7 upgrades we want from the iPhone 16
From more power to smarter features
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TheiPhone 16is sure to be one of the best selling phones of the year, leaving even the mightySamsung Galaxy S24series trailing behind.
That will probably happen almost regardless of how good this phone is, such is the might ofAppleand the iPhone brand. But the leaks so far are largely promising, pointing to upgrades to the chipset and battery, along with some new buttons.
But we probably won’t see upgrades to every aspect of the iPhone 16, and there are plenty of changes that we’d like – both rumored and not. So below, we’ve listed five things we want from the iPhone 16. Some of these are likely to happen, others really aren’t, but they’d all help make this thebest iPhoneit can be.
1. Substantial AI skills
AI is the big new thing in tech, and smartphones aren’t being left out, with the likes of theGoogle Pixel 8and Galaxy S24 already sporting numerous AI capabilities.
These phones have left Apple a little behind, so we’d like to see the company catch up this year. And there’s reason to think it will, with leaks suggestingSiri could be getting an AI upgrade, whileiOS 18might include various on-device AI skills, and maybe evenan AI App Store.
So hopefully this will mean there’s a whole suite of helpful AI features available on the iPhone 16 at launch.
2. Less flat photo processing
iPhones usually rank among thebest camera phones, and while Apple’s top photographic hardware will probably be reserved for the iPhone 16 Pro andiPhone 16 Pro Max, it’s likely that even the standard iPhone 16 will be able to snap quality images.
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That said, we’d like to see some tweaks to the way photos are processed, as they have a tendency to look a little flat and lifeless compared to those of many other phones, such as theGoogle Pixel 8 Pro.
Now, some people might prefer this look, so what we’d really like is a way to better tweak the processing of images to suit our own individual tastes. Sure, there’s alreadyPhotographic Styles, but these don’t go far enough, as it’s not possible to truly replicate Pixel orSamsung-style images with these.
Unfortunately, we don’t expect this change to be included as nothing along these lines has been rumored, but we live in hope.
3. A 120Hz refresh rate
Apple is probably the one brand in the world that can get away with charging a high price for a phone that has a 60Hz screen. That’s what it did with theiPhone 15, and signs suggest the same will be true of the iPhone 16, but we really hope not.
Over on Android, you can get a handset with a 90Hz or even 120Hz screen for drastically less money. So there seems little excuse for Apple to hold this feature back – other than so it can better justify the price of its even more expensive Pro models.
If the iPhone 16 is to be a truly great handset, suited to 2024, then it really should have a 120Hz display, and without a price bump to go with it.
4. A bigger battery
The iPhone 15 has just a 3,349mAh battery, and while this is a fairly compact phone, it’s a similar size to the Galaxy S24 for example, which has a 4,000mAh battery.
Look at most other similar size phones and you’ll find they have larger batteries than the iPhone 15 too, so Apple could surely increase the battery size for the iPhone 16.
Now, in ouriPhone 15 reviewwe found that it already offers all-day battery life, so you could argue that a larger battery isn’t overly needed. Yet it would certainly be nice to have – especially as batteries wear out over time. So while a new iPhone 15 offers all-day life, it might not do two years down the line.
As to whether we’ll get this, well, leaks suggestthe iPhone 16 might have a larger batterythan its predecessor, but with a rumored capacity of 3,561mAh it would still be far smaller than the batteries in most similarly sized phones.
5. Apple’s latest chipset
The iPhone 16 is sure to have a newer, more powerful chipset than the iPhone 15 does, but in the last couple of years Apple has given its newest non-Pro phones year-old chipsets from the Pro models.
So if that continues this year, the iPhone 16 will have an A17 Pro chipset, much like theiPhone 15 Pro, while the iPhone 16 Pro will get a new A18 Pro.
Now, the A17 Pro isn’t lacking for power, but this isn’t a practice Apple used to do, and it’s very unusual for phones as expensive as the iPhone 15 is – and the iPhone 16’s likely to be pricey – to have anything other than the latest and greatest chipsets available.
So we want to see the iPhone 16 get the same chipset as the iPhone 16 Pro andiPhone 16 Pro Max. Currently it’s unclear whether that will happen, with leaks suggesting that all of these upcoming phones might get an A18 chipset of some kind, but with the possibility that the Pro models will get an even speedier A18 Pro.
6. Speedier charging
At best the iPhone 15 charges at a maximum speed of 25 watts; that’s with a compatible charger, which you won’t find in the box. Despite the move to a USB-C connection, Apple hasn’t really boosted the charging speed of its iPhones for some time.
In the face of the 45W charging theSamsung Galaxy S24 Ultracan support, and the speedy charging of thebest OnePlus phones, iPhones can feel sluggish in comparison. Sure, Apple’s phones are great with battery efficiency, but once the juice is gone it can be a tad arduous to power up an iPhone. So we’re keen to see faster charging, even if it’s a boost to some 45 watts rather than much beyond that.
7. A more dynamic Dynamic Island
It’s been around for two iPhone generations now but the Dynamic Island doesn’t really feel amazingly useful or that intuitive to use. Sure it’s nice to have and can be handy when seeing how long a snoozed alarm has left before it blares at you to get out of bed, and the music controls in it are handy-ish too.
But I’d like to see the iPhone 16 do more with the Dynamic Island, maybe integrating the potential AI features and just making that screen space feel more… well… dynamic and useful. Failing that, shrinking down the pill-shaped cut-out would also be appreciated.
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James is a freelance phones, tablets and wearables writer and sub-editor at TechRadar. He has a love for everything ‘smart’, from watches to lights, and can often be found arguing with AI assistants or drowning in the latest apps. James also contributes to 3G.co.uk, 4G.co.uk and 5G.co.uk and has written for T3, Digital Camera World, Clarity Media and others, with work on the web, in print and on TV.
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