I have had the iPhone 16 Pro since November 2024, and now that the iPhone 17 series is on the horizon, it has led me to consider what I have actually missed on the iPhone 16 Pro. Despite it being a largely reliable experience over the course of seven to eight months, I have learned that there are a few little things that I miss and a few niggles which must be worked upon.
Quicker ‘Preparing’ times for Cinematic Mode Video
While you can shoot high-quality 4K cinematic video on the iPhone 16 Pro, the iPhone takes forever to prepare the actual video when it comes to AirDropping it to your Mac or simply copying it onto an SSD. I remember trying to copy some footage to an SSD, and it took almost five or six minutes for the video to be prepared; this was not even a long video, but a two-minute-long clip. This can be an annoyance. I would want Apple to eliminate this process altogether, or perhaps quicken it a bit.
A better zoom camera
The iPhone 16 Pro has one of the most reliable camera setups on any phone in the market; you know you are going to get a good-looking image or video. However, in the Android world, phones are starting to go the extra mile and deliver incredible zoom cameras with impressive capabilities. Phones like the Vivo X200 Ultra and the Xiaomi 15 Ultra have truly pushed what is possible with zoom on a phone, and I think Apple can certainly bring some of that to the iPhone.
This could be mostly solved by introducing a higher-resolution sensor. The current one is a 12-megapixel tetraprism 5x lens. The good part is that reports suggest Apple could be working on implementing a 48-megapixel camera with a zoom range of around 3.5x. That could make for a much more practical option for the iPhone. And yes, using the in-sensor zoom that Apple uses for the 2x zoom, this technology could also make for some hybrid zoom capabilities.
Too hot for the Indian summer
iPhone 16 Pro gets hot in the Indian summer, and this should not be the case. I remember recently going out on a bright Jaipur afternoon, where the temperature was almost 40 degrees Celsius, and the iPhone would not let me do anything because the phone’s temperature was too high. This has been the case for other iPhones in the past; I remember the same was true with the iPhone 15 Pro. Apple needs to get the thermals in check because iPhones can fail in the hot Indian summer.
New, peppy finishes
If you think about it, Apple has more or less offered very subtle, simple colours that are not too loud. To freshen things up, Apple should ideally bring more fun colour finishes to the mainline iPhones as well. This would give people more options. Of course, this might be pushing it, because Apple has been delivering on some basic colourways over the past few years. We did get the likes of Sierra Blue with the iPhone 13 Pro and the Deep Purple with the iPhone 14 Pro, but since then, the finishes have been rather understated, you could say.
