FIT screen protector, which has held up flawlessly.
My usage is fairly typical: social media, messaging, calls, and plenty of photo and video capturing. I shoot most videos in 4K60 for the smooth, high-quality look and the ability to slow the footage down later on. I quickly realized that 256GB is the minimum amount of storage I need, though I’m enjoying the extra space on the 512GB model I got.
I haven’t relied on it exclusively every single day, as I’ve tested other devices for reviews, but the 16 Pro has remained my main phone for most of the year. Choosing the standard Pro over the Pro Max was absolutely the right call for me: it’s already on the larger side, bordering on heavy, but still manageable for someone who generally prefers compact devices.
Performance has remained snappy, and the loudspeaker continues to impress — I often use it to listen to music without headphones. In short, after almost a year of real-world use, the iPhone 16 Pro has proven to be a reliable, high-performing daily driver.
Battery life & Charging
The good: Slightly improved battery life The bad: Still slow charging speeds
My use mostly consists of an unhealthy amount of watching Instagram reels and messaging with friends, and I am getting somewhere between 5 hours and 6 hours of screen time on the 16 Pro. Which is a bit more than what I got on the 15 Pro, but not by much.
Overall, the iPhone 16 Pro is still a phone you have to charge every day, unlike the Pro Max which can last you two full days.
Charging is definitely one of the things I wish improved on the iPhone, it’s just a bit on the slow side, and having support for 45W fast charging would make a big difference compared to the current 25W speeds
But MagSafe remains an incredibly useful feature with so many accessories, from car mounts to tripods to the cool Continuity Camera feature that allows you to use your iPhone as a webcam. At work, I connect my Macbook Air to a monitor via a dock, and Continuity Camera is a life-saver for video calls.
Camera
The good: 5X zoom camera can be very useful The bad: The upgraded ultra-wide camera was super overhyped!
Many new phones, especially ones from China, get lots of publicity for using larger sensors, and while they do excel in certain scenarios, I still find that the iPhone strikes a great balance of easy-to-use interface and camera quality.
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A central part of that is the iPhone camera app, which is low-key brilliant. Zooming controls are incredibly precise and perfectly optimized for touch, and switching between lenses is barely noticeable. This is super important for videos, and I find the experience so much better than any recent Galaxy or Pixel phone.
However, I do have a love-hate relationship with the 5X zoom camera. On one hand, I find it almost completely useless for my style of photography. It could be useful for sports and concerts, but I mostly take pictures of friends and family, and for that, I really miss a 3X zoom lens that feels way more practical.
On the other hand, for recording videos, the 5X zoom distance has more use for me. I recently launched an Instagram channel, just shooting dance videos with that 5X camera, and since many of those videos are on stage, the 5X zoom camera comes in really handy, capturing detail from far away.
Many of my friends were blown away to learn that all those videos were captured on a phone, and they were especially impressed by how I took them all with no gimbals or tripods, just holding my phone in my hands at 5X zoom.
Still, I would prefer to see a 3.5X zoom camera that would strike the perfect balance - you could use it for daily photography without it being too narrow, and you could still get very good video quality at longer distances. Let’s see if the iPhone 17 does that.
The 48MP ultra-wide camera has been a forgettable upgrade
Apple also made a big deal of the new 48-megapixel ultra-wide camera on the iPhone 16 Pro. In my experience, the ultra-wide camera does not get much use since it still feels less capable than the main one and this upgrade has not changed that too much. Overall, the big 48MP number on paper did not translate into any sort of a profound change to my ultra-wide photos or videos.
As for the Camera Control button, I’ve started using it a bit, but it still doesn’t make much sense to me.
I have set it to take a photo, while a long press on the Action Button starts video recording for me, but that separation, while neat in theory, proves way too complex for my brain to remember.
Apps
The good: The smoothest UI, best apps The bad: Ecosystem lock-in
I’m not saying that apps on the iPhone are better than apps on Android, but… they kind of are!
My latest addiction is the VSCO Capture camera app, a brilliant creation with tons of filters and effects that elevate your photography to a truly artistic level. Bloom effects typically achieved using a special filter on a regular camera can be simulated with just a tap of the button. This creates a dreamy look that I adore. And guess what? That app is only available on iOS!
Photos taken with VSCO Capture (not available on Android)
On the few occasions when I switched to Android phones, I was also very frustrated with the poor quality of essential apps. Most of the default weather apps, for example, were sub-par and the alternatives I found on the Google Play Store were infested with ads or of poor quality.
I know that these are just a couple of examples, and I’m aware that most of the popular apps these days are available for both iOS and Android, but it is the frequency of updates and the ease of optimizing for a limited number of form factors that make iOS apps inherently better than their Android counterparts.
The iPhone also remains the phone of choice for creators with unmatched video quality, MagSafe support for accessories, and general ease of use.
AI
The good: Well, not much! The bad: A lot
Apart from a few overhyped niche features like Genmoji (that I have literally NEVER used) and Image Playground (same amount of usage), AI was a no-show on the iPhone 16 Pro.
Quite the disappointment for the first iPhone “made for AI”.
Do I miss AI on the iPhone? Yes, but not too much. My main use of AI is still talking to a chatbot, and all of those Chatbots, including ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, etc, are available on the iPhone.
Sure, they are not as well integrated, but you can always assign your Action Button to open ChatGPT or Gemini, just like Android does.
I don’t want to excuse Apple for basically lying to its users about the iPhone 16 series AI capabilities at launch, but at least for my usage, I’m not missing AI all that much.
Among the features I do miss a bit are Samsung’s AI photo editor/eraser with its incredibly ability to remove objects in a picture, or the ability to summarize YouTube videos that you get on a Pixel phone.
My iPhone 17 Pro wish-list
I’m pretty happy with my time with the iPhone 16 Pro, but there are a few things I would like to see improve in the iPhone 17 Pro.
In no particular order:
Silicon-carbon battery technology for a bigger battery in a phone that weighs less than now
Consequently, I’m fine with a 6.3-inch size, but I wish it weighed a bit less
Swap the 5X camera for 3X or 3.5X
A thoughtful implementation of AI
12GB of RAM
Cheaper storage upgrades (those prices are insane)
Rumors point to September 9th, 2025 as the date when Apple will unveil its new iPhone 17 series. That’s when we will learn about all the new features and see if Apple has figured out some magical new feature (or AI for that matter).
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Victor, a seasoned mobile technology expert, has spent over a decade at PhoneArena, exploring the depths of mobile photography and reviewing hundreds of smartphones across Android and iOS ecosystems. His passion for technology, coupled with his extensive knowledge of smartphone cameras and battery life, has positioned him as a leading voice in the mobile tech industry.
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