iPhone 16 vs 16 Pro cameras: How much of a difference?

Michael Potuck | Oct 4 2024 - 11:13 am PT

iPhone 16 and 16 Pro come with Apple’s most advanced cameras. While the iPhone 16 Pro is naturally more feature-rich and powerful, the iPhone 16 has gained pro features, closing the gap between the models. Read on for a detailed look at iPhone 16 vs 16 Pro cameras for all the differences and advice on which to buy.

iPhone 16 vs 16 Pro cameras
iPhone 16 vs 16 Pro cameras: Buyer’s guide

For our full iPhone comparisons, check out these guides, otherwise, read on for all the camera details 😁:

iPhone 16 vs 16 Pro cameras

Rear cameras

All of the iPhone 16 devices come with a 48MP main rear camera, the all-new Camera Control button/sensor, latest-gen Photographic Styles, and more.

But the 16 Pro and Pro Max continue to stand apart with the most powerful camera systems.

iPhone 16 vs 16 Pro comparison cameras 2

And after giving the iPhone 15 Pro Max camera system more features than the iPhone 15 Pro, the 16 Pro and Pro Max have the same camera systems and capabilities.

For still photos, the 16 Pro/Max have 48MP ultra wide lenses compared to 12MP for the 16/Plus. You also have a telephoto lens with 5x optical zoom on the pro models.

Two more pro-exclusive features are Night mode portraits and ProRAW support.

	iPhone 16	iPhone 16 Plus	iPhone 16 Pro	iPhone 16 Pro Max
Camera Control	✅	✅	✅	✅
Main lens	48MP, ƒ/1.6 aperture	48MP, ƒ/1.6 aperture	48MP, ƒ/1.78 aperture	48MP, ƒ/1.78 aperture
Main lens sensor	2 µm quad pixel	2 µm quad pixel	2.44 µm quad pixel	2.44 µm quad pixel
Main lens focal length	26 mm	26 mm	24 mm	24 mm
Ultra Wide lens	12MP, ƒ/2.2 aperture	12MP, ƒ/2.2 aperture	48MP, ƒ/2.2 aperture	48MP, ƒ/2.2 aperture
Telephoto lens	❌ (but main lens can do 2x zoom)	❌ (but main lens can do 2x zoom)	12MP, ƒ/2.8 aperture (up to 5x zoom)	12MP, ƒ/2.8 aperture (up to 5x zoom)
Stabilization	Sensor-shift optical image stabilization	Sensor-shift optical image stabilization	Sensor-shift optical image stabilization	Sensor-shift optical image stabilization
Optical zoom	0.5x, 1x, and 2x	0.5x, 1x, and 2x	0.5x, 1x, 2x, 5x	0.5x, 1x, 2x, 5x
Digital zoom	Up to 10x	Up to 10x	Up to 25x	Up to 25x
Flash	True Tone flash	True Tone flash	Adaptive True Tone Flash	Adaptive True Tone Flash
Photonic Engine	✅	✅	✅	✅
Deep Fusion	✅	✅	✅	✅
Smart HDR 5	✅	✅	✅	✅
Next-gen portraits with Focus and Depth Control	✅	✅	✅	✅
Portrait Lighting with six effects	✅	✅	✅	✅
Night mode	✅	✅	✅	✅
Night mode portraits	❌	❌	✅	✅
Latest-gen Photographic Styles	✅	✅	✅	✅
Spatial photos	✅	✅	✅	✅
Macro photography	✅	✅	✅	✅
Apple ProRAW	❌	❌	✅	✅

If you haven’t checked out Camera Control in-depth yet, here’s everything you need to know:

Video recording

iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max include new power-user features like 4K Dolby Vision/HDR video recording at up to 120 fps.

Other pro-exclusive features are ProRes and log video recording, recording to external storage, plus 4-studio quality mics.

iPhone 16 vs 16 Pro cameras video — Screenshot

Here’s the full video specs comparison:

