Over the last five years, I’ve analyzed some of the best phones on the market. Many of the most expensive, most desirable models, and I’ve been able to test the best Android on the market, as well as using the latest iPhone Pro model each year.

The last one was the iPhone 15 Pro, but it’s getting close to the time to buy a new phone, and after seeing Apple’s new iPhone 16 presentation, I think I’m not a Pro user anymore. I haven’t actually bought a new phone. I’ve been using a mobile phone for years. My job is to analyze mobile phones, which means that when you’re done with one, you move on to another. That’s why I’ve spent five years without needing to buy a smartphone.

Now my job has changed and although I still depend on technology, comments They are no longer part of my tasks, so I need a phone. Deciding whether to go Android or iPhone has been complicated because I like all systems, but with the decision to continue in the Apple ecosystem I had to see if I would buy the iPhone 16 Pro or try the iPhone 16 .

After thinking about it a lot and examining Apple’s presentation, I think I understand why the basic versions are so successful and are one of the best-selling phones every year. In some cases, even above the Pro models. And last year we already said that the cheapest iPhone is also the most attractive iPhone…

iPhone 16, I choose you

I will explain myself. The decision was not easy. When you try so many phones, you find many things you like about each one, but there are also some details that hold you back. Take the iPhone 15 Pro for example; it is a mobile that I like because of its materials, its feel in the hand, the quality of the screen, its main camera and telephoto lens, the sound of its speakers and the features offered by its ecosystem. implies.

But it gets very hot under pressure, it is far from its wide-angle competitors, the screen brightness drops visibly when it gets hot and there are iOS decisions that I do not like at all. For some it is an ideal mobile phone, for me … no. Others like the Galaxy S24 Ultra or the Pixel 9 Pro have caught my attention these days, but again the Apple ecosystem.

So I decided to upgrade to the iPhone 16 Pro and went to check out Apple’s presentation. And thank goodness.

We have to wait for the analysis of the iPhone 16 Pro that my colleagues will do, but the continuity of the model allows me to once again risk that it will be one of the best phones of the year. However, there are some details that are no longer for me. In these last two generations, Apple has encouraged recording video in logarithmic and lossless formats (ProRes).

These are two brutal ways to work with the iPhone because in most cases creative Since you have everything you need in your pocket, don’t use a heavier camera to record your videos (though be careful of the heat in the summer months on iPhones without a cooler before the 16). As I said, it’s a great option but for someone who doesn’t record videos, the truth is they’re not really interested in that.

This year, the 16 Pro makes the jump to 4K resolution at 120 FPS, which is great, but I won’t be using either. And since we’re on camera, it’s a matter of preference. The wide angle is 48 megapixels, but I’m not a 48 megapixel person. The telephoto has a five-magnification feature on the Pro and Pro Max models. It’s a lot more sensible than last year’s 3x on the iPhone 15 Pro (especially since that phone already has a great 2x digital), but when I need that long of a tele, I prefer to use my camera because the photo quality is better.

This feature is great, but… do we all need it?

In my daily life, even on vacation, 80% of the photos I take are of my pets, my meals or my social gatherings. The other 10% are photos that are used to remember something later or to include in a project in a document, and the remaining 10% are photos that will be uploaded to networks. So I don’t need LOG, I don’t need ProRes, and I won’t be using 5x too much.

Then there’s the titanium issue. The truth is, I like the feel of the iPhone 15 Pro, but we almost all prefer a case. And I don’t really care that the processor is more powerful than the iPhone 16’s. I play on mobile, yes, but I especially play streaming games. I have the Xbox Series X and it’s on a bigger screen.

I love this button, it’s a great addition to the standard model

So if professional camera modes are not for me, if I’m not going to play that much and the material is not important to me, the logical answer was that if I wanted one of the new iPhones I had to go. I will really miss a 120 Hz display for the iPhone 16 (Apple, it seems incredible that there is still a 60 Hz display on a mobile phone worth almost 1,000 euros), but in this first analysis exercise to buy a mobile phone after five years I think the basic model is suitable for me.

As a Pro model user for all these years, I couldn’t quite understand this when I saw that non-Pro models were at the top of the sales list, and in some cases even above the Pro models.

Obviously, the budget issue comes into play (which is also interesting because the iPhone 16 + Apple Watch Series 10 costs almost the same as the iPhone 16 Pro), but if the more ‘casual’ user (so to speak) performs the following: the same analysis that I do from time to time, it is normal to think that logarithmic recording, a better telephoto lens and recordings in ProRAW format are not worth the investment if they are not going to be used properly.

Thank God Apple invented Google Lens…

Ultimately this is a very personal question and I don’t want to get you wrong: the iPhone 16 Pro is a great thing and if you like it and get it you will definitely enjoy it, but I realized that maybe it’s not for me anymore. Will I regret it and will the iPhone 16 fall short? Maybe so, maybe not but after careful analysis I think I will enjoy it.

It has a very good looking A18, more RAM (for Apple Intelligence) which is lacking in the base models, and good screen brightness. It also has a cooler (again, it seems incredible that this is an innovation on a phone at this price) and I don’t have ProRAW, but I didn’t get much use out of it either. It has the same colour profiles as the 16 Pro, audio mixing and 2x digital preservation which we saw very good results with on the iPhone 15.

Finally, if you’ve gotten this far, you might say to me, “But Alex, why not an Android like the Pixel 9 or the OnePlus 12?” The answer is simple: I think the Apple Watch is the best smartwatch on the market for my needs; I automate my home with Homekit, a bunch of AirTags and MagSafe accessories. So I said before that it’s not that hard to consider staying at Apple because the ecosystem is… what it is.

Since we’re talking about Pro models, I don’t consider myself a console user like the new PS5 Pro either. But that’s another story.

Pictures | Apple

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