iPhone 16 5G Performance: How does Apple’s latest and greatest compare to previous iPhones

Apple iPhone 16 is faster than its predecessor but how fast?

Apple iPhone 16 lineup is arguably the most powerful iPhone yet from the Cupertino-based company. As Apple’s first devices built for Apple Intelligence, the iPhone maker did something that it had not done previously with its iPhone lineup. Compared to the Pro models, the iPhone 16 5G and the iPhone 16 Plus are no longer being treated as second-class citizens.

This means the iPhone 16 5G gets an Apple A18 chip instead of getting the A17 Pro chip from last year’s Pro models. With the new chip, improved cameras, action buttons, camera control, and AI chops, the iPhone 16 lineup is all about performance. Here’s a look at how Apple’s latest and greatest compare to previous iPhones.

iPhone 16: Performance compared to previous iPhones

At the heart of the Apple iPhone 16 is the new A18 chip, which is built on second-generation 3-nanometer technology. This chip includes a 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, and 16-core Neural Engine. When compared to the A16 Bionic chip found on iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max, this chip delivers 30 per cent faster performance.

This performance headroom is needed primarily to enable all the AI features that Apple has begun to roll out as part of its Apple Intelligence. It also comes with 30 per cent less power consumption than A16 Bionic. In addition to the CPU, there is also an improved 5-core GPU, which Apple claims is up to 40 per cent faster and 35 per cent more efficient than A16 Bionic.

This new GPU allows iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus to play AAA games previously available only on the iPhone 15 Pro thanks to hardware-accelerated ray tracing. The GPU also enables the accurate representation of the behaviour of light with up to 5x higher frame rates than software-based ray tracing. The new internal design now allows for up to 30 per cent higher sustained performance for gaming compared to previous iPhone models.

Another area where the iPhone 16 5G excels is 5G performance with many tests revealing the device is capable of faster download and upload speeds than any previous iPhone. According to Ookla, the iPhone 16 lineup posted a median 5G download speed of 261.57Mbps and the lowest median 5G multi-server latency was at 44ms. It is faster than the iPhone 15 as well as the iPhone 14 lineup, and it also delivers faster download speeds than some Android models.

In the past, Apple reserved its best chipsets for the Pro models and while there is still some difference in performance between the iPhone 16’s A18 chip and iPhone 16 Pro’s A18 Pro chip, the gulf is not equivalent to that of a generation. These models are designed to deliver sustained peak performance while also staying efficient. 

iPhone 16 price: Price compared to iPhone 15

It has now become a tradition for Apple to discount older models with the launch of a new iPhone lineup. The iPhone 16 lineup starts at Rs 79,900 in India while the iPhone 15 price and iPhone 14 families start at Rs 69,900 and Rs 59,900 respectively. However, you can find them at lower prices with exchange offers and card discounts.

The iPhone 15 base model with 128GB storage is available starting at Rs 66,190  while the iPhone 14 with 128GB storage can be purchased at 51,990. The conventional wisdom to follow while buying an iPhone in India is to not only look for sale or discounts but also look for additional bundle offers like additional discount on exchange, specific bank offers, and other deals on accessories.