Apple·phone
iPhone 16
Based on 69 credible posts from Hacker News, Bluesky & YouTube. 27 filtered out as bot-like or off-topic.
High confidenceA large sample of owners; this score is stable. How we score
Scored September 27, 2026
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Owner reviews
Overall owner mood
Owners are split: 45% of 69 reviews are positive, 17% negative, and the rest mixed or neutral. Praise centers on battery & charging and camera. The most common complaint is software & ai (6 owners).
What owners like
Battery & charging praised by 8 owners
“I have the 16 Plus in Ultramarine and the plus model of the battery legit lasts me 1.5 to 2 days.”
Camera praised by 6 owners
“For me the battery is extremely good (I am at 36% and it’s 00:20 and I woke up at 8:00 and used my phone a lot today (YouTube, G maps, camera, browsing web, facebook, shopping, etc), all of this while I lock it at 80% max for full charge.”
What owners complain about
Software & AI raised by 6 owners
“But man does it need some serious polish and bug fixing, and a lot of time and effort spent on consistency.”
Camera raised by 6 owners
“The 60 hz display and the camera is really disappointing 50k is enough for this if we talk about its cameras But personally i will never buy it even if its price comes down to 20k because of 60 hz display”
Display raised by 5 owners
“The 60 hz display and the camera is really disappointing 50k is enough for this if we talk about its cameras But personally i will never buy it even if its price comes down to 20k because of 60 hz display”
Controls & input raised by 5 owners
“Plus, the placement of buttons on the 17 and the 16 are annoying in everyday use, and the extra RAM does not seem to keep applications in memory longer as iOS seemingly kills processes to save battery even when RAM is plentiful.”
What owners talk about
- Camera6 praise · 6 complain
- Battery & charging8 praise · 3 complain
- Display3 praise · 5 complain
- Software & AI1 praise · 6 complain
- Price & value3 praise · 4 complain
- Controls & input0 praise · 5 complain
- Comfort & size1 praise · 3 complain
- Build & durability0 praise · 4 complain
Built from the reviews themselves — every quote links to the owner who wrote it.
Full text of every credible post we scored. Bot-like and off-topic comments are hidden.
[...] How far behind in features TalkBack is compared to VoiceOver, besides AI image description, made it feel like trying to heal a broken arm with pain pills. [...] Maybe Apple will finally announce LLM image descriptions, and hopefully my iPhone 16 will be good enough for them because I can't afford to upgrade in this economy.
Using mine for 6.5 months, battery health remains at 100%. Came from 13, this is a great upgrade for me.
I’m on this model for 3 rd month. Went from 12 pro max. Got it as second hand. Was used anout a year. And I only paid 2500 danish kroner about 390 us$
Had the 16 plus since April 2025 I see to upgrade to a 17 strictly for the size & battery it’s about 90% of the same phone
I think this reasoning is just disconnected from reality. Reality is, the iphone 16 sharing the same chipset is perfectly functional for many more years to come, running similar workloads (for the same target audience): mainly web browsing. If the iphone 16 can have the usual 3-6 years of useful life, then the macbook neo has the same -- FOR ITS INTENDED PURPOSE. [...] (if anybody is wondering: i have a large machine with 16c/32t and 128gb memory that i use remotely via ssh to do the "heavy stuff") This model might trigger planned obsolescence legislation in some jurisdictions. [...] There is the entire market of cheap android phones (and tablets) that barely last a year or two, and have essentially no guaranteed software upgrade. That should have triggered the legislation in the first place.
[...] My wife still uses an iPhone 13 and life for her is not particularly different from my iPhone 16. [...] One of my bank accounts was locked out of online use because of something or the other and I just used it as my debit card and went in to the branch to withdraw money. [...]
[...] I’m now at the iPhone 16. The performance of those chips with 8GB in non throttled environment (Neo..) can run as a fully performant macOS. Yet, as a phone I don’t feel upgraded performance since my SE 1st gen days. Sometimes I get stuttering, basic browsing can get the device pretty warm, sometime camera lags to launch. [...] Because, if my device now throttles to what I was happy with years ago assuming the software would behave the same, I’ve expected my usage to give me at least cooler non stuttering performance. [...]
I just bought a 1 year old iPhone 16 on Facebook marketplace for $400. You can find pretty good prices if you don't need the latest device.
