iPhone 16 Vs iPhone 15: What's New And Is It Worth Upgrading?

September each year sees a new range of products from Apple, including a new pair of AirPods capable of noise cancellation this year. Ever since the confirmation of Apple's iPhone 16, we've been stoked to see everything that's been rumored about the upcoming smartphones. As speculated, the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus get a new look with a vertically aligned camera housing this time, featuring a 48-megapixel Fusion Camera capable of wider-angle shots and better image quality.

Available for pre-order starting later this week, the base iPhone comes in mesmerizing and saturated colors, including black, white, pink, teal, and ultramarine. The iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus come with price tags of $799 and $899, respectively, which gets you 128 GB of internal storage. Subsequently, the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus see a price reduction of $100 each — but the various other upgrades that come with the newer models just might be worth the splurge. 

Perhaps the biggest technical update to the base iPhones this year has been the jump to Apple's in-house A18 SoC, which is two generations newer and delivers 30% better CPU performance than the A16 Bionic chip found in the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus. The A18 chip also enjoys support for hardware-accelerated ray tracing, which brings up to 40% better GPU performance according to Apple, providing five times better frame rates compared to software-based ray tracing. Thanks to this, the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus also gain access to the AAA titles that were previously only supported on the iPhone 15 Pro models. 

Put simply, the iPhone 16 offers substantially better performance over its predecessor. If mobile gaming is of utmost priority to you, then picking the newer iPhone can be worth the extra $100, especially in the long run. The A18 chip also unlocks the doors for the iPhone 16's next flagship feature: Apple Intelligence.

Despite being just a year old, the regular iPhone 15 and 15 Plus models will never be able to boast the many features that come with Apple Intelligence. The best way to enjoy AI features on an iPhone, currently, is through the new iPhone 16 and 16 Plus devices. 

Notably, Writing Tools allow you to quickly restructure, proofread, or summarize text with minimal effort. The Photos app in iOS 18 offers better search results using natural language queries. The new Clean Up tool on iPhone 16 utilizes AI too, enabling you to get rid of unwanted objects or photo bombers in pictures.

Apple Intelligence also streamlines notifications, and Apple Intelligence has supercharged Siri, too — making it more contextually aware than ever before. The more playful features include Image Playground and Genmoji, both of which allow users to create images or emojis using custom prompts. While these features alone might not warrant an upgrade over the iPhone 15, those deciding between the two generations might want to consider the iPhone 16 — since Apple Intelligence is here to stay.

Besides the addition of the Action Button that can do nearly anything, the iPhone 16 lineup comes with Camera Control, an entirely new input located below the power button. As its name suggests, this camera button will allow you to quickly launch the camera app and capture either photos with a single click, or videos with a long-press. 

There's a lot more that this force sensor can do, including controlling things like zoom, aperture, or exposure using slide gestures. The iPhone 16 launch also unveiled Visual Intelligence — which is essentially a fancier way of offering Google Lens to the masses. Users will be able to hold the Camera Control button to run quick image searches of objects, automatically add event dates to their calendar, or solve math equations through the prowess of ChatGPT. 

Paired with better camera hardware and support for Spatial Capture for the Apple Vision Pro, the iPhone 16 models seem to bring a unique experience for those interested in photography and videography. Regardless, those looking for a meaningful upgrade in terms of audio and video might be more interested in the iPhone 16 Pro with its bigger display and support for 4K video recording at 120 fps.