Apple will unveil its brand new flagship iPhone lineup next week, including the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro. If you’re considering which one to buy in advance, here are some different advantages the iPhone 16 Pro will have over the iPhone 16 – even if there are more similarities this year than you ever expected.

iPhone 16 Pro: Larger screens

One of the most noticeable changes in the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max will be their larger screens. The iPhone 16 Pro’s screen will increase from 6.1 inches to 6.3 inches, while the iPhone 16 Pro Max’s screen will increase from 6.7 inches to 6.9 inches.

The iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus, on the other hand, will not receive the same treatment and will retain their current form factors of 6.1 inches and 6.7 inches. ProMotion with 120 Hz refresh rate will continue to be reserved for the Pro models.

So if you want the largest screen size possible on your iPhone, you’ll have to go for the iPhone 16 Pro models this year. This is the first time since the iPhone 13 that the screen sizes will differ between the non-Pro and Pro phones.

Titanium design

With the iPhone 15 Pro, Apple introduced a completely new design made of titanium instead of stainless steel. While Apple often makes changes to the iPhone design over time, this is not the case with the titanium finish. Instead, the titanium design is reserved for the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max.

Camera upgrades

As usual, the iPhone 16 will have two cameras (main camera and ultra-wide-angle camera), while the iPhone 16 Pro will have three lenses (main, ultra-wide-angle and telephoto).

This year, however, the camera story gets more interesting, as the 5x telephoto camera that debuted on the iPhone 15 Pro Max is being extended to the iPhone 16 Pro. This means you no longer have to choose the largest iPhone to get the best camera system, but you do have to choose either the iPhone 16 Pro or the iPhone 16 Pro Max to get the best camera system.

The iPhone 16 Pro will also have an improved ultra-wide-angle camera this year, increasing in quality from 12MP to 48MP. The standard iPhone 16, meanwhile, will continue to have a 12MP ultra-wide-angle camera.

Faster performance

This year, both the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro will come with the A18 chip. However, the iPhone 16 Pro will get a more powerful version with the A18 Pro. We don’t have a clear picture of how the A18 Pro will differ from the A18, but it is expected that the A18 Pro will have a 6-core GPU while the A18 will have a 5-core GPU.

The A18Pro will also reportedly feature a much more powerful Neural Engine, which could bode well for future Apple Intelligence features.

Packing

The iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro will be more similar than ever before. This is mainly because the Record button will be present on all four models and the Action button will be extended to the entire model. However, there are a few key ways that Apple will differentiate the iPhone 16 Pro from the iPhone 16 – and the camera plays a key role in this.

Are you planning to upgrade to the iPhone 16 this year? If so, which model are you planning to buy? Let us know in the comments.

Join 9to5Mac in supporting St. Jude this September during Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.