Apple iPhone 15 to iPhone 16: Is it a worthy upgrade?

If you are thinking about upgrading your year old iPhone 15 to the latest model, here’s an in-depth guide that will help you make an informed decision.

Design and display

Although the iPhone 16 and the iPhone 15 may initially appear to be identical, Apple has made some significant design modifications to its most recent smartphone. The iPhone 16 includes two additional physical buttons that provide additional functions, while the iPhone 15 only has three (power, volume, and home).

The mute switch has been replaced by Apple's new Action button, which enables you to carry out personalised activities. It functions similarly to the iPhone 15 Pro series' Action button. The new "Camera control" button, which is part of the larger lineup of products from the Cupertino-based tech giant, allows you to rapidly activate the camera with a single click, as the name implies.

Users may swipe on the capacitive button to manage a variety of camera features, including zoom level, volume, and exposure and effect adjustments. It also doubles as a shutter and supports gestures.

The iPhone 16 sports a dual camera design with the sensors aligned vertically, in contrast to the iPhone 15, which had a diagonal camera arrangement. This is another obvious difference. But the only practical explanation for this is that Apple wants to be able to record Spatial Videos on their upcoming phones.

Software

Although iOS 18 will be released for both the iPhone 15 and the iPhone 16, only the latter will be able to utilise Apple Intelligence capabilities. Thus, the iPhone 16 is the best option if you wanted to test out Apple's impending artificial intelligence technologies.

 

Processor

The iPhone 16 is powered by Apple's most recent A18 Bionic technology, although sharing the same 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR screen as its predecessor. With two speed cores, four energy-efficient cores, a new 5-core GPU, and a 16-core Neural Engine to support AI workloads, the new chip has a hexa-core design.

The recently released A18 Bionic chipset delivers up to 30% and 40% better CPU and GPU performance, respectively, than the A16 chipset seen in the iPhone 15.

Camera

Although the iPhone 16 appears to have a new sensor, Apple claims that the iPhone 15 and 16 have the same camera configuration on paper. The 48MP primary camera of the iPhone 16 features the same f/1.6 aperture as the model from the previous year, same as its predecessor. However, because of the in-sensor zoom, it can capture images at a 2x magnification without sacrificing picture quality.

The iPhone 16 and iPhone 15 share the same 12MP ultrawide camera, but the upgraded sensor supports focussing and can even assist with macro photography—a feature that the earlier versions did not have.

Battery and charging

Although the tech giant seldom discloses the iPhones' battery life, the iPhone 16 will have a longer battery life than the model from the previous year. According to the tech giant, the new model has up to 22 hours of movie playback, which is just marginally better than the 20 hours of the iPhone 15 in terms of battery life. But, Apple increased wireless charging from 15W to 25W, which will ultimately be appreciated by customers.

iPhone 16 worth buying?

There are several noticeable improvements in the camera, software, and hardware of the iPhone 16. The iPhone 16 is a respectable increase over the iPhone 15, even though the screen and battery are unchanged from the previous model.

Other improvements include redesigned buttons, Apple's AI suite, and more potent cameras.

The iPhone 16, which starts at Rs 79,900, is a better option if you have an extra Rs 10,000 to invest, even though the iPhone 15 is still a wonderful deal at Rs 69,900.