Apple iPhone 16 Plus Long Term Review: Great Camera, Great Battery, But…

The Apple iPhone 16 Plus starts at ₹79,900 for the 128GB model and ₹89,900 for the 256GB model on the Apple Online Store. This is huge, while Cashify offers a refurbished Apple iPhone 16 Plus at just 57,299 rupees. It is available in Ultramarine (a deep bluish-purple), Teal, Pink, White, and Black colours.

The Apple iPhone 16 Plus packs the following items inside the box:

• Phone
• Type-C cable
• SIM ejector tool
• Documentation

Before we talk in detail about the Apple iPhone 16 Plus, let’s see what the on-paper specs look like:

• Display: 6.7 inches Super Retina XDR OLED
• Chipset: Apple A18 (3 nm)
• RAM & ROM: 128GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 8GB RAM, 512GB 8GB RAM
• Software: iOS 18, upgradable to iOS 26.5
• Rear camera: 48MP, 12MP
• Selfie camera: 12MP
• Battery: 4674 mAh
• Weight: 199 grams
• Dimensions: 160.9 x 77.8 x 7.8 mm

The Apple iPhone 16 Plus has a solid and durable design. I’m saying this because I experienced its build quality firsthand. I used this phone quite carelessly without a case or screen protector. As you can see, the body and display have several scratches, but I never felt any degradation in the overall user experience.

Apple has added a Ceramic Shield (2024 gen), Mohs level 4 glass front to protect the display from accidental damage, along with a glass back. The phone also features an aluminium frame that has proven to be very durable.

I dropped it multiple times, and you can see several dents around the body. Despite that, the overall user experience never felt affected.

Since I was using the Apple iPhone 16 Plus for a long-term review, I didn’t worry much about keeping it in perfect condition. However, I strongly recommend using a case and a screen protector to protect your hard-earned investment, as the phone can suffer significant damage during accidental drops.

The Apple iPhone 16 Plus is also IP68-rated for dust and water resistance, making it dust-tight and capable of surviving in water up to 6 metres deep for 30 minutes.

Also Read: Apple iPad Pro 11-inch (3rd Generation) Long-Term Review: Does The M1 Chip Still Hold Up?

The Apple iPhone 16 Plus features one of the best cameras in its price segment. It comes with a 48MP wide camera and a 12MP ultrawide sensor.

During my long-term review, I clicked hundreds of photos in different lighting conditions. In daylight, images come out with excellent detail, natural colours, and impressive dynamic range.

If you love shooting during the golden hour, you’ll enjoy this camera even more, as the colours look warm and vibrant.

One of my favourite features is the 2x Portrait mode. You can see from the camera samples that edge detection is almost perfect, while the background blur looks natural. The image clarity is also excellent without making photos look over-processed.

I also visited Qutub Minar and captured several photos at night. The camera performed well, producing bright images with good detail and balanced colours. However, if you’re capturing people in low-light conditions, you may notice some grain in the photos.

The 12MP front camera is equally impressive. Whether you’re taking selfies or attending video calls, it captures natural skin tones and sharp details. I also recorded several videos during this review, and the stabilisation was excellent, making handheld footage look smooth. Overall, the Apple iPhone 16 Plus camera remains one of its biggest strengths and is reliable for both photography and videography.

The Apple iPhone 16 Plus packs a larger 4674mAh battery compared to the Apple iPhone 16. Its battery life depends on your usage. If you mainly watch videos and scroll through social media, you can expect around 12 hours of screen-on time. However, during gaming, especially while playing BGMI, I got around 8 hours of screen-on time. With normal day-to-day usage, the phone can easily last up to two days on a single charge.

This phone also supports fast charging. During my Apple iPhone 16 Plus long-term review, I used Apple’s 20W charger to charge the device. It took around one hour to fully charge the phone, while reaching 50% battery in just 30 minutes.

The Apple iPhone 16 Plus features a 6.7-inch Super Retina XDR OLED display with HDR10 support. Thanks to its larger display and High Dynamic Range technology, watching movies and web series feels more immersive, with excellent contrast and deep blacks.

During my Apple iPhone 16 Plus long-term review, I recently watched the Asur web series, which has many dark-themed scenes, and the viewing experience was excellent.

In terms of brightness, the display offers up to 1000 nits (typical) and 2000 nits (HBM), which is more than enough for comfortable outdoor use, even in bright sunlight. One of the biggest drawbacks is that Apple still offers only a 60Hz refresh rate.

I could clearly feel the difference during normal day-to-day use because I’m now accustomed to using 120Hz smartphones. If you’re already using a 60Hz phone, you might not notice this limitation. However, if you switch from a 120Hz device, you’ll likely feel the downgrade in smoothness.

The Apple iPhone 16 Plus performance is one of the biggest attractions of this phone. It is powered by the Apple A18 (3nm) chipset, one of Apple’s most powerful processors. It delivers flagship-level performance with up to 30% faster CPU speeds and a 40% faster 5-core GPU compared to the A16 chip. Combined with 8GB of RAM, it enables smooth console-level gaming and supports large generative AI models for Apple Intelligence. During my long-term review, I never experienced any lag or stuttering in day-to-day usage.

In terms of gaming, I have mixed opinions. On one hand, the 6.7-inch display and larger chassis help dissipate heat, allowing the phone to sustain high performance during extended gaming sessions. On the other hand, the thermal management isn’t as good as I expected. After long gaming sessions, I noticed the phone becoming quite warm. However, this did not significantly affect the gaming experience, as I rarely experienced frame drops or performance issues. Overall, gaming performance remains consistently excellent.

However, if you use the phone extensively for photography or videography, especially under direct sunlight, you may notice excessive heating. In some situations, the phone may even display a notification saying, “iPhone needs to cool down before you can use it.” During the Apple iPhone 16 Plus long term review, it got this notification multiple times.

I conducted several Benchmark tests on the Apple iPhone 16 Plus to evaluate its accurate performance in various aspects. Its Geekbench CPU scores are 3181 in single-core and 7881 in multi-core. Moreover, its Antutu score is 1841604. The 3D Mark Wildlife Extreme Stress Test for stability has an overall score of 75.1 per cent.

The Apple iPhone 16 Plus comes with iOS 18 out of the box, but you can upgrade it to iOS 26.5, which I’m currently using on both this phone and my Apple iPhone 15.

As always, I enjoy the new Liquid Glass UI and its smooth animations. The latest update brings several useful improvements, including end-to-end encryption for RCS messaging, third-party wearable interoperability (notification forwarding and Live Activities) in select regions.

A new Pride Luminance wallpaper, improved Maps suggestions, automatic pairing for the new Magic Keyboard, and more than 50 critical security fixes.

However, I noticed minor battery drain and heating issues on both devices after updating.

The Apple iPhone 16 Plus also supports Apple Intelligence, which helps streamline everyday tasks with system-wide text rewriting and proofreading, notification and email summaries, photo Clean Up tools, and on-device contextual awareness. Since most of these features run on-device, they also help maintain user privacy while improving productivity.