Apple iPhone 16 Pro review

Display

The iPhone 16 Pro employs a larger display than the iPhone 15 Pro - a 6.3-inch LTPO Super Retina XDR OLED with ProMotion. The screen has a resolution of 2622 x 1206 pixels (that's 460ppi, the same pixel density across all modern iPhones).

The display is protected by third-generation Ceramic Shield glass, and it has a pill-shaped cutout known as the Dynamic Island.

The display supports 120Hz refresh rate, HDR10 and Dolby Vision standards. True Tone adjustment is also available.

Apple advertises the display as capable of 1,000nits of maximum auto brightness and up to 2,000nits of peak brightness.

In our testing, we measured 900 nits with the slider all the way up and auto brightness disabled. Left to its own devices (auto toggle on), the 16 Pro was good for 1,764nits. Reducing the white patch to just 1/10 of the screen gave us 2,385nits.

The minimum brightness we measured on a white window was 1.1nit down from 2nits in the iPhone 15 Pro.

The screen supports 120Hz refresh rate, something Apple calls ProMotion. You have no control over the refresh rate behavior, other than being able to cap things at 60Hz from the accessibility settings. The phone will do what it thinks is best, and it should drop down to 1Hz for static pictures and always-on/standby modes.

The iPhone 16 Pro supports HDR10 and Dolby Vision video and it is recognized by all known apps as such. Apple does its HDR video playback in a very flexible way since it's not necessary for the content to be displayed full-screen for HDR to work. It can just work on the portion of the display that has the video playing, and it's somehow more impressive on iPhones than on Androids that can also do a similar regional HDR.

There are a handful of smartphones that deserve praise for their haptics, and the iPhones are in this exclusive club. The Taptic engine provides accurate and pleasant feedback, and we enjoyed it, as usual.

iPhone 16 Pro battery life

The iPhone 16 Pro is powered by a 3,582mAh battery - an almost 10% increase over the 15 Pro's capacity.

Just like we witnessed on the 16 Pro Max (where there was also a bump in capacity), the 16 Pro returned almost exactly the same results in gaming and video playback despite the increase in capacity. And, again similarly to the Max, we clocked meaningful improvements in web browsing and voice call times.

All in all, the iPhone 16 Pro posted an Active Use Score of 14:17h - a sort of a class-leading result, if you compare it to the Pixel 9 Pro and the Galaxy S24 (though it could be argued that the Galaxy has a bit of different focus).

Charging speed

The iPhone 16 Pro supports fast wired charging, though Apple never reveals the maximum power rating. The company quotes an expected 50% charge in 30 mins with a compatible 20W charger.

There is also support for fast wireless charging for up to 25W via the new MagSafe charger when plugged into a 30W+ power adapter. If you have a compatible Qi2 charger, then the iPhone 16 Pro will max out at 15W.

Some initial rumors suggested the phone will support 45W wired charging, but that is not true. Most tests show the phone supports around 30W or so. Apple promises 50% of charge in 30 mins with a compatible charger.

We carried our test with a 45W PD charger (not pictured above, in case the eagle-eyed among you notice and head for the comments). We clocked 33% of charge in 15 mins and 58% of charge in 30 mins. An hour on that charger refilled 85% of the battery. That is identical to the iPhone 16, which is the type of consistency we both love and hate about Apple.

In typical Apple fashion, the last 15% take forever to fill up even with the Optimized Battery Charging turned off. The last 15% took about 40mins and the iPhone 16 Pro reached 100% charge 1 hour and 38 minutes after we plugged it in - about the same time as the iPhone 15 Pro.

Apple iOS 18 has a Battery Health option, which should prolong the cell's lifespan even more - you can set the charge limit between 80% and 100%. You can also see the cycle count and battery health in the battery settings.

Reverse wired charging is available on the iPhone 16 Pro, it usually maxes out at about 5W.

Speaker test

The Apple iPhone 16 Pro has a typical hybrid stereo speaker setup where the earpiece is one of the speakers. The other speaker is at the bottom of the phone, next to the USB-C port.

Both speakers sound incredibly well in real life with deep and balanced audio.

The iPhone 16 Pro speakers scored a Good mark, just like the iPhone 15 Pro, and they sound identical. This means the setup offers superb audio quality with rich and deep output.