I Upgraded From an iPhone 13 to an iPhone 16: Here's What I Noticed

Accepting its breakthroughs and shortcomings, I bought the new iPhone 16 in the gorgeous Ultramarine finish. Upgrading from the iPhone 13, I've noticed quite a few changes, mostly hits and some misses. Here's how it's gone so far.

I Love How the iPhone 16 Feels in Hand

Shikhar Mehrotra / How-To Geek

Okay, I'll confess: I have a protective case for every gadget I own. Whether it's my two-year-old M1 MacBook Air, the AirPods Pro 2, or my Apple Watch Series 8. However, there's something about the iPhone 16 that makes me want to use it without a case.

With my iPhone 13, I used to have an armor case on all the time, as there wasn't anything about the phone's exterior that appealed to me. But the iPhone 16, especially in the Ultramarine finish, is in a league of its own. The textured aluminum frame and the matte finish back panel scream premium. The way the edges curve ever-so-slightly makes the phone feel more comfortable. In my opinion, this is the closest a regular iPhone has felt to a Pro iPhone.

I really like how my thumb conveniently rests over the side button while the volume rockers and the Action Button are within easy reach of my fingers. The only time I dropped the phone was while I was taking pictures for this article. It hit the floor, screen-first, from around five and a half feet (and that's not how tall I am), but the Ceramic Shield front did well, and so did the $15 screen protector.

It’s Easier to Use the iPhone 16 Under Direct Sunlight

Shikhar Mehrotra / How-To Geek

Whenever an enthusiast like me gets a new phone, he does one of two things: spend hours clicking pictures from the phone or spend hours taking pictures of the phone. Guilty as charged, I did both.

After spending so much time looking at the screen, I realized that it is significantly brighter than the iPhone 13, so much brighter that I didn't have to set it at maximum brightness, even under direct sunlight.

The 66% improvement in peak brightness shows whether you're trying to read mail on the bus or using the phone's screen as a soft light for taking pictures. And so does the ability to set the phone's brightness to a nit, a feature that I frequently use, mostly for going through my social media feed and email inbox one last time before I doze off.

But what doesn't sit well with me is the fact that my brand-new flagship smartphone still has a 60Hz refresh rate. It's just disappointing to miss a feature that should have been made standard on all iPhones in 2024.

Render Videos or Play Games, I Can Do It All

Shikhar Mehrotra / How-To Geek

I don't usually play games on a smartphone, primarily because the screen's too small, and one can't really appreciate the graphics, but the A18 processor on the iPhone 16 seems to disagree with me. Apple claims the chipset can handle AAA video games on the device.

While I couldn't test the claim, I spent some time playing popular titles like Call of Duty: Mobile on the highest settings, and the phone didn't flinch for a bit. It did start to get warm after 15 to 20 minutes of playtime, but I didn't notice a drop in performance.

I also edited a couple of videos for a friend's YouTube channel with very basic editing (adding on-screen text, transitions, background music, etc.), and the time the iPhone 16 took to render them was astonishingly fast.

The Ultrawide Camera Has Finally Caught Up

When compared to the cameras of the iPhone 13, the iPhone 16 provides a huge improvement. First, the 48MP primary camera captures significantly sharper photos, even though it defaults to 24MP pictures. The pictures are visibly sharper, with better dynamic range. The higher-resolution sensor also captures decent zoomed-in pictures (at 2x) with a natural bokeh effect.

While shooting with my iPhone 13, I had to think twice before switching to the ultrawide camera, as it was duller and noisier than the primary sensor (seriously, it was bad). But that isn't the case with the iPhone 16. Although the ultrawide camera's resolution remains the same, it features a wider aperture (f/2.2) for letting in more light.

This, in turn, bridges the gap between the primary and the ultrawide camera, so much so that the colors are identical, even in poorly-lit environments. The ultrawide camera features autofocus, allowing it to act as a macro shooter. It captures decent pictures (a little grainy at times, but mostly good), especially if you're into tiny objects.

Moreover, the improvements in the ultrawide camera and the 2x lossless zoom make the dual-camera setup work like a triple-camera setup. The front camera has autofocus, too. While the video recording capabilities remain the same (4k at 60 fps), the iPhone 16 comes with a nifty little feature called Audio Mix.

The Studio effect in the Audio Mix feature does an excellent job of accentuating the vocals in video by suppressing any reverb or other background noises. The feature also provides two additional sound modes, including In-Frame and Cinematic, something that's worth exploring, especially for content creators.

I Haven't Gotten Used to Camera Control (Yet)

Shikhar Mehrotra / How-To Geek

It's great to have a versatile camera setup on a smartphone, but I don't understand the point behind Camera Control (yet). Sure, it shortens the process of opening the Camera app, but everything else it does, like switching between camera modes, zooming in and out, or shooting a picture, is a bit more tedious and time-consuming than what I can do with on-screen controls.

Also, I've noticed that using the Camera Control button to capture a picture often shakes the frame (due to the pressure applied to the button). For now, I'm using the Camera Control button to access the Camera rather than doing anything in it.

Weirdly enough, the iPhone 16 offers more than a few ways to open the Camera. You have the Camera Control button, the lock screen shortcut, the back tap accessibility feature, and the Action Button. That's four ways to access the Camera app on your iPhone. Maybe Apple overdid it.

USB-C Charging Is Much Appreciated

Corbin Davenport / How-To Geek

With the iPhone 13, I had to pack a Lightning cable for my iPhone and a USB-C cable for my MacBook. Now, I can use the latter's cable to charge my iPhone. Although I still have my Lightning cables for my AirPods and iPad, at least the two most-used devices share a USB-C port.

The battery life, for me, isn't a massive upgrade, though I do find myself reaching out for the charger less frequently than I had to with my two-year-old iPhone 13 with 80% battery health.

Finally, Apple Intelligence Is Here

Apple

Apple announced the iPhone 16 on September 9, opened preorders on September 13, and released the phone on September 20. However, it wasn't until October 28 that the company released Apple Intelligence for all users.

I haven't had a chance to toy with the first batch of AI-infused features like the "natural-sounding" Siri, new writing and text summary tools, and photo-editing features, but I'm excited to try them the first chance I get.

As I mentioned in the comparison between the two phones, the iPhone 16 makes up for a solid upgrade from the iPhone 13, all things considered. If you're confused between the iPhone 14 and the iPhone 16 or whether you should get the iPhone 15 instead, consider our detailed comparisons to make an informed decision.