I have an iPhone 16 and I don't feel like I'm getting the shaft. It sounds like there's one specific customization thing that'll only work on the pro models? [...]
"coming later this year" – still behind the schedule I have an iPhone 16 that was promised to have it. Now they are saying some features are available only on 17+ models
Don’t know if it’s related to the article, but the chats ui performance becomes absolutely horrendous in long chats. Typing the chat box is slow, rendering lags and sometimes gets stuck altogether. I have a research chat that I have to think twice before messaging because the performance is so bad. Running on iPhone 16 safari, and MacBook Pro m3 chrome.
I recently switched from an iPhone 16 to an Air and my experience is the opposite. I type way more accurate on the Air (even when both dictionaries are reset and have no screen protector what could make the touch less sensitive). I do not know why.
[...] I bought an iPhone 16 seen many issues including keyboard ones. [...]
I recently upgraded from an iPhone 12 to an iPhone 16 because I couldn't figure out how to free enough storage on the 12. The battery was still more than good enough to go a full day. [...]
[...] I’m on an iPhone 16. [...]
I have the clicks keyboard for the iPhone 16. [...]
Except it seems to be going in the opposite direction, every phone I've upgraded (various Androids and iPhones) seemed to have more smoothing than the one I'd had before. My iPhone 16 night photos look like borderline generative AI and there's no way to turn that off! I was honestly happier with the technically inferior iPhone 5 camera, the photos at least didn't look fake.
Even if they fix the keyboard, iOS as a whole can't really be fixed. [...] So much is broken, poorly implemented, or so laughably tasteless that it hurts my head to think about how it's positioned and accepted as a "premium" product. [...] - As mentioned, keyboard input is offensively broken. Whiffed inputs, the entire text selection/cursor manipulation model sucks (not being able to select in the middle of a word is inexcusable unless you have Stockholm syndrome for the bandaids), the cursor manipulation is broken, keyboard gets stuck open or closed, etc. [...] - Passcode inputs are also broken. [...] It's also completely worthless when I'm unable to fully point my face at the phone (working on vehicles or in some other enclosed area) or am trying to use the phone completely off of muscle memory. [...] I'm an average-sized man and reaching over to the left hand side of the screen to make back inputs requires me to shift my fingers on the back of the phone just to make the reach for the input. This is on a base-model iPhone 16, which is already a touch too large for many hands to deal with this input system. [...]
Dunno about AI, it works quite a bit like the old Siri, although she's got an iPhone 16 with a current iOS. Worked just fine when I asked it to play some artist other than the annoying YT Music playlists.
Well, I wanted to revert and wanted a new phone, so bought an iPhone 16 instead of a 17, which comes with iOS 18 installed. iCloud data synced in fine, and the 17 is a very small upgrade anyway, even a downgrade in some ways.
[...] iPhone 16 buyers from last year are still waiting on features promised to them when they purchased. Plus, the placement of buttons on the 17 and the 16 are annoying in everyday use, and the extra RAM does not seem to keep applications in memory longer as iOS seemingly kills processes to save battery even when RAM is plentiful. [...] Unless your phone is broken or the PWM accessibility feature is actually useful on the 17, I can't think of reasons to upgrade.
[...] Every new beta I'd ask myself "Surely they fixed 'x' by now, right?" and we advanced, beta after beta, with the same bugs and performance regressions all the way up to launch. [...] It's overall sluggish. [...] My iPhone 16 PM runs hot all the time, even on release now, vs. [...] But man does it need some serious polish and bug fixing, and a lot of time and effort spent on consistency. [...]
Ngl I own an iphone 16 and I'm comfortable staying with this phone til it stops working. If I wanted a foldable phone I'd get a galaxy fold which is alot more cheaper than 2000 dollars
The engineering is fascinating, but no way I’d pay that kind of money for a smartphone. [...] Either way, I bought a refurbished iPhone 16 through Apple not long ago, so I’m good for at least 3 years.
I own and use the following daily: Mac Studio, MacBook Pro, 13” iPad Pro, iPhone 16, Apple Watch 9, AirPods Pro, plus various accessories and an Apple One subscription which just went up to $39.95/month. What about the rage of your fucking CUSTOMERS, Apple???? 🤬
I use an iPhone 16 and it is very good for daily task except for long YouTUbe video creation in 4K or games.. phone heats up, else it is an awesome device !
