With the announcement of the upcoming iPhone 16, several long-time iPhone Pro owners have said on social media that they plan to skip the new Pro models to the regular iPhone 16. Among the reasons are the new A18 chip, which is an improvement over Apple’s previous strategy; the improved Ultra Wide camera with macro mode; and last year’s 2x optical zoom, thanks to the main 48MP camera.
While the new iPhones aren’t yet available, some users have turned off two main iPhone Pro features to see if they can handle “downgrading” to a base model. If you’re a Pro iPhone owner who wants to try this as well, simply diable the Always-on Display and limit your phone’s refresh rate to 60Hz from within the Accessibility settings.
Even with these Pro users being optimistic about the switch from an iPhone 15 Pro to the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus, I’m convinced that they will be upgrading a few weeks later to the new iPhone 16 Pro or Pro Max. Here’s why.
I’ll choose the iPhone 16 Pro Max, and if you have a Pro iPhone, you should too
Over the years, I’ve used a base-model iPhone as my daily driver several times. However, I have always returned to a Pro model. It happened with the iPhone XR, iPhone 13, and iPhone 14, as I later upgraded to the iPhone XS, iPhone 13 Pro, and iPhone 14 Pro Max.
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The main reason has always been the camera. Whether you think this isn’t that important, not being able to zoom in is painful. And with last year’s 5x optical zoom on the iPhone 15 Pro Max, I regretted buying the smaller Pro model.
Even working from home, I find that one of the benefits of an iPhone Pro Max is the bigger battery life, and Apple seems to have put a great effort into this year’s iPhone 16 Pro Max.
I understand that the new base-model iPhone 16 has trendy colors, and it’s almost as good as a Pro version in terms of general performance. However, I really care about the little details: faster USB 3 data transfer speeds, better cameras, improved A18 Pro chip, ProMotion, the more durable titanium frame, and the biggest battery on any iPhone.
Fortunately, it won’t take long until we discover if there’s a shift in customers preferring a base model iPhone 16 instead of the Pro Max, as it feels “too Pro,” or if the usual focus on the Pro models will continue.
Pre-orders start this Friday, and you can learn more about the new iPhones below.
The post Here’s why you shouldn’t downgrade to an iPhone 16 if you have a Pro now appeared first on BGR.
