Apple iPhone 16 Pro vs. iPhone 16
The 2024 iPhone lineup poses some of the usual challenges in picking the right model for yourself. One of the more obvious dilemmas is between the vanilla iPhone 16 and the small-size Pro version. Sure, the iPhone 16 Pro is a more capable package, but do you really need all of its Pro-ness and isn't the plain 16 actually better-suited for some folks thanks to its more pocket-friendly (in more than one way) attributes?
Let's look into it.
Table of Contents:
For starters, you can compare the complete specs sheets or directly proceed with our editor's assessment in the following video or in the text further down below.
Size comparison
The iPhone 16 takes a major victory in the very first chapter of our comparison - it's almost 30g lighter than its more esteemed stablemate. While they're more or less the same size (the Pro is 2mm taller and 0.5mm thicker - almost negligible differences), the two phones differ significantly in their weight and the plain 16 is tangibly lighter and more comfortable to use with one hand. Of course, the 16 Pro feels dense - there's a sort of a premium impression to its heft packed in a relatively compact body, but the net result is a more relaxing in-hand experience with the iPhone 16 than what you'd get out of the Pro.
The Pro model's frame is made of a titanium alloy, while the regular 16 uses aluminum. So the Pro just might be better equipped to withstand bumps and knocks. On the other hand, according to the latest data, both apparently use the same third-gen Ceramic Shield on the front, so perhaps scratch and shatter resistance should be on par.
Another thing that both should be equally good at is surviving a dunk in (fresh) water - they are both rated for up to 30 minutes down to 6m underwater.
Display comparison
The weight difference can be at least partially attributed to the iPhone 16's slightly smaller display - it goes hand in hand with the thicker bezels in what's more or less the same footprint. The 6.1" vs. 6.3" diagonal doesn't make a significant impact on operation, but there's another nuance that may be more important - refresh rate. Apple is still keeping the non-Pro models at 60Hz, and we feel like this is unacceptable in 2024, much less at the iPhone 16's price point. That said, if you're one who doesn't see or care about high refresh rate, the 120Hz 16 Pro panel may be wasted on you.
Outside of size, refresh rate and bezels, the two displays are very much on par. They both stand at 460ppi pixel density, with the overall number of pixels determined by the diagonal, and they both will max out at 900nits on the slider and twice that in auto brightness mode. You get HDR10 and Dolby Vision support on both, too.
Battery life
Apple has treated the entire 2024 lineup to a battery capacity increase, with the 16 Pro getting the most significant bump (by 9.4%) to 3,582mAh. The regular 16's cell got nudged 6.3% to an essentially identical 3,561mAh.
In our testing, we got meaningful improvements in battery life on both phones when comparing with the respective models from the previous generation. That said, the iPhone 16 had an edge over its Pro counterpart in all tests - not a huge difference, but it can add up.