The iPhone 16 Pro has some nice camera upgrades this year, but is it worth upgrading from the iPhone 15 Pro? I did a camera test and found out.
Apple’s iPhone 16 lineup is here. Though the base model iPhone 16 has taken a lot of the spotlight this year with the redesigned camera layout and amazing colors, the iPhone 16 Pro is a bit more iterative in terms of upgrades.
I personally bought an iPhone 16 Pro to upgrade from my iPhone 15 Pro. To be honest, though, if the iPhone 16 had a 1TB storage option, I would have gone that route. Since it doesn’t, I had to go with the iPhone 16 Pro, as much as I wanted a pink phone. But storage wasn’t the only reason — I also wanted the improved telephoto camera that I missed out on last year.
So, was going to the iPhone 16 Pro from the iPhone 15 Pro worth it? Let’s find out.iPhone 16 Pro vs. iPhone 15 Pro: camera specs
As you can see above, the cameras between the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro are similar but with a few key differences.
For one, the iPhone 16 Pro now has the 5x optical zoom that was previously only on the iPhone 15 Pro Max model last year, as Apple made the camera systems on both models equal this time.
Apple also improved the ultrawide camera on the iPhone 16 Pro, going to 48MP from the previous 12MP. This should mean better detail and resolution in your ultrawide shots, and macros can now be in full 48MP, too.
Though the main camera on both phones remains at 48MP, Apple rebranded the main camera on the iPhone 16 Pro to a “Fusion” camera rather than just “main” like it did before. Does this actually mean anything? We’ll see.
Since Apple made no improvements to the TrueDepth front camera (still 12MP and f/1.9 aperture on both), we’ll just be looking at the triple-lens camera system in this comparison. Ready? Let’s get started.iPhone 16 Pro vs. iPhone 15 Pro: main camera
Again, the main camera on both the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro is 48MP. But it’s now called the Fusion camera on the iPhone 16 Pro, rather than just the “main” camera like on the iPhone 15 Pro.
Let’s look at this image of a cute pumpkin carriage display at the Anaheim Majestic Garden Hotel. The most obvious difference between the two is the blue lights on the pumpkin carriage. With the iPhone 15 Pro image, the blue light bleeds into the orange of the pumpkin, making it look more blue than it actually is. The iPhone 16 Pro handles the light better, as the blue light doesn’t bleed out to the orange, and there’s more contrast.
The leaves at the bottom of the carriage and the green stem on top are also more vibrant in the iPhone 16 Pro, but the glittery leaf is more textured with the iPhone 15 Pro.
Here’s a cute little Halloween tree display at the hotel. Honestly, there isn’t a big difference between these two images. The iPhone 16 Pro may have captured a bit more of the tree detail in the shadows at the bottom of the tree (the silver specks) and have less bleeding for the lights, but the iPhone 15 Pro did a better job of making the colors at the top of the tree a tad more vibrant.
