iPhone 16 Plus review: Apple’s battery beast | iPhone

Apple’s iPhone 16 Plus takes the regular iPhone and adds two things: a much bigger screen and even longer battery life.

The new plus-sized model has the exact same specs, camera and multiple additional buttons as the vanilla 16, offering the big screen Apple phone experience without blowing the budget on the most expensive 16 Pro Max with its massive 6.9in display.

Instead, costing from £899 (€1,099/$899/A$1,599), it sits right between the £799 iPhone 16 and £999 iPhone 16 Pro models.

The 16 Plus has a bright and crisp 6.7in display just like its predecessor, and sticks to the slower 60Hz refresh rate, making it less smooth when scrolling Apple’s Pro iPhones and rivals. It still looks good for film and TV shows on the commute, though.

It is an aluminium and glass sandwich with realigned cameras on the back reminiscent of the iPhone 12. While the Plus is quite light for a big phone at 199g, it will still require two-handed use most of the time. A case or phone grip might be advisable.

The two new buttons match the other 16 series iPhones this year. The action button replaces the mute switch from previous models and can be used to open apps, perform actions, turn on the torch or activate focus or mute modes. The camera control button quickly opens the camera and can then adjust settings such as zoom or depth and shoot photos all with one finger.

It runs iOS 18 out of the box, which currently lacks Apple’s much-advertised AI features. They won’t be available in beta until the iOS 18.1 update in late October in the US and December for the UK, Australia and other non-US English-speaking countries, while the rest of Europe has a longer wait.

Specifications

• Screen: 6.7in Super Retina XDR (OLED) (460ppi)

• Processor: Apple A18

• RAM: 8GB

• Storage: 128, 256 or 512GB

• Operating system: iOS 18

• Camera: 48MP main + 12MP UW; 12MP front-facing

• Connectivity: 5G, wifi 7, NFC, Bluetooth 5.3, Thread, USB-C, Satellite, UWB and GNSS

• Water resistance: IP68 (6 metres for 30 mins)

• Dimensions: 160.9 x 77.8 x 7.8mm

• Weight: 199g

Faster A18 chip with epic battery life

The 16 Plus has the same new A18 chip as its smaller sibling and performs similarly, feeling significantly snappier in operation than its predecessors, with headroom to stay fast for a long time and the prerequisite 8GB of RAM and AI processor to support the imminent Apple Intelligence features.

Increased power efficiency also helps the 16 Plus have tremendous battery life, lasting almost 72 hours of general use between charges, including a mix of 5G and wifi while actively using the screen for nine hours. That means charging it every third day, which is a day or so longer than the regular iPhone 16. Even with heavy use entirely on 5G and with lots of mapping the 16 Plus lasted up to two days.

Sustainability

Apple says the battery should last in excess of 1,000 full-charge cycles with at least 80% of its original capacity and can be replaced for £95. Out-of-warranty screen repairs cost £349. The 16 Plus has repair guides available and was awarded seven out of 10 for repairability by specialists iFixit.

It contains more than 30% recycled material, including aluminium, cobalt, copper, gold, lithium, plastic, rare earth elements, steel, tin and tungsten. The company breaks down the phone’s environmental impact in its report. Apple offers trade-in and free recycling schemes, including for non-Apple products.

Better camera

The dual camera system on the back is the same as the regular iPhone 16. It has faster versions of its 48MP main and 12MP ultrawide cameras compared with previous models, which make a difference with motion and in low-light environments.

The main camera shoots great images, while the new macrophotography mode is great fun on the ultrawide camera. The photographic styles feature adjusts the colour, tone and palette of photos to tweak how they look either when shooting them or after the fact. If you don’t like Apple’s default look to photos you can get very creative with your own settings.

The camera can also shoot spatial photos and videos for viewing on headsets such as the Vision Pro, and has the impressive audio mix feature for video from the 16 Pro.

Overall, the 16 Plus has a good camera, but its lack of an extended zoom camera is disappointing, particularly at this size and price.

Price

The iPhone 16 Plus costs from £899 (€1,099/$899/A$1,599) with 128GB of storage.

For comparison, the iPhone 16 costs £799, iPhone 16 Pro costs £999, the iPhone 16 Pro Max costs £1,199, the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL costs £1,099, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus costs £999 and the Fairphone 5 costs £499.

Verdict

The iPhone 16 Plus occupies an odd spot in Apple’s 2024 smartphone lineup. It is identical in capability and hardware to the cheaper, smaller iPhone 16, which means it lacks the zoom camera, more advanced screen and other capabilities of the company’s Pro iPhones.

Though the 6.7in display is sizeable, it is no longer the biggest screen on an iPhone, as the 16 Pro Max has an even larger and better display, for which you pay a hefty premium. Instead, the Plus has tremendous battery life that should see general usage of up to three days between charges and outlast even the heaviest of use days.

So the 16 Plus is for those that want a bigger but not the best screen or need really long battery life. The trade-off is that it is £100 more than the already great regular iPhone 16, it is difficult to use one-handed and is a bit of a bulky lump in your pocket.

Pros: fast, good dual camera with macro mode, big screen, action button, camera control button, photographic styles, USB-C, very long battery life, long software support, Face ID.

Cons: no telephoto camera, screen slower than competition and Pro iPhones, no always-on display mode, needs two hands to use most of the time.