The iPhone Plus is the least favorite iPhone out there because it’s too close to the Pro in price, but with fewer features and the notoriously lame OLED at a 60Hz refresh rate. Still, the thin and lightweight design and amazing battery life make sense to some buyers and they’d probably want to know how the new Apple iPhone 16 Plus compares with the previous one iPhone 15 Plus.
Table of contents:
For starters, you can compare full spec sheets or continue directly with our editor’s review in the following text.
To recap, the iPhone 16 Plus comes with a new chip that promises AI capabilities across the board, an improved display glass, expanded camera capabilities, and faster wireless charging. There’s also the added action key and the new camera controls. But all this fits on a spec page – let’s see how different the two devices really are in the real world.
Size comparison
The iPhone 16 Plus has an identical footprint to the iPhone 15 Plus, which isn’t surprising. Both phones measure 160.9 x 77.8 x 7.8 mm. At 199 grams, the iPhone 16 Plus is 2 grams lighter than the iPhone 15 Plus.
One difference is that the new iPhone 16 Plus should have improved durability, according to Apple. It features a new generation Ceramic Shield front, which should be 50% stronger than the previous one on the iPhone 15 Plus.
There are also two new buttons on the iPhone 16 Plus that are missing on the iPhone 15 – the action key was previously exclusive to iPhone Pros and there’s the new camera controls here too.
Show comparison
The iPhone 16 Plus has the same display as on the iPhone 15 Plus: a 6.7-inch Super Retina XDR OLED with excellent HDR capabilities and high resolution, but a standard refresh rate of 60 Hz. Both panels are advertised as being able to offer a typical brightness of 1,000 nits and a maximum brightness of up to 2,000 nits.
According to our screen measurements, the iPhone 16 Plus’ screen is brighter than the iPhone 15 Plus’ – offering 180 nits more in auto brightness (1823 vs. 1642) and 70 nits more in manual mode (891 vs. 820). Not that big of a difference, but still.
Battery life
The iPhone 16 Plus has a larger battery than its predecessor: 4,674 mAh instead of 4,383 mAh. This is a fairly modest increase of around 7%, but we accept it.
The most significant change, however, comes from the improved efficiency of the new Apple A18 chipset and likely some under-the-hood improvements in iOS 18.
As a result, the new iPhone 16 Plus achieved a record-breaking Active Use Score of 18:49. It’s chart-topping battery life and shows that the new Plus model offers an extra 10 hours of voice calling, 2.5 hours more web time and 1 hour more video streaming compared to the iPhone 15 Plus. It’s probably safe to say that this is the iPhone with the best battery life yet.
Charging speed
The iPhone 16 Plus supports fast wired charging, although Apple never reveals the maximum power. The company quotes a 50% charge in 30 minutes when using a 20W USB-PD charger.
There’s also support for fast wireless charging up to 25W via the new MagSafe charger when connected to a power adapter above 30W. If you have a compatible Qi2 charger, the iPhone 16 Plus will max out at 15W. Meanwhile, the iPhone 15 Plus MagSafe’s wireless charging reaches a maximum of 15W.
We conducted our charging tests with a 45W PD charger to give the iPhones the best chance. Both phones took about the same time to charge. An hour on that charger topped up 85% of the iPhone batteries and the last 15% took over 30 minutes.
Speaker test
The iPhone 16 Plus and iPhone 15 Plus have identical stereo speakers. They are of the hybrid variety where the earpiece is one of the speakers. The other speaker is located on the bottom of the phones, next to the USB-C port.
The iPhone 16 Plus scored a Very Good rating on our loudness test, while the iPhone 15 received a Good rating. You can hear the difference through our audio playback tool, although you’ll have a hard time doing this in real life.
Performance
This year’s big upgrade for the iPhone 16 Plus is the Apple A18 chipset, which is two generations ahead of what the iPhone 15 Plus had: the A16. This is a second-generation 3nm chip that is both more powerful and more efficient.
The Apple A18 has a faster six-core processor, better 5-core GPU with support for improved hardware ray tracing. It also comes with more RAM, now 8GB.
