iPhone 16 Pro Why the iPhone is still state-of-the-art. And better.

[lm57400]

… and don’t forget the state of the art 60 Hz displays in the newest 2024 iPhones, the state of the art missing AI, the state of the art but somehow fast decreasing and aging batteries, the state of the art 5x zoom and the state of the art pricing.

Oh no, you mentioned the pricing.

But not, that USB C is only here because of EU.

If somebody is after its proprietary standards and marketing which is just a step away of lying, than Apple.

 

[BigBlur]

But not, that USB C is only here because of EU.

The mandate is that new devices sold after December 28, 2024 must have USB-C. Existing devices already on the market are not affected. Apple certainly could have dragged Lighting along for a couple more years by including it on the iPhone 15 and 16 if they wanted to, and still have been able to sell them in the EU.

Sure, maybe the EU had a role in it, but I feel Apple would have been stubborn about it and waited until the last minute if they didn't want to switch to USB-C.

 

[tbgb50]

99 percent of the pictures I take are stuff on the shelves at Walmart so my wife can see what she wants me to bring home. The rest is usually stuff I end up posting here. Zoom? Ok, sure. thanks.

I thought I was the only one that does the Walmart hack. Made me laugh.

 

[rulymammoth]

The mandate is that new devices sold after December 28, 2024 must have USB-C. Existing devices already on the market are not affected. Apple certainly could have dragged Lighting along for a couple more years by including it on the iPhone 15 and 16 if they wanted to, and still have been able to sell them in the EU.

Sure, maybe the EU had a role in it, but I feel Apple would have been stubborn about it and waited until the last minute if they didn't want to switch to USB-C.

I don’t think anyone can argue that it wasn’t the EU’s role that prompted the switch. Apple was making a killing off of their lightning licensing program, if what we’re told is true. Why would you stop that voluntarily?

 

[DaveS86]

The 15PM to me is an art piece without a case, so beautiful

 

[Harthag]

… and don’t forget the state of the art 60 Hz displays in the newest 2024 iPhones, the state of the art missing AI, the state of the art but somehow fast decreasing and aging batteries, the state of the art 5x zoom and the state of the art pricing.

Oh no, you mentioned the pricing.

But not, that USB C is only here because of EU.

If somebody is after its proprietary standards and marketing which is just a step away of lying, than Apple.

My Pixel 9 Pro XL is state of the art but can’t route all sounds through Bluetooth earbuds, resulting in sounds playing on my phone speaker and buds simultaneously. At least Samsung has an awesome utility that does this, set once and done. I love OneUI and interested to see v7.0, when it finally launches in August 2025 😅. Not giving up Pixel anytime soon, but it has annoyed me for awhile.

 

[Wizec]

Not that I am totally benchmark Kool-Aid centric... used iPhones for years and still poke at 14 and 15 Pro's when family members need guidance (from someone who avoids them as much as possible but still knows a thing or two) lol

Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 still driv'n the bus in last month's benchmark for one.

Then ya have better display quality, easier to navigate and far better config options and customization capabilities; and (for those who use Samsung Knox Secure Folder) excellent containerized security that is completely isolated from apps and data stored in the default storage location.

View attachment 2434735

Most of what you do and interact with on a phone is single core unless you’re gaming or transcoding video.

The iPhone 15 Pro CPU is 21% faster and literally stomps the snapdragon in single core in the screenshot you posted. And it’s only 4% slower in multi core.

And as someone else pointed out, that was last year’s iPhone Pro. Now compare it to the iPhone 16 Pro CPU.

 

[dantay]

my criticism isn’t about the overall iPhone package, but the price is just way to high compared to the competition.

And talking about Apple vs Samsung, it’s time apple finally invents something like DeX. My S8 from 2017 was more capable when connected to an external monitor than any iPhone and iPad currently is

The iPhone is cheap compared to the competition, its the only phone that holds onto about 65% of it’s value after a year.

Having been stung by the residual values of Samsung foldables on multiple occasions I will be sticking with Apple from now on.

 

[Ctrlos]

It’s not that Apple are not state of the art; it’s just they’ve become the default phone, the generic, average model. Having an Apple device no longer makes anyone part of some sort of special club. It has become the McDonald’s, the Walmart, the FIFA of smartphones. They top the brand index because they’re solid and reliable. This isn’t a complaint; just the reality.

 

[edubfromktown]

Amen to this.

Another thing: I can connect two Android phones together directly via USB-C, which makes upgrading to a new phone infinitely easier.

I just went through transitioning two iPhone users to iPhone 14 Pros. Pain in the arse by comparison- even with local phone backups on a Mac!

 

[rulymammoth]

Another thing: I can connect two Android phones together directly via USB-C, which makes upgrading to a new phone infinitely easier.

I just went through transitioning two iPhone users to iPhone 14 Pros. Pain in the arse by comparison- even with local phone backups on a Mac!

Why though? I use iCloud backup restores and it's easy peasy. The longest part of the process is just waiting for the restore, but the process itself is simple.

 

[jtgil]

So we are comparing last years iphone to a reference phone? The iPhone 16 A18 smokes both single core and multi-core bench mark vs the reference phone. Not to mention the A18 Pro. I am not a benchmark fanatic but facts are facts.

That guy is reaching, the fact that 15p cpu single score beat this years Samsung and it was barely beaten in multi should tell you all about this guy’s standpoint on this topic.

I’m an iPhone guy but I drive in parallel an S24u, (upgrade in parallel with iphone) and I do so most of the year to keep up to date on the tech stuff and know how of the competition.

Of course Samsung and others have great hardware and tech, and of course they have features I wish the iPhone had, but they cannot compare to the build, reliability, efficiency and usability of an iPhone.

———

Let’s not mention, ageing devices, like eg iPhone 7 which I carried around until recently, and 10 years later is still kicking, please do tell me which android lives like that and still not bearing on your patience on original software? I even see people rocking iPhone 6’s.

Let’s talk about software support, people love to **** on Apple too for that, but what they don’t realise is that Apple has on average supported their iPhones for min of 6 years, some models up to 7 or 8 years which is insane.

Samsung s phones on comparison barely got over 4 years of software support until s7 and then no more than that, now it’s expected 5 but will be less than Apple anyways since their average is 6 lol. People love talking out their asses.

———

Like OP said, iPhone is a great package, he did gloss over some things and missed to mention others, but objectively the best.

Price is another thing I’m baffled people keep comparing to android. Are these people still living in 2013? To my knowledge iPhone competition is currently priced the same if not more in some cases.

In fact, the iPhone has kept the same prices since 2017, that is a price fix for 7 years now regardless of inflation while the competition have increased their prices, where is all the criticism for them?

———

I don’t outright go around forums ******** on android, in fact I acknowledge their strengths and I’m happy it keeps Apple from ****ing us over, but for some reason people want to go around ******** on Apple for existing and them doing their thing.

 

[jtgil]

What I seem to be noticing is that the iPhone no longer excites a lot of people because it doesn't have enough flashy, shallow change any more. The overall design, and themes are fairly stable. It doesn't matter how much has changed beneath the surface, they have the cameras arrayed in sameish layouts and locations, the screens are basically the same aspect, with the same notch or island, etc. Visually, from the 12 onwards, nothing has changed all that much.

It doesn't matter how much has changed beneath the surface. The iPhone 17 could be the best smartphone in the history of smartphones, and the internet will be full of the same 'ugh, the iPhone hasn't changed since the 12, there's no difference, tim apple just copy paste' threads.

While I understand you, what is boring is actually the people, they need something that excites their dull life. You don’t go around telling people cars have not really advanced in the past 50 years. Car tech (except Evs of course) have been pretty much the same with only the aesthetics redesign.

If you notice, Apple internal hardware is very similar year to year, just like android really, and the only difference between them is the exterior design package that really drives people’s opinion, ie. Innovation or not (lol)

Wait to see how people react on the new 17 redesign and think themselves they’re anything but shallow. Also, I say the same about android, but I praise them for at least giving their fans new designs every 2 years or so.

 

[jtgil]

Why though? I use iCloud backup restores and it's easy peasy. The longest part of the process is just waiting for the restore, but the process itself is simple.

That guy doesn’t know what he is talking about, since iOS12.4 (iPhone 5s supported) you can do a direct cable transfer upgrade for all iPhones.

See> Apple - Wired Transfer
For lightning to lightning:
-lightning to USB3 camera adapter
-typical USBA to lightning cable

For lightning to usbC:
-usbC to lightning cable direct

 

[Bungaree.Chubbins]

While I understand you, what is boring is actually the people, they need something that excites their dull life. You don’t go around telling people cars have not really advanced in the past 50 years. Car tech (except Evs of course) have been pretty much the same with only the aesthetics redesign.

If you notice, Apple internal hardware is very similar year to year, just like android really, and the only difference between them is the exterior design package that really drives people’s opinion, ie. Innovation or not (lol)

Wait to see how people react on the new 17 redesign and think themselves they’re anything but shallow. Also, I say the same about android, but I praise them for at least giving their fans new designs every 2 years or so.

I can't say as to what other people have going on in their lives, but one has to wonder sometimes.