	iPhone 16	iPhone 16 Plus	iPhone 16 Pro	iPhone 16 Pro Max
4K Dolby Vision/HDR recording	✅ – at 24, 25, 30, or 60 fps	✅ – at 24, 25, 30, or 60 fps	✅ – at 24, 25, 30, 60, 100, or 120 fps	✅ – at 24, 25, 30, 60, 100, or 120 fps
1080p recording	✅ – at 25, 30, or 60 fps	✅ – at 25, 30, or 60 fps	✅ – at 25, 30, or 60, or 120 fps	✅ – at 25, 30, or 60, or 120 fps
Cinematic mode	✅ – up to 4K HDR at 30 fps	✅ – up to 4K HDR at 30 fps	✅ – up to 4K HDR at 30 fps	✅ – up to 4K HDR at 30 fps
Action mode	✅ – up to 2.8K at 60 fps	✅ – up to 2.8K at 60 fps	✅ – up to 2.8K at 60 fps	✅ – up to 2.8K at 60 fps
ProRes recording	❌	❌	✅ – up to 4K at 120 fps with external recording	✅ – up to 4K at 120 fps with external recording
Log video recording	❌	❌	✅	✅
Academy Color Encoding System	❌	❌	✅	✅
Macro video recording	✅	✅	✅	✅
Spatial video recording	✅ – at 1080p at 30 fps	✅ – at 1080p at 30 fps	✅ – at 1080p at 30 fps	✅ – at 1080p at 30 fps
Slo-mo recording	✅ –1080p at 120 fps or 240 fps	✅ –1080p at 120 fps or 240 fps	✅ – 1080p up to 240 fps and 4K Dolby Vision up to 120 fps	✅ – 1080p up to 240 fps and 4K Dolby Vision up to 120 fps
Time-lapse with stabilization	✅	✅	✅	✅
Night mode Time-lapse	✅	✅	✅	✅
QuickTake video	✅ – up to 4K at 60 fps in Dolby Vision	✅ – up to 4K at 60 fps in Dolby Vision	✅ – up to 4K at 60 fps in Dolby Vision	✅ – up to 4K at 60 fps in Dolby Vision
Stabilization	Sensor-shift optical image stabilization for video	Sensor-shift optical image stabilization for video	2nd-gen sensor-shift optical image stabilization for video 3D sensor‑shift optical image stabilization and autofocus for video (Telephoto)	2nd-gen sensor-shift optical image stabilization for video 3D sensor‑shift optical image stabilization and autofocus for video (Telephoto)
Cinematic video stabilization	✅ – for 4K, 1080p, and 720p	✅ – for 4K, 1080p, and 720p	✅ – for 4K, 1080p, and 720p	✅ – for 4K, 1080p, and 720p
Audio zoom	✅	✅	✅	✅
Stereo recording	✅	✅	✅	✅
4 studio quality mics	❌	❌	✅	✅
True tone flash	✅	✅	✅	✅
Wind noise reduction	✅	✅	✅	✅
Audio Mix	✅	✅	✅	✅
Continuous autofocus video	✅	✅	✅	✅
Playback zoom	✅	✅	✅	✅

Selfie camera

Apple’s TrueDepth front camera on the iPhone 16 Pro models have several upgrades over the 16/Plus.

Those include ProRAW, ProRes, log recording, and recording to external storage.

	iPhone 16	iPhone 16 Plus	iPhone 16 Pro	iPhone 16 Pro Max
TrueDepth front camera	12MP, ƒ/1.9 aperture	12MP, ƒ/1.9 aperture	12MP, ƒ/1.9 aperture	12MP, ƒ/1.9 aperture
Autofocus with Focus Pixels	✅	✅	✅	✅
Retina Flash	✅	✅	✅	✅
Photonic Engine	✅	✅	✅	✅
Deep Fusion	✅	✅	✅	✅
Smart HDR 5 for photos	✅	✅	✅	✅
Next-gen portraits with Focus and Depth Control	✅	✅	✅	✅
Portrait Lighting with six effects	✅	✅	✅	✅
Animoji and Memoji	✅	✅	✅	✅
Night mode	✅	✅	✅	✅
Night mode time-lapse	✅	✅	✅	✅
Latest-gen Photographic Styles	✅	✅	✅	✅
Lens correction	✅	✅	✅	✅
Auto image stabilization	✅	✅	✅	✅
Wide color capture for photos and Live Photos	✅	✅	✅	✅
4K Dolby Vision/HDR recording	✅ – at 24, 25, 30, or 60 fps	✅ – at 24, 25, 30, or 60 fps	✅ – at 24, 25, 30, or 60 fps	✅ – at 24, 25, 30, or 60 fps
1080p Dolby Vision recording	✅ – at 25, 30, or 60 fps	✅ – at 25, 30, or 60 fps	✅ – at 25, 30, or 60 fps	✅ – at 25, 30, or 60 fps
Cinematic mode	✅ – up to 4K Dolby Vision HDR at 30 fps	✅ – up to 4K HDR at 30 fps	✅ – up to 4K HDR at 30 fps	✅ – up to 4K HDR at 30 fps
Apple ProRAW	❌	❌	✅	✅
ProRes recording	❌	❌	✅ – up to 4K HDR at 60 fps with external recording	✅ – up to 4K HDR at 60 fps with external recording
Log video recording	❌	❌	✅	✅
Slo-mo recording	✅ –1080p at 120 fps	✅ –1080p at 120 fps	✅ –1080p at 120 fps	✅ –1080p at 120 fps
QuickTake video	✅ – up to 4K at 60 fps in Dolby Vision	✅ – up to 4K at 60 fps in Dolby Vision	✅ – up to 4K at 60 fps in Dolby Vision	✅ – up to 4K at 60 fps in Dolby Vision
Cinematic video stabilization	✅ – for 4K, 1080p, 720p	✅ – for 4K, 1080p, 720p	✅ – for 4K, 1080p, 720p	✅ – for 4K, 1080p, 720p
Spatial Audio and stereo recording	✅	✅	✅	✅