The A18 CPU is advertised as 30% faster than the iPhone 15 Plus CPU and 60% faster than the iPhone 12 CPU. The GPU should be 40% faster than the iPhone 15 Plus and twice as fast as the iPhone 12.
Benchmark performance
In our tests, the new Apple A18 CPU in the iPhone 16 Plus scores about 20% more than the A16 in the iPhone 15 Plus. There is also a 30% to 60% jump in GPU performance depending on the 3D test.
The A18 chip has a new NPU, which scores about twice as high as the NPU in the iPhone 15 Plus.
Thanks to the new iPhone chip, all those high-end games that were incompatible with the iPhone 15 Plus can run quite well on the iPhone 16 Plus and that’s probably the most noticeable upgrade, if you’re a gamer.
Thanks to the new chipset, you’ll also get access to the Apple Intelligence feature when it’s released, as long as you live in a supported region (outside the European Union and China).
Camera comparison
The iPhone 16 Plus practically borrows its main camera setup from the iPhone 15 Plus. It’s quite powerful: a 48 MP sensor with a size of 1/1.56 inch, 1.0 µm individual pixels and sensor-shift OIS. There is a bright f/1.6 lens in front. The same applies to the selfie camera – the 12 MP shooter has already proven its worth and is also equipped with phase detection autofocus.
The only upgrade is the new ultra-wide camera. It’s still a 12 MP unit. This year, however, there is a brighter lens with an aperture of f/2.2. Plus, probably best of all, it now has autofocus, allowing it to double as a macro camera for close-ups.
Of course there is also the new Camera Control. It’s a real physical button with real movement when pressed. It also integrates a capacitive sensor that allows touch and swipe interactions, as well as a high-precision force sensor that detects light pressure.
Image quality
There is hardly any improvement in photo quality in daylight, no matter how Apple tries to convince you. The iPhone 16 Plus takes the same photos as the iPhone 15 Plus. They are detailed, with natural colors, low noise and a wide dynamic range. The leaf view isn’t our favorite, especially if you’re shooting in the standard 12MP.
The samples below were taken at the same locations but at different times.
iPhone 16 Plus: 0.5x • 1x • 2x • selfie
iPhone 15 Plus: 0.5x • 1x • 2x • selfie
The iPhone 16 Plus can now also take macro photos with its new ultrawide camera.
iPhone 16 Plus – macro with UW camera
The photos we took in low light from the main cameras, in both 1x and 2x mode, are largely identical. The camera app did not opt for Night mode on the iPhone 15 Plus, but nevertheless the quality remains comparable.
The brighter aperture on the ultrawide camera does have an effect at night, and the ultrawide photos from the iPhone 16 Plus are clearer, with more detail and less noise.
Video quality
New video options have been added to iPhone 16 Plus: studio-quality microphones for better audio quality, plus spatial video and audio recording capabilities.
Furthermore, the video quality remains the same on all cameras.
The daylight videos from all three cameras are excellent across the board, including stabilization.
Below are a few frame grabs of the videos taken by the two phones at each focal length to make it easier to compare them.
iPhone 16 Plus: 0.5x • 1x • 2x • selfie
iPhone 15 Plus: 0.5x • 1x • 2x • selfie
The ultra-wide camera’s low-light videos are now better: they are better exposed, with more detail and less noise.
Pronunciation
The iPhone 16 Plus is an excellent premium smartphone with top features and delivers in all the areas that matter: design, screen, battery life, speakers, performance and camera.
The iPhone 16 Plus is the faster phone of the two with a better ultrawide camera and faster wireless charging. Battery life has also improved and durability has improved if Apple is to be believed. You now also get the Action key and Camera controls.
Although it offers roughly the same user experience, the iPhone 16 Plus is objectively the better phone compared to the iPhone 15 Plus.
However, the iPhone 15 Plus is now around £250 cheaper than the 16 Plus and has many of the same qualities. The choice between the two depends on your budget and whether you value the extra features the iPhone 16 Plus can offer.
- The more durable screen glass.
- The longer battery life.
- The faster wireless charging.
- The faster performance, especially when gaming.
- The better ultrawide camera.
- Support for Apple Intelligence.
Buy the Apple iPhone 16 Plus for: