It might be one of the highest selling iPhones around, and certainly the most affordable, but when it comes to features, the non-pro iPhone in recent times has always seemed a bit like Harry Potter in the muggle world. He might have been a wizard, but when it came to life in the ‘normal’ world, Harry Potter had to put up with wearing hand-me-downs from his (overbearing and rude) cousin Dudley Dursley, while living in a cupboard below the staircase in their house.

iphone 16 opinion

On the ‘new’ iPhone this year, with love the old Pro!

And this seemed set to continue, as Apple was unveiling the new iPhone 16 at its Glowtime event. The brand showcased how now the iPhone 16 will also come with the Action button, which was earlier exclusive to the Pro models. This rubbed me up the wrong way, not because of a “how could a Pro-less iPhone come with a Pro-exclusive feature?” feeling, but actually because it seemed we were basically seeing Apple adding another hand-me-down feature to its new non-Pro iPhone that it begged/borrowed/ stole from previous year’s iPhone Pro model.

I had good reason for thinking on these lines. Of late, Apple seems to have treated the suffix less iPhone as a second grade citizen of the smartphone society that only deserves to get whatever leftover features the mighty Pro variant is bored of and is ready to share, especially in the last few years. Be it processors or cameras or other features, Apple was making a habit of bringing them to the Pro phones first before sharing it with their Pro-less variant, generally next year.

Take the last three year’s non-Pro iPhones. The iPhone 13, iPhone 14 and iPhone 15, not only came with little to no design distinctions, but the iPhone 14 and iPhone 15 were slapped with processors that came on Pro iPhones the year before their launch, with minor improvements. Similarly, the iPhone 15 got the Dynamic Island a year after it was hyped up on the iPhone 14 Pro series. And whatever new features Apple introduced, they were restricted to Pro models in the year of their launch. Similarly, the 48 megapixel camera that was a highlight of the iPhone 15, was actually similar to the one that had first appeared on the iPhone 14 Pro series. The plain iPhone was becoming a proper hand-me-down Harry – a wizard in the market, but not considered worthy of anything new in its own family.

No longer the bro of last year’s Pro!

This time, however, Apple proved me wrong. As the event unfolded, the iPhone 16 emerged with perhaps the most significant upgrades in the iPhone range, and was one of the stars at the event.

Apple might have taken some design “inspiration” for the dual camera set up from the iPhone X for the iPhone 16, but the new iPhone still comes with a design that is distinct enough to help it stand out amongst its predecessors. This is a big win, especially considering that the same cannot be said about the Pro version of the device – yes they come in different sizes now, but still have largely the same aesthetics.

iphone 16 camera control

Even more important was the addition of the new A18 Bionic chip, establishing that the iPhone 16 belongs to the new iPhone line-up and is not stuck in 2023. Yes, the iPhone 16 Pro comes with a Pro version of the same chip but at least the iPhone 16 is not stuck with a slightly tweaked older chipset that we experienced last year. Similarly, the much-hyped Camera Control button came to the iPhone 16 as well as the Pros and so did Apple Intelligence and faster MagSafe charging. All of this combined with some really vibrant colour options, Action button, improved cameras and essentially the same starting price tag as last year. All of which ensured that the iPhone 16 stood tall as a new iPhone in its own right and not just an affordable alternative with features from last year’s Pros.

Not a Pro, but definitely a bro

This does not mean the iPhone 16 is better or even as good as the iPhone 16 Pro in terms of features or performance. Of course, it is not. And it is not meant to be, because it is targeted at a different audience. The iPhone 16 Pro remains a Pro, a device designed for high-end users and content creators. It comes with a larger, better, always-on display with higher refresh rate, a Pro version of the A18 processor, has better cameras with the ability to record 4K video at 120fps, and USB 3 which is much faster as compared to USB 2 on the Pro-less iPhones, and a host of other features. It would be naive to assume that the plain iPhone would get the same features of its Pro siblings. After all, the iPhone Pro is called a ‘Pro’ for a reason and its much higher price tag delivers additional features to its consumers.

iphone 16 opinion

That said, it only seems fair that all iPhones launched at the same event should share the same basic features and foundations – after all, the Pro and non-Pro iPhone often had similar processors before the iPhone 14 and 14 Pro series. Even Google has of late been providing the same or similar processor on all its Pixels (even on the more affordable ‘a’ variant). Phones that belong to the same family should ideally share the same foundations and be linked by more than just nomenclature.

This year, Apple has made the iPhone 16 seem like a new phone without compromising on all that added goodness the extra bucks are supposed to bring with the Pro version. The iPhone 16 is no longer the iPhone with a year old chip and a two year old design at a relatively affordable price, but shares a lot of the Pro’s features and actually newer than the Pros, thanks to that design. Most important of all, In fact, the iPhone 16 is closer to the iPhone 16 Pro than it is to the iPhone 15 and 15 Pro, which is how it should always be.

Hand-me-Down Harry just became a wizard again.

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