 

[eyoungren]

Why though? I use iCloud backup restores and it's easy peasy. The longest part of the process is just waiting for the restore, but the process itself is simple.

I had to replace my iPhone in 2022 when I dropped it. In preparation to my Apple appointment, I broke down and started a 2TB subscription with Apple. At the time, I didn't want to be bothered having to try and restore 6000+ photos from my various backups. I didn't use iCloud photos at the time.

All set…I thought. Everything restored, EXCEPT the very reason I got the iCloud subscription. A bunch of my photos restored, but not all. In the end I went through all my manual backups just to end up tossing them into the Photos app on my Mac so they'd go back to my iPhone.

I still have iCloud Photos active and I still pay for the subscription (shared with my family). But I'm still using Dropbox and all my other methods for storing my data. iCloud backups are incidental to all of that.

 

[edubfromktown]

Why though? I use iCloud backup restores and it's easy peasy. The longest part of the process is just waiting for the restore, but the process itself is simple.

Does not work 100% of the time.

I always use a local backup and restore for this reason.

As an example: one friend (lives in major metropolitan area) traded in her iPhone and bought new one at an Apple store.

"Genius" said it would take time to sync data. Ended up losing ~2/3rd's of her contacts (psychologist) which was more than inconvenient. She went back to the store to get her old phone and it had already been shipped to get recycled.

Others have ended up with missing data elsewhere from iCloud restore and either had to wipe and restore again or backup locally and then restore to get all of their data transferred.

Some of my friends live in low bandwidth and less dense mobile tower areas so doing upgrades over iCloud can be slow as molasses or fail after never completing for hours/overnight.

Of the two I upgraded over the weekend, one had to be wiped and restored again.

 

[edubfromktown]

That guy doesn’t know what he is talking about, since iOS12.4 (iPhone 5s supported) you can do a direct cable transfer upgrade for all iPhones.

See> Apple - Wired Transfer
For lightning to lightning:
-lightning to USB3 camera adapter
-typical USBA to lightning cable

For lightning to usbC:
-usbC to lightning cable direct

Good to know they can do that now, thanks!

(I haven't used an iPhone in nearly 5 years).

 

[eyoungren]

"Genius" said it would take time to sync data. Ended up losing ~2/3rd's of her contacts (psychologist) which was more than inconvenient. She went back to the store to get her old phone and it had already been shipped to get recycled.

One of the many reasons I do not keep all my eggs in one basket. For me, Contacts are handled via Google. Accessible on any device and the web and not stored on my phone and therefore in any iCloud backup.

 

[edubfromktown]

One of the many reasons I do not keep all my eggs in one basket. For me, Contacts are handled via Google. Accessible on any device and the web and not stored on my phone and therefore in any iCloud backup.

Same here... even from my iPhone days, contacts were setup to sync with my Google account. Still works great with my Mac contacts.

 

[rulymammoth]

I wonder how much of the data loss is user error. I've upgraded every iPhone in the past however many years with iCloud and have never once lost data. I also have multiple Apple devices, all of which were also upgraded with iCloud.

 

[eyoungren]

I wonder how much of the data loss is user error. I've upgraded every iPhone in the past however many years with iCloud and have never once lost data. I also have multiple Apple devices, all of which were also upgraded with iCloud.

That is a point I think. You have to pay attention. Apple for years had the very bad habit of choosing itself as the default for services. With iMessage, that's one thing - only one company's products can use iMessage. But with stuff like contacts and calendars it's an entirely different matter.

The first time I clued in to the fact that Apple was defaulting contacts to iCloud (On My iPhone) rather than MY choice of Google, it became necessary for me to export all the contacts off the phone using icloud.com and then reimport them all into Google. From that moment on, I've always made damn sure that MY choice has been selected as the default and not iCloud.

 

[edubfromktown]

I wonder how much of the data loss is user error. I've upgraded every iPhone in the past however many years with iCloud and have never once lost data. I also have multiple Apple devices, all of which were also upgraded with iCloud.

Data gaps are not uncommon in my personal experience over a number of years, with regards to other people's devices- I never had a problem. No disrespect to iPhones or Apple- just verify all is well on the new device (before trading in, if you don't make a local backup) is why I posted.

Direct wired phone to phone is now my 1st choice going forward, instead of backup old one to Mac and restore from there to new one.

 

[whattodo11]

The 15PM to me is an art piece without a case, so beautiful

I keep coming back to It. I tried the 16 pro max hated the extra right and height. And the camera button is in the worst place for me. I now have the 16 pro and while it’s nice the 15 pro may be the perfect phone size and weight!