5 Best iPhone 16 Features

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Nowadays, when a company releases their new flagship smartphone, we’re often left to pick through the weeds to find the new features. A slightly brighter display here, a few extra megapixels on the camera there.

But the latest iPhone has, at least partially, bucked this trend. There are indeed some new, interesting and unique iPhone 16 features that might not transformative but certainly make a difference.

We’ve picked out the five new iPhone 16 features we like the most! 

1. Camera Control Button

New buttons seem to be Apple’s thing right now. After resolving the notch issue, Apple has broadened its creative horizons.

The iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max saw the introduction of the Action Button which is now available on the standard iPhone 16. And now Apple has added the Camera Control button to its smartphone lineup.

Like the Action Button, Camera Control is a haptic button rather than a mechanical one. That means it responds to inputs with vibrations to simulate a finger press. The button is located on the side of the device, above the volume controls. It is also touch-sensitive meaning you can scroll using the button.

As for what the Camera Control can do, well it does what it says on the tin; it lets you launch the camera directly from the side of the phone without the need to use the display. A single tap opens the camera and a second tap quickly takes a photo.

The Action Button could already be configured to launch the camera app. The difference now is that you can launch the camera instantly and also take a photo.

It’s a nifty addition that adds that extra bit of convenience to using an iPhone and separates it from competitors. It might seem a bit superfluous but if you take the time to get used to using Camera Control, it’ll quickly start to form part of your everyday use.

2. Spatial Video

Spatial Video is an update aimed at a very specific set of users; those who own Apple Vision Pro. It is also the reason why the rear-facing cameras have been rearranged on iPhone 16 into a vertical configuration, rather than the usual diagonal setup.

When viewed on a VR headset like Vision Pro, Spatial Video becomes incredibly immersive. The experience is like being able to walk through your videos, rather than seeing them from a two-dimensional perspective. In advanced formats, you can even interact with objects and people.

Spatial Video is amazing and one of the best things about Apple Vision Pro. But that is its main drawback as a feature on the iPhone 16; 99% of users can’t make use of it because Vision Pro is still very expensive.

If you can utilise Spatial Video then it is a great addition to the iPhone’s arsenal. But until Vision Pro gets more affordable, it will remain a largely redundant iPhone 16 feature.

3. Apple Intelligence

Apple Intelligence is Apple’s bespoke artificial intelligence system. 

Much like Google Assistant or Samsung Galaxy AI, Apple Intelligence can do things like summarise large bodies of text, send messages or edit photos automatically upon your command.

The main difference between Apple’s AI and others is that most of the tasks are completed on-device rather than relying on the cloud. This means that Apple Intelligence is not only faster but also more secure and private.

It is available on all iPhone 16 models and the iPhone 15 Pro Max. How useful it actually is for you personally is a different matter.

AI is what you make of it. If you can integrate it efficiently into your everyday processes then Apple Intelligence will certainly be a huge selling point for the iPhone 16.

4. A18 Chip

We’re at the point now, especially with Apple, where devices are already so efficient and powerful that hardware upgrades are barely noticeable. The average user would not be able to notice the difference in processing power between the iPhone 13 and the iPhone 16.

That being said, the new A18 chip inside the iPhone 16 is a mind-blowingly powerful bit of kit to have in a smartphone. It is the first phone chip to utilise 3nm technology meaning it has a higher transistor density leading to more efficiency.

The A18 outperforms the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 in both single-core and multi-core tests even though it has two fewer cores overall. Apple has nailed its system-on-a-chip architecture ever since the Apple Silicon era dawned.

But that’s not it. The A18 has been specifically designed with a new Neural Engine to optimise it for handling AI-driven tasks. Without it, Apple Intelligence wouldn’t be able to operate as it does.

As I said before, to the average user, this stuff hardly registers. But the details highlight just how top-end Apple’s tech is.

5. Action Button

While the Action Button first came out on the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, it is now available on the base-level iPhone 16 too.

That means it is now open to a much wider base of users.

There has been a lot said about the Action Button, most of it boils down to a collective shrug of the shoulders. But it can be a genuinely useful, if not revolutionary, feature.

The Action Button allows users to quickly open apps with a single button push without having to interact with the display. For example, it can be programmed to open the flashlight or silent mode.

It’s a minor addition but if you make the effort to integrate it into your use, you will find it making a mark without noticing.

Conclusion

If you jump head-first into it, there are some genuinely useful and interesting iPhone 16 features.

Much of this depends on how much you can get to grips with Apple Intelligence as a useful companion. Beyond these features, there is still of course the rest of an excellent iPhone with everything we’ve become accustomed to.

Is there enough there to draw you to the iPhone 16? Let me know below!