iPhone 16 vs iPhone 15 Buying Guide: Key Differences Explained

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We’ve now had some time to properly get to grips with the iPhone 16 meaning we can now give you our thoughts on whether it’s worth buying compared to the iPhone 15.

Although iPhone releases aren’t what they used to be in terms of groundbreaking new features, there are still some notable upgrades to be found in the iPhone 16.

A more vibrant display, Camera Control and Apple Intelligence capabilities are eye-catching, but does all this make it worth upgrading to the iPhone 16? Let’s compare the new iPhone with the iPhone 15 to find out!

iPhone 16 vs iPhone 15 Spec Comparison

Price and Storage

While there may not be any huge improvements to shout about with the iPhone 16, we can be happy that Apple hasn’t raised the price of its standard model. You can buy the iPhone 16 for $799/£799, the same as the release price for the iPhone 15 in 2023.

A new release also means that older models get a price drop. Apple is now selling the iPhone 15 brand new for $699/£699, a $100/£100 discount.

That price of $799/£799 gets you an iPhone 16 with 128GB of storage. For $899/£899 you get 256GB and $1,099/£1,099 gets you 512GB. This is the exact same pricing structure and storage configuration that the iPhone 15 had when it was released.

Processor

Right off the bat, the iPhone 16 displays an obvious upgrade over the iPhone 15 in the form of the new A18 chipset, the first 3nm smartphone chip.

Apple claims the A18 chip’s CPU is 30% faster than that found in the iPhone 15’s A16 Bionic chip, even though they have the same amount of CPU cores. Getting into the nitty-gritty, Apple’s A18 chip has a clock speed of 3780 MHz compared to 3460 MHz for the A16.

Clock speed is a measure of how quickly a chip executes tasks, such as opening an app. A higher number means a faster and more efficient chip. These processing power gains are derived from incremental efficiency improvements rather than revolutionary hardware overhauls.

The standard A18 chip also comes with a 5-core GPU that Apple also claims is 40% faster at graphics processing than the A16’s GPU. The A18 Pro includes a 6-core GPU, making it 20% faster than the A17 Pro’s GPU found in the iPhone 15 Pro Max.

The iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max models receive the A18 Pro chip which comes with a clock speed of 3890 MHz. To put this into perspective, the clock speed of the A15 Bionic chip found in the two-year-old iPhone 14 is 3230 MHz.

What does this mean for the everyday user? The truth is, not a huge amount. If you own an iPhone 15 you won’t notice a massive jump in performance in day-to-day tasks compared to the iPhone 16. The increase will be there, but not necessarily obvious.

One key difference however is the Neural Engine which Apple says has been optimised for AI, all in service of Apple Intelligence. In theory, this means AI features will be performed more efficiently on the iPhone 16 compared to the iPhone 15.

Display

This is a pretty easy one to get your head around. The iPhone 16 has the same display as the iPhone 15.

Both base models get a 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR display with a peak brightness of 2,000 nits and a 2556 x 1179 resolution. Surprisingly, the refresh rate remains at 60Hz, a step below what has become the standard 120Hz in competitor models like the Google Pixel 9 and Huawei Pura 70 Ultra.

For a higher refresh rate, and therefore smoother video viewing experience, you’ll have to opt for the more expensive iPhone 16 Pro or Pro Max.

This is disappointing, but at least it makes for a simple comparison to the iPhone 15 which, incidentally, still has an excellent display.

Camera

Now we get to one of the biggest factors in choosing a smartphone for most people; camera quality.

In recent years, tech companies have made camera improvements central to upgrading smartphones with each release. Where other areas like performance have plateaued, cameras have continued to get better.

But that isn’t necessarily the case for the iPhone 16.

Both the standard iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 come with a 48MP primary sensor and 12MP f/2.4 Ultrawide sensor. The same goes for the 2x telephoto capability.

The only notable difference is that the iPhone 16 can shoot spatial video at 30 frames per second in 1080p. Not only is this a nice-to-have, it’s also important for making the new iPhone compatible with Vision Pro.

The real improvements are found if you upgrade to the iPhone 16 Pro or Pro Max where you get a tasty 48MP Ultrawide. iPhones are renowned for their excellent ultrawide capabilities so having a 48MP version is a really exciting prospect.

In short, there doesn’t seem to be any huge difference between the iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 in terms of camera technology. Whilst not exactly headline-grabbing, cameras in top-end smartphones are so good now that improvements aren’t essential.

You can be sure that if you liked the iPhone 15’s camera then you’ll like the one on the iPhone 16.

Battery Life

The iPhone 15 has a 3,349 mAh battery that, depending on how intensely you use it, lasts anywhere from about 11 hours to 55 hours. But for an average use case, with some video playback and audio listening, you can get about 30 hours of battery life.

The iPhone 16 has a 3,561 mAh battery representing a 6% increase in capacity over the iPhone 15. Apple states this will give you 22 hours of video playback, 18 hours of streaming video and 80 hours of audio.

In simple terms, the battery for both iPhones is great and there really isn’t much difference between the two.

Both the iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 also have fast charging and MagSafe compatibility.

Unique Features

New hardware features are hard to come by with the iPhone 16, but there are some.

The Action Button introduced on the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max is now available on all iPhone 16 models. There is also a new Camera Control button which is less of a button and more like a fingerprint scanner found on the side of the phone. 

This new feature allows users to launch the camera without interacting with the display and also access Visual Intelligence powered by Apple Silicon.

Where the iPhone 16 really makes itself distinct from the iPhone 15 is the inclusion of Apple Intelligence, Apple’s bespoke AI system. Key to making Apple Intelligence unique to other smartphone AIs is the fact that it will execute most tasks on-device.

Other AI systems like Samsung Galaxy AI rely on utilising the cloud meaning they can be slower and are more vulnerable to security breaches. Apple Intelligence will be able to perform tasks such as composing emails, summarising notes and editing images.

Apple Intelligence is available on all the new iPhone 16 models as well as the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max. The standard iPhone 15 is not compatible with Apple AI.

Conclusion

The days of truly transformative annual smartphone releases are over. The iPhone 16 doesn’t look very different to the iPhone 15, it doesn’t have any major processing improvements either. Even the camera system is virtually identical.

But this release cycle was all about one thing for Apple; the introduction of Apple Intelligence to their flagship device. How transformative will it be? Well, over here in the UK, we can’t even tell you because it isn’t available here yet until December 2024.

Yep, that’s right. Apple’s big new feature for this cycle of smartphones is unavailable to a lot of people. And for that reason, it makes recommending the iPhone 16 difficult.

At its core, the iPhone 16 is a top-notch smartphone. But so is the iPhone 15, offering you similarly excellent levels of performance (albeit at a marginally lower level) and virtually the same camera set up for less money.

My honest advice? If you don’t care about having the latest and greatest, then buy the iPhone 15. But if you have the spare cash, getting the iPhone 16 won’t exactly hurt!