iPhone 16 Plus vs iPhone 15 Plus: Expectations

Apple seems to be sticking to the iPhone Plus formula for yet another year, hence the presence of an iPhone 16 Plus model in the portfolio. The most logical question is: "How does the new phone stack against its predecessor." A comparison article sprouts out of this question, and you're currently reading it.

Today we're doing a quick preliminary comparison between the upcoming iPhone 16 Plus and last year's iPhone 15 Plus. We expect those to be fairly similar, and we're going to explore all the differences and similarities below. This includes dimensions, screen quality, battery life, camera system, raw hardware power, software features, and many more.

The usual disclaimer applies here as well. We're using leaks, rumors, and our experience and knowledge in the industry to wrap up this comparison. Things may change, and some specs and/or features may differ in the official product.

We expect these two models to be very similar, at least when looked at from the front. The iPhone 16 Plus and the iPhone 15 Plus sport the exact same 6.7-inch display with a pill-shaped camera cutout and Dynamic Island capabilities.

On the back, things look a bit different. The camera bump is different on the new model, it features a vertical design and bears some resemblance to the iPhone X camera, just with more substantial, beefier cameras in the vertical pill-shaped housing.

The iPhone 15 Plus, on the other hand, features the traditional square-ish camera design with diagonally-positioned main and ultrawide cameras.

The materials used in both phones are virtually identical, we have the same glass-aluminum sandwich as in the last couple of iPhone generations.

There's another design change in the newer model, and it concerns the button layout. The iPhone 16 Plus is expected to come with an Action Button, and, most likely, a capacitive Camera Button as well. The old model only has the mute switch, apart from the usual power button and volume.

Regarding the color scheme, you can check out the expected colors for the iPhone 16 Plus below, as well as all the available hues that you can buy the iPhone 15 Plus in.

iPhone 16 Plus expected colors:

• Black
• Green
• Pink
• Blue
• White

iPhone 15 Plus available colors:

• Black
• Green
• Pink
• Yellow
• Blue

Well. If we want to go the short route here, we'd say, "There aren't any." The display of the iPhone 16 Plus is expected to be nearly identical to the one found in the iPhone 16 Plus.

It's a 6.69-inch LTPS OLED with a 60Hz refresh rate (a real shame in 2024) and a resolution of 2796 x 1290 pixels.

We can't comment on brightness figures or color accuracy just yet. Stay tuned for some hard numbers after we get our hands on the iPhone 16 Plus. There might be a bump in brightness, but again, we have to wait and do the tests.

The iPhone 16 Plus is expected to sport the new A18 chipset, manufactured using 3nm technology, which should contribute to power efficiency. The new model is also expected to have more RAM onboard to cope with the higher demands of the on-device AI we expect Apple to unveil with the iPhone 16 series.

That being said, the iPhone 15 Plus is no slouch with the older A16 chip and will do just fine with 6GB of RAM for your day-to-day phone activities. One area where the new chipset will shine is, of course, synthetic benchmarks, and we will include those as soon as we test the new phone.

AI is the big buzz in software right now, and Apple’s latest updates look pretty exciting. At WWDC '24, the company revealed some impressive features coming with iOS 18 on the iPhone 16 series later this year.

Also read: iPhone 16 AI features: Here is what to look forward to

One of the big words is Apple Intelligence (way to go hijacking the abbreviation, Apple), which integrates with Photos to provide advanced editing tools right in the app. This could be a very useful feature for photo enthusiasts. Plus, the ability to lock apps with Face ID or Touch ID and hide them in a secure folder is a much-needed boost for privacy (new ways to hide Tinder from your spouse).

The home screen is also getting a major upgrade. Finally, Apple users can enjoy dark mode options for app icons and widgets, and even resize them and move them around with gaps! Android users have had these features for ages, so it's about time Apple caught up.

RCS messaging support is also coming our way with iOS 18 for smoother communication with Android devices and an updated Control Center for easier access to your most-used settings. And the addition of messaging via satellite is another fascinating step forward.

Software updates are important as well. The industry is slowly moving toward longer support cycles (seven years on Pixels and Galaxy phones), so Apple is starting to lose traction here. We don't know whether or not the new iPhone 16 Plus will have longer (than five years) OS support, but we expect at least five major updates, just like its predecessor.

We expect the iPhone 16 Plus to retain the same camera system as its predecessor, namely a 48MP main camera coupled with a 12MP ultrawide. This might come as a disappointment to some, but Apple might have a trick up its sleeve with the upcoming AI features that we hear rumors about.

The change in camera positioning on the new model will allow the iPhone 16 Plus to record spatial video in landscape mode, intended to be viewed on the Apple Vision Pro. Something to keep in mind when comparing these two.

There's actually a slight hardware change when it comes to the ultrawide camera of the iPhone 16 Plus. The aperture of the new model is expected to be f/2.2, slightly faster than the f/2.4 we have on the previous model. We will need to snap some comparison samples to see how this change would affect image quality.

Overall, there shouldn't be a major difference when it comes to photo and video quality, as the hardware is identical, but we will need to do some real world samples and camera comparisons to objectively judge that.

One hardware change that's coming to all four iPhone 16 models, iPhone 16 Plus included, is the new dedicated shutter button that Apple is allegedly calling Capture button. According to the latest camera leak by AppleInsider, this button will be pressure sensitive and will offer DSLR-like double action focus/capture capabilities. The button is also capacitive, which means that there's a good possibility we'll get some kind of swipe gestures as a bonus.

The leak says that this button will act only as a camera control, but not limited to the native iPhone 16 camera app. Apparently, it will work with third-party camera apps. There's also a rumor that non-Pro models will support macro photography (probably using the telephoto camera), which, if true, will count as another advantage of the new iPhone 16 Plus model over its predecessor.

The iPhone 15 Plus loudspeakers are just great - strong, detailed and they don't distort much at max volume. The same goes for the Taptic engine, a staple when it comes to vibration feedback. This might be down to the sheer size of the phone, but the result is great audio quality and strong and tight vibration.

When it comes to the iPhone 16 Plus, things are mysterious, as we don't know if Apple is going to keep the same speakers and haptic motor or introduce some upgrades. But either way, we expect the quality to be at least as good as on the iPhone 15 Plus.

The iPhone 15 Plus comes with a relatively large 4,383 mAh battery (at least for the iPhone lineup), but the new model is expected to have a 4,006 mAh cell inside. This comes as a surprise, and it's a clear downgrade compared to the previous generation.

Apple might have taken into account the new A18 chip's efficiency (it's a 3 nm chip), but more testing is needed to confirm this. We're not sure why the downgrade in capacity was needed in the first place (if, of course, the leaked info is correct), and maybe it has something to do with the new chipset.

The charging situation will probably remain unchanged, which means that the iPhone 16 Plus will come with the same 27W max wired fast charging and MagSafe wireless charging as its predecessor.

Here's a quick specs comparison. You can check out our full iPhone 16 Plus vs iPhone 15 Plus comparison on PhoneArena.

*-rumored specs

It's still pretty early to draw definitive conclusions, as the iPhone 16 Plus hasn't been officially announced yet. But overall, looking at the specs of both phones and the features, the iPhone 16 Plus doesn't seem like a substantial upgrade over the iPhone 15 Plus.

If you already own the latter, there's little to no reason to upgrade. If you're coming from an older iPhone or deciding to switch Android for iOS, the newer model might make sense, for it's expected to land at the same starting price as the previous one. Stay tuned for our full comparison, tests and all, and the final verdict once the iPhone 16 series launches.