The iPhone 16 Pro is set to succeed 2023’s iPhone 15 Pro, introducing over 30 new features and improvements to Apple’s high-end smartphones. With many users adopting three-year upgrade cycles, plenty of iPhone 13 Pro owners will be looking to upgrade to the iPhone 16 Pro, so this guide breaks down every major difference you should be aware of between the two generations based on rumors.
The iPhone 13 Pro debuted in 2021, introducing a brighter display with ProMotion technology for refresh rates up to 120Hz, the A15 Bionic chip, a telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom, macro photography and photographic styles, Cinematic mode for recording videos with shallow depth of field, ProRes video recording, a 1TB storage option, and up to five hours of additional battery life.
Three years later, the iPhone 16 Pro is expected to offer over 65 further upgrades. All of the changes the iPhone 16 Pro models are expected to feature compared to their 2021 predecessors are listed below, using information from reliable sources that we have previously covered here on MacRumors. We will continue to update this article as more rumors emerge prior to Apple’s “It’s Glowtime” event on Monday, September 9.
Design
The design of the iPhone 16 Pro is expected to be a relatively significant evolution over the iPhone 13 Pro, iterating on the titanium frame and slightly rounded edges introduced on the iPhone 15 Pro models last year.
| Surgical-grade stainless steel chassis | Aerospace-grade titanium chassis |
| Glossy frame with squared-off edges | Brushed frame with contoured edges |
| Ring/Silent switch | Action button |
| Thermal design with copper heatsink and black foil battery casing | New thermal design with graphene heatsink and metal battery casing |
| More repairable design | |
| Lightning port | USB-C port |
| Alpine Green, Silver, Gold, Graphite, and Sierra Blue color options | Black Titanium, White Titanium, Desert Titanium, and Titanium Gray color options |
Dimensions
To accommodate larger displays, both iPhone 16 Pro models are rumored to grow in height and width. In addition to last year’s increase in depth, the devices are due to be considerably larger, but with a notable reduction in weight thanks to the adoption of a titanium frame.
| 7.85mm depth | 8.25mm depth (0.4mm thicker) |
| iPhone 13 Pro: 146.7mm height iPhone 13 Pro Max: 160.8mm height |
iPhone 16 Pro: 149.6mm height iPhone 16 Pro Max: 163.0mm height |
| iPhone 13 Pro: 71.5mm width iPhone 13 Pro Max: 78.1mm width |
iPhone 16 Pro: 71.45mm width iPhone 16 Pro Max: 77.58mm width |
| iPhone 13 Pro: 204g weight iPhone 13 Pro Max: 238g weight |
iPhone 16 Pro: 194g weight iPhone 16 Pro Max: 225g weight |
Displays
Both iPhone 16 Pro models are expected to feature larger displays than their predecessors, pushing the iPhone 16 Pro Max to be the biggest iPhone ever offered. There are also reportedly improvements to the underlying OLED technology in store, in addition to considerably slimmer bezels, making for a noticeable overall display upgrade.
| 6.1- or 6.7-inch display | 6.3- or 6.9-inch display |
| “Notch” TrueDepth camera array | Dynamic Island |
| Always-On Display | |
| Slimmer borders around the display | |
| Up to 1,000 nits typical max brightness Up to 1,200 nits peak HDR brightness |
Up to 1,200 nits typical SDR brightness Up to 1,600 nits peak HDR brightness |
| More efficient OLED display with brighter micro-lens technology |
Performance
The iPhone 16 Pro models are rumored to bring notable improvements in processing power, including a 3nm Apple silicon chip with support for Apple Intelligence and 33% more memory.
| A15 Bionic chip (TSMC’s “N5P” 5nm process) | A18 chip (TSMC’s “N3E” enhanced 3nm process) |
| 16-core Neural Engine | Enhanced neural Engine with “significantly” more cores to support Apple Intelligence more effectively |
| Dedicated AV1 decoder | |
| 6GB memory | 8GB memory |
Connectivity
Connectivity is also due to get a significant upgrade on the iPhone 16 Pro, bolstering the device’s 5G, Wi-Fi, Thread, and Ultra Wideband specifications.
| Snapdragon X60 5G modem | Snapdragon X75 5G modem |
| Wi‑Fi 6 connectivity | Wi‑Fi 7 connectivity |
| Thread networking technology | |
| First-generation Ultra Wideband chip | Second-generation Ultra Wideband chip (connects from 3x further away) |
| Precision Finding for Find My friends |
Cameras
The iPhone 16 Pro models are slated to receive a range of substantial camera enhancements, such as a larger main camera sensor, a 48-megapixel sensor on the ultra wide camera, and a dedicated hardware button for photography and videography on the side of the device.
