Originally published at: First Impressions of the iPhone 16 Pro - TidBITS
After spending a weekend with the iPhone 16 Pro, Adam Engst feels even more confident in his earlier recommendation of the iPhone 16 for most people. The iPhone 16 Pro’s increased size and weight, along with the lack of noticeably better macro photos, make the standard model a better choice for most.
“I was perturbed to see it hanging from my mailbox in a plastic bag. In previous years, UPS delivered it to my door and required a signature…”
In my experience, living rurally with a mailbox not visible from the house at the bottom of a long driveway, both UPS and FedEx have been very unreliable about delivering items to the house. Sometimes an item is left at the mailbox, like Adam’s experience, sometimes left part way up the driveway in the woods or a snowbank, and sometimes they actually come to the house. I’ve not been able to correlate the value of the item with the lack of delivery, but anecdotally note that the issue is worse around high demand times such as Christmas. I wonder if the drivers are so stressed to get a certain number of deliveries completed in a day that they feel the pressure to avoid driving up driveways. I’ve found no way to communicate with either UPS or FedEx that the item they show as delivered, wasn’t actually delivered. I’ve often contacted the original shipper to ask them to contact the carrier and/or use a different carrier.
As you can tell from the length of this post, this is an issue close to my heart!
I see in the comparison chart here - iPhone 16 Pro vs iPhone 15 Pro vs iPhone 13 Pro - Apple - that while it’s slightly thicker than my iPhone 13 Pro it’s actually lighter.
That said, I’ll probably wait for the iPhone 17. My iPhone 13 Pro, which remains under warranty, is perfectly fine.
The 5x zoom sounds attractive though.
Just ordered mine…
Regarding UPS:
Last week was a bit strange. On Tuesday, I had a delivery scheduled for a prescription that I order monthly. Typically, the UPS driver leaves it in front of my apartment building, sometimes without even ringing my apartment buzzer. That Tuesday, I was out when he tried to deliver and instead took it to a nearby business that serves a UPS node.
On Wednesday, a delivery for a new Phone case was scheduled. I looked up the delivery on the UPS IOS app, and when it was out for delivery, a map showing the current location of the delivery truck was displayed. I later checked, and it showed the truck a few doors away from my building. I went to the landing for my floor and saw the truck in front of the building. Simultaneously, I also noticed that the elevator had been called. Sure enough, the elevator door opened a moment later, with the UPS driver holding my delivery. I guess that the first-floor door to the building had been propped open.
Finally, on Friday, I went downstairs to check my mail from the previous day and saw a UPS truck across the street (I live on a quiet residential street). I confirmed that that was the truck with my iPhone and Apple Watch via the UPS IOS app and asked the driver about my delivery. He said to be patient. Evidently, UPS treats each side of the street as a separate entity for its deliveries. About 30 minutes later, the app showed the truck approaching again; I stepped outside and had my new phone and watch.
This is the not the first such report I’m reading. I wonder if the Pro has simply jumped the shark. The regular 16 is good value while those that want the fanciest and most expensive just go for the Pro Max.
Hmm… I staged my pre-order purchasing straight from Apple. Kinda nice you could add to cart an it would bill you when it ships. The iPhone shipped from China. I missed my UPS delivery on Friday, I was distracted on a business video conference when UPS knocked and I didn’t hear them. UPS sent me an automated email stating they rescheduled for Monday. Then in the morning I was pleasantly surprised with another email stating that Saturday Delivery was authorized. Signature definitely was required which is why they didn’t leave it between the storm door and the front door. I imagine the Apple contract with UPS is a very big deal for UPS.
What’s weird is UPS collects a massive amount of data on their drivers. They know how many feet they reversed. They know if they put on their seatbelt. There are cameras in the truck monitoring the driver and the back of the truck. They know if you use your phone while driving. They know their speed, how hard they brake. They can evaluate the drivers efficiency, safety, etc. How long they are stopped and their GPS location at all times. I bet their handheld computers are being tracked as well. I can’t imagine, a driver leaving an iPhone hanging off your mailbox would be allowed by UPS management.
@ace I’m with Tonya-looking for a smaller phone along the lines of a mini or something with similar dimensions. I’ve got a 12 mini and will keep it going as long as I can until Apple releases a comparable device.
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I don’t comment often, but the photos from the iPhone 16 Pro look pretty bad. I agree that the yellow of the flower is lacking detail from being overly bright.
