The Apple iPhone 16 Plus, officially announced in September 2024 and released on September 20, 2024, is a core part of Apple’s latest smartphone lineup for the U.S. market. Positioned as the larger-screen alternative to the standard iPhone 16, it aims to deliver an enhanced visual experience and longer battery life, combined with the significant performance and AI advancements introduced across the iPhone 16 series. It’s designed for users who want a spacious display and robust everyday performance without stepping into the more advanced (and pricier) “Pro” models.
Familiar Yet Refined Design with a Brilliant Display
The iPhone 16 Plus maintains Apple’s iconic design language while introducing subtle but impactful refinements:
- Durable Construction: It features a durable aerospace-grade aluminum frame and Ceramic Shield front cover, offering strong resistance to drops and scratches. It also boasts an IP68 rating for water and dust resistance, meaning it can withstand immersion in water up to 6 meters for 30 minutes.
- Larger, Brighter Super Retina XDR Display: The iPhone 16 Plus sports a generous 6.7-inch Super Retina XDR OLED display. This large screen offers vibrant colors, incredible contrast, and excellent brightness, with typical brightness up to 1000 nits and peak brightness for HDR content reaching up to 2000 nits. This makes it perfect for media consumption, gaming, and productivity.
- Dynamic Island: The interactive Dynamic Island at the top of the display seamlessly blends hardware and software, providing alerts, notifications, and live activities in an intuitive and fluid way.
- New Vertical Camera Layout: A noticeable design change is the new vertical arrangement of the rear cameras, which is not just for aesthetics but enables new camera features.
- Action Button and New Camera Control Button: Following the Pro models, the iPhone 16 Plus gains the customizable Action Button, allowing users to quickly access their favorite functions (like muting, camera, flashlight, voice memos, and more). Additionally, a brand-new Camera Control button is introduced, offering tactile controls for focusing, zooming, and capturing photos and videos, mimicking a DSLR shutter button.
Powerful Performance with the A18 Chip
The iPhone 16 Plus delivers snappy performance for all tasks, from everyday Browse to demanding games:
- A18 Chip: Powering the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus is the new Apple-designed A18 chip. This chip features a new 6-core CPU (2 performance cores, 4 efficiency cores), a 5-core GPU, and a new 16-core Neural Engine. It provides significant improvements in speed, graphics performance, and especially in accelerating AI tasks directly on the device.
- Ample RAM and Storage: It comes with 8GB of RAM and is available with storage options of 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB, providing plenty of space for apps, photos, and videos.
- iOS 18 with Apple Intelligence: The iPhone 16 Plus runs on iOS 18, which introduces “Apple Intelligence,” Apple’s new personal intelligence system. This deeply integrated AI enhances core apps and experiences, making the iPhone even smarter and more helpful.
Enhanced Camera System with AI Capabilities
The iPhone 16 Plus elevates mobile photography with hardware and software advancements:
- Advanced Dual-Camera System:
- 48MP Main Camera: The primary sensor is a 48-megapixel Wide camera with a bright ƒ/1.6 aperture, second-generation sensor-shift optical image stabilization, and 100% Focus Pixels. It supports capture of super-high-resolution photos at 24MP and full 48MP, offering incredible detail. It also enables a 12MP 2x Telephoto option by cropping from the main sensor, providing optical-quality zoom.
- 12MP Ultra Wide Camera: An upgraded 12-megapixel Ultra Wide camera with a ƒ/2.2 aperture offers a 120° field of view and now includes autofocus, enabling improved low-light performance and macro photography capabilities.
- Spatial Video Capture: The new vertical camera arrangement allows the iPhone 16 Plus to capture “Spatial Video” for immersive viewing on devices like the Apple Vision Pro.
- AI-Powered Photography: Features like Photonic Engine, Deep Fusion, Smart HDR 5, and next-generation portraits with Focus and Depth Control leverage the A18 chip’s AI capabilities for stunning images in various conditions, including improved Night mode.
- 12MP TrueDepth Front Camera: The front-facing camera gets an upgrade with a 12MP sensor, autofocus, and improved low-light performance, perfect for selfies and video calls.
Long-Lasting Battery and Fast Charging
The iPhone 16 Plus is designed to keep up with your day, and then some:
- Large Battery: It features a 4,674 mAh battery, providing excellent endurance.
- Impressive Battery Life: Apple estimates up to 24 hours of streaming video playback or 27 hours of offline video playback. In real-world usage, this often translates to 1.5 to 2 days of heavy use for most users.
- Fast Charging: The iPhone 16 Plus supports fast wired charging up to 27-30W, allowing you to get up to 50% charge in about 35 minutes with a compatible adapter (sold separately).
- MagSafe and Qi2 Wireless Charging: It supports up to 25W MagSafe wireless charging and is compatible with the latest Qi2 wireless charging standard for convenient power-ups. It also features reverse wired charging to power small accessories.
Seamless Connectivity and More
- 5G Connectivity: Supports ultra-fast 5G (sub-6 GHz and mmWave in the U.S.) for quick downloads, uploads, and streaming.
- Wi-Fi 7: Includes the latest Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be) for faster and more reliable wireless connections.
- USB-C Port: Features a USB-C port for charging, data transfer, and connecting accessories.
- Second-Generation Ultra Wideband Chip: Enhances spatial awareness for features like Precision Finding for friends in Find My.
- Emergency SOS via Satellite and Crash Detection: Critically important safety features that can call for help in emergencies even without cellular or Wi-Fi service.
Price in the U.S.A. (MSRP)
The Apple iPhone 16 Plus is positioned as a premium large-screen smartphone. For the Apple iPhone 16 Plus, the Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) typically starts around $899 for the 128GB base model.
Pricing for higher storage configurations is as follows:
- 128GB: Starting around $899
- 256GB: Starting around $999
- 512GB: Starting around $1199
These MSRPs do not include applicable sales tax, carrier activation fees, or any potential promotional discounts from carriers or retailers.
The iPhone 16 Plus is available in a range of appealing colors including Black, White, Pink, Teal, and Ultramarine. It’s a compelling choice for U.S. users seeking a large, vibrant display, excellent battery life, a powerful new processor, and a highly capable camera system, all integrated with the latest iOS 18 and Apple’s intelligent AI features.