I've Been Using the iPhone 16 for a Month. Here's What Stands Out

From snapping beachfront photos during a weekend getaway to capturing cute moments with my cats and photographing gadgets for my CNET stories, I use the iPhone 16's camera frequently. But nearly every time I go to take a photo, I find myself bypassing the new Camera Control button in favor of the camera icon on my iPhone's lock screen or home screen. 

Apple has big plans for the Camera Control button that go beyond just launching and manipulating the camera. When visual intelligence launches, Camera Control will essentially turn into an AI button, making it possible to ask questions about the world around you through Apple, ChatGPT or Google with the press of a button.

But that experience isn't a reality yet. After spending a month using the iPhone 16, my impressions are the same as when I initially reviewed it in September. Camera Control may be fun to play around with, but it's not a reason to buy a new iPhone. Instead, the iPhone 16's appeal is about how all the little things -- like the Action button, Dynamic Island and now the Camera Control button -- add up when taken together. All of these additions make the iPhone 16 seem like a better value than the iPhone 14 did just two years ago when it launched for the same price, without any of these extras. 

Otherwise, the iPhone 16 has shown some battery life and performance improvements compared to the iPhone 15. And if you're upgrading from an iPhone that's several years old, like the iPhone 12, you're bound to see a leap in camera performance.

Read more: What I Learned After Swapping My Apple Watch for Samsung's Galaxy Ring

Watch this: iPhone 16 Review: All About the Buttons

10:04

Camera Control isn't the main attraction

The Camera Control key, which lets you launch the camera and adjust your shot, is the most significant new feature available on the iPhone 16 at launch -- especially since Apple Intelligence isn't out yet. While the button does make it easier to swipe through camera settings or zoom lengths quickly, it hasn't become second nature the way tapping the button on my screen has. 

Truthfully, I forget the Camera Control button is even there most of the time. It's hard to shake a habit, especially for a task like launching the camera that I've been doing a certain way for as long as I've used an iPhone. If you're going to introduce a new mechanism for using something as essential as the camera on a phone, it has to be noticeably faster or easier. In its current form, I don't think Camera Control achieves that goal. 

That said, you can do a lot more than just launch the camera with that button, including opening third-party camera apps, the magnifier or the code scanner app. As I wrote in my initial review, you can swipe between settings for adjusting the exposure, depth, zoom, Photographic Styles and tone, and you can swap between camera lenses. It can be a handy way to toggle these settings and modes without obscuring the screen with your finger, but it doesn't feel like it meaningfully changes the photography experience in a way that makes it tempting to upgrade. 

On the bright side, it's somewhat convenient when I'm trying to take a photo with one hand, since it's easier to tap a button located on the phone's edge rather than the screen when my hands are full. I've also enjoyed using the button to preview Photographic Styles -- which turned out to be one of my favorite iPhone 16 features -- while I'm framing my shot.

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The camera is a big step up from older iPhones

The iPhone 16's camera will feel like a leap forward if you're coming from an iPhone that's several generations old. I compared the iPhone 16's camera against the iPhone 12's to see how much it's changed, and I noticed bolder colors, sharper zoom quality and more accurate skin tones that don't look as washed out. 

Take a look at the photo of pink flowers below to see one of the best examples of how the iPhone 16's camera excels over the iPhone 12's. The pink coloring is much more vibrant and realistic in the iPhone 16's photo, and elements like the grass and leaves are also sharper.

iPhone 16

iPhone 12

The results show just how far the iPhone's camera has come in four years. Apple's latest phone has a 48-megapixel main camera compared to the iPhone 12's 12-megapixel camera, along with support for macro photography and a closer 10x digital zoom. 

Apple has made incremental yet important improvements to the iPhone's camera over time, which is why the upgrade is more noticeable when coming from an older phone. Compared to the iPhone 15, the iPhone 16 gains macro mode, support for the new version of Photographic Styles, an updated "fusion" main camera that Apple says can take 2x optical zoomed photos, better low light photography when using the ultrawide camera and the ability to capture spatial photos and videos for viewing in the Apple Vision Pro. 

That may sound like a lot, but these are largely iterative changes that come together in a bigger way when upgrading from a phone that's at least two, if not three or four, years old.

A closer look at the iPhone 16's battery life and performance

Compared to last year's iPhones, the iPhone 16 performed slightly better than the iPhone 15 in benchmarks for evaluating graphics and general computing power. It also outperformed the Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus in Geekbench 6, the general computing test, but fell behind Samsung's phone in the graphics test.

When it comes to battery life, the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus both outperformed last year's iPhones in CNET's 45-minute battery test. That trial involves doing a mix of everyday tasks such as streaming video, playing games, making a 10-minute video call and scrolling through social media, with the goal being to see how 45 minutes of continuous everyday use impacts the battery.

In CNET's 3-hour YouTube streaming test, which measures the battery level at every hour over a 3-hour period while streaming a YouTube video at full brightness, the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus performed essentially the same as last year's devices.

Although benchmarks and tests don't tell the whole story, it's nice to see some performance gains since these phones will be capable of running Apple Intelligence, which means they'll have to support demanding AI tasks for years to come. 

 Read more: 'A Cambrian Explosion': AI's Radical Reshaping of Your Phone, Coming Soon

iPhone 16 overall thoughts one month later

The iPhone 16 isn't a major change over the iPhone 15, but it doesn't necessarily have to be. The days of upgrading your iPhone every year feel like they're behind us, and the iPhone 16 is proof. Instead, you'll get the biggest benefit from experiencing how several years' worth of updates come together cumulatively to make the iPhone feel faster and more convenient than before.

It's easy to criticize the iPhone 16 for not being as exciting or monumental as previous iPhones, especially since it didn't launch with Apple Intelligence, its headlining feature. Plus, the iPhone 16 is missing key improvements I was hoping to see in this generation, such as an always-on display for seeing the time and other information at a glance and faster wired charging. I would welcome those upgrades over the Camera Control button any day -- although I might change my mind when visual intelligence launches. 

But the more I think about how much you're getting for that same $800 price compared to two or three years ago, the more the iPhone 16 grows on me.  

There's no "one big feature" to upgrade for anymore. But if you're coming from an iPhone 13or earlier, you'll probably find lots of little things to like about the iPhone 16.