Okay, so Apple’s iPhone 16 lineup is out, and while everyone’s eyes are on the Pro Max, I’ve got two real contenders here that deserve the spotlight—iPhone 16 Plus and iPhone 16 Pro.
The Plus starts at ₹89,900, while the Pro kicks off at ₹1,19,900—so yeah, that’s a ₹30,000 difference.
Both models come with the Camera Button, Action Button, Dynamic Island, and the same iOS 18 experience, so you might be wondering, what sets them apart?
Let's start with design. It is subjective, but you can easily spot the fancier iPhone here. You see, the Plus has an aluminium frame, while the Pro is all about titanium—stronger, lighter, and more premium. Size-wise, the Plus is bigger at 6.7 inches versus the Pro’s 6.3 inches, but both weigh about the same.
If you want a bigger screen, go Plus. If you want that luxury feel, the Pro wins. As always, the iPhone 16 lineup comes in some fun, punchy colours, while the Pro sticks to its usual neutral shades. But seriously, this new Ultramarine finish on the iPhone 16 Plus looks amazing!
Alright, next up, let’s talk about these screens. Both of them are OLED, both have insane brightness levels, and both are gorgeous to look at. But there’s a major difference in the refresh rates. The iPhone 16 Plus is locked at 60Hz, while the Pro brings Apple’s ProMotion with its 120Hz refresh rate. Once you experience that silky-smooth scrolling and animations on the Pro, it’s hard to go back.
The Plus isn’t bad, but it's high time Apple bumps up the refresh rate on its non-Pro models.
Now, performance is where things get interesting. The 16 Plus is powered by the A18 chip, but the Pro’s got a little extra. It runs on the A18 Pro chip, which adds a sixth GPU core. Now, I’m not saying that you will notice that much of a difference when you’re scrolling web pages or taking a couple of photos, but if you’re gaming AAA titles or editing video, the Pro’s gonna give you that extra edge.
Think of it like this: the Plus can handle pretty much anything you throw at it, but the Pro is like your powerhouse—future-proof for heavier tasks.
Alright, most of the hype comes from the cameras. The Plus has two of them: a 48MP main and a 12MP ultrawide. The Pro adds a 12MP telephoto with 5x optical zoom, giving you more flexibility for portraits and zoom shots.
Please watch the video for camera samples.
Plus, the Pro gets all those advanced video features— Academy Color Encoding, Log video and ProRes video, all the good stuff. Though, both models can shoot 4K Dolby Vision video, the Pro model now offers capture up to 120 frames per second. That enables better slow-motion video. So if content creation is your thing, the Pro is where it’s at.
But if you just want solid photos that are more than good enough for social media, the Plus more than holds its own.
It's also great to see that both phones get that new camera control button. A quick press launches the camera app, and it’s touch-sensitive for changing modes and framing shots on the fly.
And Sure, Sony has been doing this for a while, but now that Apple’s jumped on board, you can bet other Android brands will be next
As for battery, the iPhone 16 Plus wins with 29 hours of video playback versus the Pro’s 27 hours. Both have MagSafe charging, but the 16 Pro steps it up with USB 3 support, giving you transfer speeds up to 20 times faster than the Plus.
Okay, so that's the quick low down on these two new iPhones and while there are some differences between the 16 Plus and 16 Pro, let’s be real—the gap isn’t as big as it seems for most everyday users.
Sure, the Pro packs some advanced features like 5X telephoto, LOG video recording, 4K 120 FPS slow mo, and faster USB 3 transfer speeds. But ask yourself—are these things you’ll actually use on a daily basis?
For the majority of people, these are more niche upgrades, suited for content creators or anyone who’s deep into the Apple ecosystem and really takes advantage of those pro-level tools.
But if you’re just looking for a solid phone to snap good photos, binge-watch shows, and get good battery life, the 16 Plus has you more than covered.
The iPhone 16 Pro might offer the “wow” factor for enthusiasts, but the iPhone 16 Plus is still a great phone in its own right. And for a ₹30,000 difference, the Plus is probably all the phone you’ll ever need without feeling like you're missing out on much.