| Capacitive “Capture Button” with force-sensitive half-press and sliding gestures to trigger photography and videography features | |
| 12-megapixel main camera | 48-megapixel main camera |
| Photonic Engine for better low light performance | |
| 1/1.65-inch main camera sensor | iPhone 16 Pro: 1/1.28-inch main camera sensor iPhone 16 Pro Max: 1/1.14-inch main camera sensor |
| Sony IMX-703 main camera sensor | iPhone 16 Pro: Sony IMX-803 main camera sensor iPhone 16 Pro Max: Sony IMX-903 main camera sensor with stacked design for better performance, a 14-bit Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC) for high-quality image data conversion, and Digital Gain Control (DCG) for better dynamic range and noise control |
| 7P main camera lens | 8P main camera lens |
| Telephoto camera with sensor-shift optical image stabilization | Telephoto camera with larger sensor, folded tetraprism design, optical image stabilization, and autofocus 3D sensor-shift module |
| 77mm maximum focal length | 120mm maximum focal length |
| 4P telephoto camera lens | 5P telephoto camera lens |
| 12-megapixel ultra wide camera with f/1.8 | 48-megapixel ultra wide camera with f/2.2 aperture, 48-megapixel ProRaw support, and improved low-light performance |
| 5P ultra wide camera lens | 6P ultra wide camera lens |
| Anti-reflective coating on camera lenses | |
| 0.5x, 1x, 2x, and 3x optical zoom | 0.5x, 1x, 2x, and 5x optical zoom |
| 13mm, 24mm, 28mm, 35mm, and 120mm focal length picker | |
| 12-megapixel super-high-resolution photos | 24- and 48-megapixel super-high-resolution photos |
| Smart HDR 3 | Smart HDR 5 |
| Portrait mode with Focus and Depth Control | Next-generation portraits with Focus and Depth Control |
| Night mode and Night mode portraits | Improved Night mode and Night mode portraits |
| Support for new JPEG-XL format | |
| Shoot and instantly transfer 48-megapixel ProRAW images to Mac via USB 3 | |
| Record video directly to an external drive | |
| ProRes video recording up to 4K at 30 fps | ProRes video recording up to 4K at 60 fps with external recording |
| Log video recording | |
| Academy Color Encoding System | |
| Record spatial video for Apple Vision Pro | |
| Action mode for improved video stabilization |
Batteries and Charging
The iPhone 16 Pro models could receive some major improvements in battery technology and charging, sporting bigger, denser batteries and faster charging capabilities.
| Setting to prevent charging above 80% | |
| Battery manufacture date, first use, and cycle count information in Settings | |
| Single-layer battery technology | Stacked battery technology for increased energy density and prolonged lifespan |
| iPhone 13 Pro: 3,095 mAh battery iPhone 13 Pro Max: 4,352 mAh battery |
iPhone 16 Pro: 3,355 mAh battery iPhone 16 Pro Max: 4,676 mAh battery |
| Up to 20W wired charging | Up to 40W wired charging |
| 15W charging via MagSafe | 20W charging via MagSafe |
Other Features and Changes
The iPhone 16 Pro models will also offer support for Apple Intelligence, Apple’s new suite of personal AI features, later this year, as well as satellite connectivity, Crash Detection, and more storage.
| Apple Intelligence support | |
| Emergency SOS via Satellite | |
| Microphone | Upgraded microphone with improved signal-to-noise ratio and water resistance |
| Crash Detection | |
| Improved audio quality on phone calls | |
| Lightning connector with USB 2 transfer speeds (up to 480Mb/s) | USB-C port with USB 3 transfer speeds (up to 10Gb/s, 20x faster) |
| DisplayPort support for up to 4K HDR video output | |
| Up to 1TB of storage | Up to 2TB of storage |
Release Date
The iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max are expected to be announced at Apple’s “It’s Glowtime” event on Monday, September 9. Pre-orders are likely to open on Friday, September 13, with launch following one week later on Friday, September 20. For more information about the iPhone 16 Pro models, see our comprehensive roundup.
Will It Be Worth Upgrading?
The iPhone 15 Pro was a fairly significant upgrade over the iPhone 13 Pro, introducing a vast array of significant features including a titanium chassis, much slimmer bezels, the Action button, and a USB-C port. The iPhone 16 Pro will build on these upgrades, offering larger displays, the Capture button, improved cameras, and Apple Intelligence support. With a total of over 65 upgrades likely to be in store, many iPhone 13 Pro users will find upgrading to an iPhone 16 Pro model worthwhile.Related Roundup: iPhone 16 ProRelated Forum: iPhone
This article, “iPhone 13 Pro vs. iPhone 16 Pro: 65+ Upgrades to Expect” first appeared on MacRumors.com
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