[...] Camera is better than 17 pro max I use to have imo. [...]
I use an ipad air for most stuff, so I don’t need a snazzy phone, the base 16 is great for me, especially coming from an se. Still have never used 120hz, so don’t know what I am missing, although I don’t feel like I am missing anything.
I’ve just upgraded from an iPhone 12 so it makes a lot of difference
I traded in my white iPhone 13 and got the black iPhone 16 and I’m extremely satisfied with the performance and the longer battery life. I keep my phones for 3 years so I hope this one last as long as my 13 did.
[...] I loved the pink colour on my 16 Plus, but for the same price I got 120 hertz pro motion, battery, thinner bezels, larger screen, better front camera, new features on the camera like filming yourself while recording, landscape mode on the screen without moving your hand, double storage (256 instead of 128) etc... [...]
I have the same phone as the thumbnail and I love it. Probably be a while before I upgrade.
I have the same phone as the thumbnail and I love it. Probably be a while before I upgrade.
My iPhone 11 was finally starting to have some daily hiccups and the battery was about half a day. I got the 16 for a great deal, it’s good enough for me! Big upgrade from my 11 😂
My just upgraded to the iphone 16, and surprisingly my iphone 16 has a 120hz option. This is probably the go-to option after the beloved iPhone 11 loses support later on this year.
Unfortunately, I had to upgrade to iPhone 16 after my iPhone 17 Pro Max had been stolen.😆 but surprisingly ,this phone is very good and has a very good quality camera.
The 17 is a good upgrade I just got my 16 in feb I’m satisfied with it it’s been a great phone battery heath still on 100%
Upgraded from iPhone 11 Pro to iPhone 16 ultramarine one, i love it
The 60 hz display and the camera is really disappointing 50k is enough for this if we talk about its cameras But personally i will never buy it even if its price comes down to 20k because of 60 hz display
I’ve had my 16 for just over a month and for me it’s amazing. I can use it to film and edit video for a beauty salon promos with no problems at all. Came from a 13 and it’s so fast compared to the 13
Im using this since october 2024. Never feels battery is not good. Very happy overall
Got mine in February it’s been a great experience so far performance battery display and the color is top notch I absolutely love mine
I love the fact that people find the iPhone 16 boring, because it gave me a phenomenal deal with my carrier because they don’t sell as much as expected. [...] For me the battery is extremely good (I am at 36% and it’s 00:20 and I woke up at 8:00 and used my phone a lot today (YouTube, G maps, camera, browsing web, facebook, shopping, etc), all of this while I lock it at 80% max for full charge. [...]
I have the 16 Plus in Ultramarine and the plus model of the battery legit lasts me 1.5 to 2 days. I got it on launch day and iOS 18 had quite a few issues in the beginning but the bugs are going away- never been bad enough to affect performance. I’m a basic user, no gaming, tons of social media, video streaming/ FaceTime, calls, texts, occasional picture. I also take a lot of teams meetings on this phone for work and all the things I need it for is super solid outside the glitches. [...]
[...] I have an iPhone 16 so it’s not like the hardware is terribly underpowered either. It may be dependent on regional settings or something but Siri shopping classification has been hilariously terrible for me. [...] Siri? [...] Siri says “Spellduster”. [...]
[...] I Own a iPhone 16 and couldn't handle the pro/max option. Too bulky - and the camera lens has sharp edges combined with a slippy surface. [...]
I get like 15-50 mbps down on my iPhone 16 when I'm on 5g... and that's enough to stream music, youtube, use as a hotspot, etc. sometimes if I'm lucky i'll get much higher speeds but I guess being in a city with 100s of thousands of other people within a few miles of me means I have to do with like 40 mbps
All the photos are real, though it took me lots of time to get them somewhat right. The display on T1800 is indeed "challenging". What helped was: - Letting it warm for a while - Putting windows in the right places, because each one generates its own artifacts - Setting background to dark with the white pattern - Fiddling with the contrast knob and matching it with the right viewing angle - Using 2x zoom To be fair, the default photo app of iPhone 16 automatically reduced some of the artifacts. [...] Here you can see a few very quick-n-dirty photos I just took for comparison -
Apple's stt has been on-device for a long time now, long before iPhone 16. [...]
