I’ve traded in my iPhone Pro for a new regular iPhone 16. I have very few regrets

The time had come: this year, it was time to change my phone. After thinking about the decision a lot and having the Pixel 9 on the list until the last moment, I decided on the iPhone 16. Not the Pro version – we already have an analysis of the iPhone 16 Pro – but the standard one. A few days ago I mentioned my reasons for making this decision and why I consider that, right now, I am no longer an “iPhone Pro user”.

The bottom line was that I wanted to stay within the Apple ecosystem, but also have a more capable camera for quick, everyday situations. The iPhone 16 Pro is an exceptional phone, but with features I’m not going to get the most out of enough to spend an extra 200 euros that I can spend on AirPods 4, for example. Plus, I figured the jump from my iPhone 11 Pro would be more than relevant considering the four generations that have passed since then.

The funny thing is that, these last few days, I’ve been seeing on Threads – a social network that I don’t like at all, but where I’m here to see if I can find an alternative to Twitter – a lot of questions from users wondering whether it would be worth changing an iPhone 11 Pro/iPhone 12 Pro to an iPhone 16.

As is exactly what I have done, I am going to tell you how I felt these first 24 hours with the new generation of iPhone after the change. And if you are in that situation and this can help you make the decision to change to the 16, go for the 16 Pro or wait for the iPhone 17, then all the better. I can tell you in advance that I do not regret the change… not at all.

An almost giant leap

When to upgrade to an iPhone is a very personal matter. There are those who upgrade annually, but also those who wait for even or odd versions because a two-year cycle gives them more time to innovate. There are also cases that hold out as long as possible with their phone as long as it continues to receive updates and, when things really go wrong or when Apple stops supporting them, that’s when they decide to upgrade.

My iPhone 11 Pro was already asking for the timeWith 72% battery life, I had to charge it more than I would like, the power was no longer sufficient for some games and it was noticeably struggling with multitasking (which is not the iPhone’s strong point). There were also animations that were a bit laggy and, above all, the camera had fallen behind.

Not because of the image quality, which we will see is still very good, but because it struggles indoors. And at night, let’s not even talk about it. With all that in mind, The change from an iPhone 11 Pro to an iPhone 16 is abysmal. You may like the design more or less, but having USB-C (even if it is slow) is a joy and the screen goes from 5.8 inches to 6.1 inches. The phone is not much bigger, but the screen is. And it is very noticeable when playing and viewing content.

Speaking of multimedia consumption: the speakers have improved a lot. Not only are they much louder than on the iPhone 11 Pro, but the sound quality is much higher thanks to more powerful bass. And when it comes to playing, I haven’t really tried very demanding titles, but I have tried a lot of them. Netflix games like ‘Hades’ or ‘Dead Cells‘ and, even though they are very simple, the 11 Pro got hot and this iPhone 16 runs like silk.

The screen has the same resolution, but the dynamic range is better thanks to a higher brightness, and that is also immediately apparent. Where the new iPhone 16 does get hot, despite its passive heatsink (finally, Apple) is when charging. I have limited the charge to 80%, but with a 65 W charger, the phone gets hot. This is totally normal and what I have noticed is that, every time it gets hot, when it is no longer under stress the heatsink does its job and returns to the optimal temperature quickly.

I would like to try more demanding games, but the ones currently available like ‘Death Stranding’ or ‘Resident Evil VIII’ are already on PS5 and Xbox Series X and I am not going to pay for them again.

It is noticeable from the front

But at extreme angles… much more

Otherwise, the new action button is another thing you gain if you upgrade from an older iPhone Pro to an iPhone 16, as is the dynamic island that still annoys you, but at least has more features than the traditional notch. And iOS 18 moves like a charm. The screen goes to 60 Hz and it’s still embarrassing that a mobile phone of almost 1,000 euros has a panel with this refresh rate, but the iOS animations are very good and the loading of absolutely everything is very fast thanks to the A18.

The change is obvious, but if you go from an iPhone with ProMotion to one with 60 Hz again, no matter how fluid it is, you will feel like you have lost something. Oh, and something also important when changing from an old iPhone to a new generation one: NFC for payments is a bit faster, as is FaceID.

The camera is another story

Although there were a number of reasons why I wanted to change my phone, the camera was the most important. Outside the home, The iPhone 11 Pro is still performing great -In fact, I think it’s the best camera Apple has ever made on an iPhone thanks to the low processing of its images, but that’s another story-. In spaces, in everyday life, when you take photos of food in a restaurant or your pets, things change.

I’m not sure what I think of this button yet.

Yes, obviously the 11 Pro was still holding its own, but a newer phone, even if it’s not a Pro, is going to be much more reliable. I don’t intend to do an analysis of the iPhone 16 camerassince that topic will be addressed in depth by my colleague Iván Linares in his analysis, but I do want to share some examples taken on this first day so you can see the change from an iPhone 11 Pro to an iPhone 16.

The truth is that it is surprising and, first of all, I want to comment that, with good lighting conditions, the photography of the 11 Pro seems better to me thanks to a natural grain that the iPhone 16 does not have (nor the previous iPhones since 12 due to that overprocessing) and it does not present a sharpening exaggerated. I think the photos are better when the conditions are optimal, but the iPhone 16’s are much, much more versatile.

Let’s look at some examples and let me explain:

iPhone 11 Pro vs iPhone 16 | The 11 Pro has more natural noise, something that the iPhone 16 doesn’t have due to processing

iPhone 11 Pro vs iPhone 16 | I like the Pikachu on the 11 Pro better, but the background blur on the 16 and its colors are more striking for social media

iPhone 11 Pro vs iPhone 16

iPhone 11 Pro vs iPhone 16 | They feel very similar…

iPhone 11 Pro vs iPhone 16 | But when you zoom in, you can see that the detail of the 24 Mpx of the iPhone 16 is at its best

iPhone 11 Pro vs iPhone 16 | Something similar happens here

iPhone 11 Pro vs iPhone 16

iPhone 11 Pro vs iPhone 16 | See the whiskers, details in the iris or the texture of the hair

iPhone 11 Pro vs iPhone 16

iPhone 11 Pro vs iPhone 16 | This is with the 2x optical in the case of the Pro and digital in the case of the 16

Given all this, the weapon in favor of the iPhone 16 is the new styles. Not so much because of the new palette with more options, but because of the possibility of customizing the style to get a better tone in the shadows before or after taking a photo. I think it is something that can be easily seen in this video that I leave you below:

In the end, and with all this in mind, I think that changing from an iPhone 11 Pro or 12 Pro to an iPhone 16, even if we lose the 2x optical telephoto lens, is a good idea. Not only do you have a much more current chip (which guarantees many more years of updates), also USB-C, a bright screen, very good speakers and a camera that, with that large main sensor and the 2x digital one, behaves great in all situations.

And, while we’re at it, I’ll leave you with a video captured with the two iPhones. The one on the left is again an iPhone 11 Pro and the one on the right, an iPhone 16. If you look at the top, in the trees, the noise is much more noticeable on the iPhone 11 Pro. The streetlight also has a flash that isn’t as present on the iPhone 16, but both still have fairly average lenses, causing glare.

The wide angle is still very, very improvable for a phone of this price, but I am very happy with the change even though the iPhone 11 Pro photos in good lighting conditions seemed more… natural to me.

Photos | Xataka

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