iPhone 16 vs 16 Pro I/O

After the big switch to USB-C with the iPhone 15 lineup, iPhone 16 devices don’t bring as much of a shift with I/O.

The biggest I/O update may be the new Camera Control, but there are some other upgrades like WiFi 7 support, MagSafe supporting up to 25W or wireless power, and more.

iPhone 16 uses the much slower USB 2 compared to USB 3 with the 16 Pro and Pro Max. That’s why only the pro models support shooting to external storage.

	iPhone 16	iPhone 16 Plus	iPhone 16 Pro	iPhone 16 Pro Max
USB-C	✅ – USB 2 up to 480Mbps	✅ – USB 2 up to 480Mbps	✅ – USB 3 up to 10Gbps	✅ – USB 3 up to 10Gbps
WiFi	7	7	7	7
Bluetooth	5.3	5.3	5.3	5.3
UWB Gen 2	✅	✅	✅	✅
NFC with reader mode	✅	✅	✅	✅
Thread	✅	✅	✅	✅
Cellular	GSM/EDGE, UMTS/HSPA+, DC-HSDPA	GSM/EDGE, UMTS/HSPA+, DC-HSDPA	GSM/EDGE, UMTS/HSPA+, DC-HSDPA	GSM/EDGE, UMTS/HSPA+, DC-HSDPA
5G	Sub-6 GHz and mmWave with 4×4 MIMO	Sub-6 GHz and mmWave with 4×4 MIMO	Sub‑6 GHz and mmWave with 4×4 MIMO	Sub‑6 GHz and mmWave with 4×4 MIMO
4G	Gigabit LTE with 4×4 MIMO and LAA	Gigabit LTE with 4×4 MIMO and LAA	Gigabit LTE with 4×4 MIMO and LAA	Gigabit LTE with 4×4 MIMO and LAA
GPS	GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS, and BeiDou	GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS, and BeiDou	Precision dual-frequency GPS (GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS, BeiDou, and NavIC)	Precision dual-frequency GPS (GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS, BeiDou, and NavIC)
Audio playback	Spatial audio/Dolby Atmos	Spatial audio/Dolby Atmos	Spatial audio/Dolby Atmos	Spatial audio/Dolby Atmos
Video playback	HDR with Dolby Vision, HDR10, and HLG	HDR with Dolby Vision, HDR10, and HLG	HDR with Dolby Vision, HDR10, and HLG	HDR with Dolby Vision, HDR10, and HLG
SIM	Dual eSIM in US	Dual eSIM in US	Dual eSIM in US	Dual eSIM in US
MagSafe	✅ with 25W charging	✅ with 25W charging	✅ with 25W charging	✅ with 25W charging
Qi and Qi2	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

iPhone 16 vs 16 Pro cameras: Buyer’s guide

If you’re curious whether it’s worth upgrading overall, here is a broader summary of 16 vs 16 Pro.

And keep in mind both iPhone 16 and 16 Pro feature the new Camera Control button/sensor (and Apple Intelligence support).

Reasons to buy iPhone 16 Pro or Pro Max

Most powerful and capable cameras for both photos and video
Titanium build with very slim bezels
USB-C with 10Gbps speeds, WiFi 7 support
Fastest chip, most powerful GPU for video and mobile gaming
Always-On display and ProMotion refresh rates up to 120Hz
Storage up to 1TB

Reasons to buy iPhone 16 or 16 Plus or keep what you have

If the features above aren’t deal breakers for you, save your money and grab the iPhone 16 which includes most of the other new features this year (or keep your older iPhone 😁).
You could also consider grabbing an iPhone 15 Pro if you’d like Apple Intelligence support but don’t want/need the latest 16/16 Pro features.

You can buy iPhone 16 and 16 Pro from Apple, your carrier, and more.

What are you planning to do? Upgrade? Keep your current iPhone? Let us know in the comments!

Thanks for reading our guide on iPhone 16 vs 16 Pro cameras!

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Michael Potuck michaelpotuck

Michael is an editor for 9to5Mac. Since joining in 2016 he has written more than 3,000 articles including breaking news, reviews, and detailed comparisons and tutorials.

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