This was the issue with some the ads Apple was running when launching the iPhone 16. [...] If it sounds interesting and I want more info, I can read the whole thing in the moment. [...]
The claims, and the evidence
Owners push back on 4 of 9 marketing claims.
What the brand claims
- A18 chipOwners disagreePerformance: 0 of 3 positive
- Camera Control buttonMixedCamera: 6 of 12 positive
- Action buttonOwners disagreeControls & input: 0 of 5 positive
- 48MP Fusion camera with 2x optical-quality TelephotoMixedCamera: 6 of 12 positive
- 12MP Ultra Wide camera with macro photographyMixedCamera: 6 of 12 positive
- Spatial photo and video captureMixedCamera: 6 of 12 positive
- 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR display, up to 2000 nits outdoorsOwners disagreeDisplay: 3 of 8 positive
- Up to 22 hours of video playbackOwners agreeBattery & charging: 8 of 11 positive
- Built for Apple IntelligenceOwners disagreeSoftware & AI: 1 of 7 positive
What owners report
“Using mine for 6.5 months, battery health remains at 100%. Came from 13, this is a great upgrade for me.”
after 6 monthsView on YouTube“I’m on this model for 3 rd month. Went from 12 pro max. Got it as second hand. Was used anout a year. And I only paid 2500 danish kroner about 390 us$”
after 3 monthsView on YouTube“[...] How far behind in features TalkBack is compared to VoiceOver, besides AI image description, made it feel like trying to heal a broken arm with pain pills. [...] Maybe Apple will finally announce LLM image descriptions, and hopefully my iPhone 16 will be good enough for them because I can't afford to upgrade in this economy.”
after 3 yearsView on Hacker News“Had the 16 plus since April 2025 I see to upgrade to a 17 strictly for the size & battery it’s about 90% of the same phone”
after 5 monthsView on YouTube
Common iPhone 16 problems
Issues at least two owners independently report.
- Software & AI6 mentionsView on Hacker News
“[...] Every new beta I'd ask myself "Surely they fixed 'x' by now, right?" and we advanced, beta after beta, with the same bugs and performance regressions all the way up to launch. [...] It's overall sluggish. [...] My iPhone 16 PM runs hot all the time, even on release now, vs. [...] But man does it need some serious polish and bug fixing, and a lot of time and effort spent on consistency. [...]”
- Controls & input5 mentionsView on Hacker News
“[...] I bought an iPhone 16 seen many issues including keyboard ones. [...]”
- Build & durability4 mentionsView on Hacker News
“[...] How far behind in features TalkBack is compared to VoiceOver, besides AI image description, made it feel like trying to heal a broken arm with pain pills. [...] Maybe Apple will finally announce LLM image descriptions, and hopefully my iPhone 16 will be good enough for them because I can't afford to upgrade in this economy.”
- Display5 mentionsView on Hacker News
“[...] iPhone 16 buyers from last year are still waiting on features promised to them when they purchased. Plus, the placement of buttons on the 17 and the 16 are annoying in everyday use, and the extra RAM does not seem to keep applications in memory longer as iOS seemingly kills processes to save battery even when RAM is plentiful. [...] Unless your phone is broken or the PWM accessibility feature is actually useful on the 17, I can't think of reasons to upgrade.”
- Performance3 mentionsView on Hacker News
“[...] I’m now at the iPhone 16. The performance of those chips with 8GB in non throttled environment (Neo..) can run as a fully performant macOS. Yet, as a phone I don’t feel upgraded performance since my SE 1st gen days. Sometimes I get stuttering, basic browsing can get the device pretty warm, sometime camera lags to launch. [...] Because, if my device now throttles to what I was happy with years ago assuming the software would behave the same, I’ve expected my usage to give me at least cooler non stuttering performance. [...]”
- Camera6 mentionsView on Hacker News
“[...] I’m now at the iPhone 16. The performance of those chips with 8GB in non throttled environment (Neo..) can run as a fully performant macOS. Yet, as a phone I don’t feel upgraded performance since my SE 1st gen days. Sometimes I get stuttering, basic browsing can get the device pretty warm, sometime camera lags to launch. [...] Because, if my device now throttles to what I was happy with years ago assuming the software would behave the same, I’ve expected my usage to give me at least cooler non stuttering performance. [...]”