iPhones, in my opinion, aren’t really designed to be upgraded every year. Obviously, Apple is happy for hardcore fans and the uber-wealthy (and my friend Lewis) to splash the cash whenever a new model is announced, but the rate of spec bumps and new features lends itself to a noticeable improvement in the user experience only if you wait two or three generations between upgrades.

And so, when I upgraded from the iPhone 15 Plus to the 16 Plus last month, I wasn’t expecting any huge changes. And for the most part, I was right.

As I explained in my upgrade thoughts article, the design is slightly nicer but basically the same; the Action button hasn’t made much of a difference so far; Camera Control doesn’t feel like much of an upgrade; and the extra processing power isn’t noticeable in real-world use. As for Apple Intelligence, it’s finally arrived, but it’s missing features and still needs a ton of time before it can be a serious competitor to Gemini and other rival AIs.

But there is one really significant upgrade I’ve noticed, and it has to do with the camera. Not Camera Control or Visual Intelligence— the actual camera.

Things that have stayed the same

Now, most of the time, and in most contexts and shooting conditions, your photos will look the same. That makes sense since the main lens remains 48MP and f/1.6. (The ultra-wide lens has been bumped from f/2.4 to f/2.2 so we might expect slightly better performance there, but it’s still 12MP.)

As you can see in this shot, color reproduction, and vibrancy are basically identical across the two devices.

Here’s a shot of a less colorful object so you can focus on the clarity and level of detail.

What about more challenging shooting conditions? Again, we should expect the two devices to handle complex or difficult lighting with roughly the same aplomb since they both feature Smart HDR 5. The 16 Plus has a faster processor which could in theory mean more computational power being applied to this process, but I couldn’t see any difference when shooting trees silhouetted against the sun:

And what about the front-facing camera? Is that any different? Not really. In both cases, we’re working with a 12MP, f/1.9 lens.

Macro perspective

Here’s where photography has changed dramatically: macro performance is miles ahead.

Get up close and the iPhone 16 Plus flips to a macro photography mode (you can tell this has been engaged because a small flower icon appears in the bottom corner), bringing the subject into sharp focus. It’s incredibly impressive.

It’s good for nature photography. It’s also very handy if you paint little models and take photos of them for social media.

Honestly, it’s rare to get such satisfyingly different test photos when comparing two phones. And to see this across a single generation is almost unheard of.

So there you go. The upgrade from iPhone 15 (or in my case 15 Plus) to iPhone 16 (or 16 Plus) is in the main an experience defined by lots of small tweaks and minor iterative improvements. But the new macro mode has an enormous impact on close-up photography, and if that’s a priority for you this is a purchase well worth making.

And if you’re interested in iPhonography, you might be interested in our guide to the best iPhone cameras.