I know it was probably a quick test, but the cleanup feature is just horrendous. That sample picture has odd artifacts of the stack of berries in the back where you removed the person, the speaker cords are all still dangling, the cloud at the top left behind the left side speaker is crazy. Just awful. All of it. 
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My plan is to purchase the iPhone 16 Pro. I currently have the iPhone 11 Pro. Will it be possible to do the Quick Start via my Satechi USB-C multi-port Adapter? It has both USB-C and USB-A ports. Using the Apple USB-A to Lightning Cable with my iPhone 11 Pro? The iPhone 11 Pro will be on iOS 18.
I’m on the annual upgrade program and picked up my 16 Pro on Friday. The Apple Store in the Mall was chaos, and the employee tagged to handle my upgrade knew less about how to do it than I did, but she finally activated the phone with T-Mobile. I should have left the Store then, but my agent insisted I do the Restore while at Apple. I won’t bore you with the details, but after 30 minutes of the phone not updating, I decided to leave and do it myself at home with the backups I had created. That was successful, and the only problem I’ve encountered on the 16 Pro is with Books, which is having trouble playing Audible audiobook content. Next year, I’ll forego the Apple Store and go back to having the phone delivered to my home, activating and restoring the iPhone myself.
This was my only minor quibble with @ace’s article. He wrote:
Tonya may never upgrade from her third-generation iPhone SE if Apple doesn’t provide a smaller device for smaller people.
Smaller devices aren’t just for smaller people! I’m 6’1" and (ahem) 200 lb and I’m still clinging onto my iPhone 12 mini too. It’s been the best iPhone I’ve had since the 5 and I really don’t want to replace it with a larger model. Unfortunately it’s getting more and more unreliable and I will probably need to get a 16.
Apple, come to your senses!
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I believe the direct connection method is new to the USB-C models (15 and 16). When upgrading from lightning phones, Apple says you need the USB-C to lightning adapter and a lightning cable (lightning both ends, IIRC, and Apple no longer sells it.). See Use a wired connection to transfer data to a new iPhone - Apple Support
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Indeed. I am very happy with my iPhone 13 mini and will skip this round of new phones. I had been hoping that the rumored 2025 iPhone SE would retain the smaller sizes of its predecessors, but most of the rumors now seem to suggest that it will be a full-sized phone.
I agree about the cleanup feature. The leg of the side table has been cut short as well.
Watch Tony Northrup’s video about the iPhone 16 Pro’s cameras and you’ll reconsider buying one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwLQOIlSzno It shocked me the way the 5x telephoto doesn’t zoom out but just crops the image for smaller zooms ie 3x, 2x etc. I’ll be looking for something with a 1" sensor and better optical telephoto up to 5x.
The fact that the quick start did not work for you resonated with my purchase of an iPad Pro last week. The quick start failed multiple times because it wanted to update me to the latest IOS (18) and that hung over and over. I ended up installing IOS 17.7 so that was the same as my existing iPad and then it did the Happy Screen transfer.
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Regarding the “Cleanup” in Photos. Isn’t that part of “Apple Intelligence,” and doesn’t that begin coming in iOS 18.1? Or, is it possible it will WORK much better in 18.1?
And, Adam, may I ask why you prefer that particular 3rd party case to Apple’s, particularly if you’re interested in minimal additional size and heft?
I agree entirely! The point I was trying to make is that smaller people have to make more significant physical accommodations to be able to hold and use a device that’s significantly larger than their hands.
When I was telling Tonya about this last night, she said that Apple’s lack of accommodation for people of her size (she’s 5’ 3", which is just slightly below average for the US) was a small but real factor in why she left the industry. It’s hard to get excited about the latest and greatest iPhone when you know it won’t fit in your hand. She held onto the iPhone 5 form factor as long as she could, and she still doesn’t like the iPhone SE form factor as much.
Those of us whose bodies are larger can (and should) have preferences, but at least the larger devices aren’t as physically difficult to manipulate as they are for smaller folks.
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What I’m seeing is wistfulness for the mini models, but no purchases. Adam took the Pro for the cameras. Tonya has the SE/3, I’m sure for good reasons.
The mini seemed to suffer from death by a thousand “buts”. “I almost bought the mini, but the SE was cheaper. I would have bought the mini, but I wanted the longer battery life, so I bought the regular. I should have bought the mini, but I take a lot of photos so I bought the Pro. I could have bought the mini, but I had just bought an 11 and by the time I wanted to upgrade, the 14/15/16’s were out, and there was no 14/15/16 mini.”
Nobody bought the mini 'cept you and me.