The annual introduction of Apple's new iPhones is arguably one of the biggest photography events of the year — after all, smartphones account for 94% of the almost 2 trillion photos taken every year.
The iPhone 16 Pro did get some upgrades, as it does every September, if only incremental as usual. The ultra-wide lens gets an upgrade from 12 to 48MP, the main sensor is now faster, and the 5x telephoto made its way to the regular Pro model.
I'm still mad at Apple for the deliberate incremental transition from 12 to 48MP in the iPhone's camera system. They are doing it one lens at a time, knowing very well that a new and better camera is one of the main reasons why people upgrade their phones. The technology is already here: the cheaper Google Pixel 9 Pro comes with 48MP across the board, and even a 24MP selfie camera. Of course, the iPhone 17 is rumored to get those upgrades — it will be the best iPhone ever.
The iPhone 16 Pro's cameras look great, though, especially if you look at where we come from. They might not be substantial upgrades from last year's phone, but on paper, my iPhone 12 mini is starting to look pretty outdated with much smaller sensors and very little resolution. Yes, 12MP is usually enough, but that becomes 9MP after I apply the square crop, severely limiting any further cropping. As a photographer who shoots with all kinds of cameras, I'm definitely tempted to upgrade to the 16 for the cameras alone.
I said it a year ago, and I still think Apple made a mistake with the 120mm lens. The current lineup of 13mm, 24mm, and 120mm leaves a huge gap between the main and telephoto lenses, missing out on key and very useful focal lengths for everyday situations. I'd rather see a 75mm lens on a 48MP sensor, with the ability to reach 120mm using the fancy cropping the main sensor has.
Apple are not the only ones with this problem, though, but I can't stop wondering whether smartphone manufacturers are taking this approach because the demand for very long focal lengths is real, or simply because a high mm number looks more impressive on the spec sheet. In any case, my guess is that next year we'll see a 120mm on a 48MP sensor with the ability to "zoom" to 200mm or so -- and I'll be all for it.
I was hoping for a bigger sensor for the main camera, as rumors had the iPhone 16 Pro Max using Sony's IMX903 1/1.14" sensor. Instead, we got the same one from last year but with faster readouts to enable 4k120p. Great for video, I suppose, but not for photography. This would have placed the iPhone so close to 1" cameras… but given the very incremental updates, and the most likely move to 48MP for the telephoto and 24MP for the selfie camera on the iPhone 17, we might need to wait a couple years before we get to see that kind of sensor.
On the software side, it remains to be seen how much processing the new iPhones will be applying to the photos, but I'm not confident seeing the path Apple has been following for the last few years. I do believe that the photos we are taking today will look awful in 20-30 years, when we look back at them. While old film photos have a nostalgic feeling to them, smartphone photos today feel over-processed and more real than reality. I appreciate apps like Halide and its new “Zero process” feature, something that should be offered by Apple in the default camera app. There's little RAW in Apple ProRAW.
Overall, these are great cameras on very solid phones — just like last year, and the year before that. Smartphones have matured and become extremely good at what they do.
I'll personally be upgrading from my 12 mini to a 16 Pro Max, despite holding a grudge against the feature creep with the transition to 48MP. It's not because of the cameras -- after all I don't use my smartphone much for my work because I almost always have a better camera with me, usually the RX100vii. But for someone who spends long periods of time living in a car alone, sometimes in remote places with spotty or non-existent cell service, having longer battery life, crash detection, and satellite connectivity can be literal life-saving features. The better cameras will be nice to have, too.
PS: I will need to try the Camera Control button, dial, or whatever they call it, to have a more informed opinion on it. I'm all for phsyical controls, so the more buttons, the better.