For the first time in a long time, I had no idea which iPhone I would order before pre-orders began. When Apple announced the newest iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pros at their latest event, I felt more excited about the baseline iPhone 16 than I did about the iPhone 16 Pro.
Could this be the year I drop back to the iPhone?
Ever since the introduction of the Pro line, I have been a “Pro” user. This year, though, it feels almost like the Pro phones have crossed a line into the area of being for professionals, mainly those using their iPhones for real photography and videography work. I didn’t think most new features would benefit me as a user.
So, I contemplated going with the iPhone 16 Plus. My only reservations were the screen and the battery life.
See, the iPhone 16 doesn’t have the ProMotion display I’ve used for a few years. The technology that makes everything smooth when you’re navigating through the system. As a test, I turned off the high refresh rate to see if I could live without it. I’m sure that’s one reason Apple holds ProMotion from the regular iPhone. Without it, people will be forced to pay much more for it.
After a day, I forgot.
That led me back to battery life. After two years with my iPhone 14 Pro Max, the battery life has declined to 83%. I find my iPhone dropping into low-power mode by early afternoon. A new, fresh battery would help, but comparing the battery life of the 16 Pro Max, 16 Plus, and my 14 Pro Max, the 16 Pro Max beats them all. The 16 Plus would be a slight step back (although from a perfect 14 Pro Max battery).
So that put me back at step 1.
Then comes the colors. The iPhone 16 colors are so pretty. I would love to get them, but I know I’d slap a case on it eventually, and the color would be hidden.
Finally, I’m not planning on upgrading to the 17, and maybe not even the 18. I want to get a phone that lasts me for a long time. So, I think that will lead me to the iPhone 16 Pro Max.
Clarity in the Final Moments.
Luckily, I usually wake up an hour or two before the pre-orders open. Side note: I do love that they pushed the start time back. I always had trouble going back to sleep after waking up to order, and I miss the rush of waking up and ordering.
Even an hour before the store opened, I felt unsure which to order. The baseline model offered the option of saving money and choosing a fun color, or the Pro offered a better camera, screen, and battery.
Just moments before the store opened, I made my decision. I don’t plan to upgrade to the 17. I don’t want to upgrade every year anymore. I want to go longer between upgrades.
I wanted to upgrade this year for three reasons: USB-C, Apple Intelligence, and Battery.
When the iPhone 15 line came out last year, I wasn’t ready to transition to USB-C. While I have tons of USB-C cables around, I still felt like I had too many devices with Lightning. After a year, though, I’ve changed my mind. I would love nothing more than to streamline some cables around the house and for travel. It would be nice to have a charger and one cable in my bag to charge my phone, tablet, or MacBook.
While I don’t need the speed of the iPhone 16 Pro’s data transfer over USB-C, it doesn’t hurt that I back up my iPhone to my Mac once a year so I can install the latest Beta. USB 3 speed should improve the speed of the backup.
As far as Apple Intelligence, I’m on the fence about it, but I’d like to be able to experience it. While I haven’t written many technology-focused posts in a while, I enjoy writing them, as that’s how I started here. As it is, I wouldn’t be able to experience Apple Intelligence on my iPhone 14 Pro Max.
Finally, the battery life on my iPhone 14 Pro Max has degraded this summer. I know most of it was the beta, and hopefully, I can stay strong next summer and not install the beta, but I’m tired of charging my iPhone in the early afternoon if I want it to last until I sleep. A new battery or phone would fix that.
With all that in mind and the plan to not upgrade for a while, I went for the iPhone 16 Pro Max. It doesn’t hurt that it has more battery life than any iPhone before it, ProMotion, and the best cameras yet. I might not need all the camera features, but it will be nice to have them if I need them.
The Race Starts
At 7 AM central time, the store changed from offline to a new screen telling me to stay here and wait until the store was ready for me.
I didn’t listen. It didn’t help that my one-year-old woke up at seven, and I got him out of bed simultaneously. After waiting a few minutes and then opening and closing the app, I turned off my wifi, and the store opened up for me.
Since I had already saved my preorder (and about five other combinations), I could select the one I wanted and check out with Apple Pay.
The actual ordering of the phone went better than any of my previous attempts, so maybe that made up for my tough decision leading to it.
Did you have the same conundrum as I did when choosing a new iPhone? What did you order? Let me know on Threads, Instagram, or Facebook.
Post by @js_wordsmithView on Threads
