Today’s iPhone lineup is more powerful than ever, with the A19 and A19 Pro both holding the line for Single Core performance scores on smartphone CPUs. If you’re on a budget, don’t care as much for tech specs but still want an all-around good device, one could feel indecisive amongst the sea of choices out there.
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The iPhone 16 offers a highly potent set of hardware, a decent battery, and an OLED screen which makes this a great choice for mostly anyone looking for an everyday smartphone. This article takes a look into the value equation of the device in Late 2025, and why I think it’s a good choice. My iPhone Air is and will continue being my daily driver.
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Cost

This depends on how you get your iPhone 16. Since it’s not discontinued it can still be picked up through carriers and Apple, however, it can also be steeply discounted on the secondhand market.

• On eBay: As low as $410 carrier-locked, $520 and up unlocked. Around the same price range as an iPhone 14 Pro used on eBay.

• On T-Mobile’s Experience Beyond plan: $30.42/mo for 24 months ($729.99 total) if you start a brand new line as an existing customer, or: $4.17/mo for 24 months ($100.08 total) if you have a qualifying trade-in such as an iPhone 13 Pro Max or newer.
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  • If you have a device on the older end of the trade-in threshold and happen to choose this carrier and plan, it will be more advantageous to trade it in, as you’ll get more device credit versus trying to sell it. If it’s newer, your secondhand resale value will be closer to what the carrier offers.

• Apple: For $699 boxed and sealed, you can pick one up from the real artist who ships.

Camera

With a 48-Megapixel wide lens and 12-Megapixel Ultrawide lens, it’s a step up from a single lens camera and gives you some more range of mobility. It’s a great everyday camera, but what impresses me in particular is how well it does in night time and low-level lighting.
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(Above: Photo taken in night time near a light. It looks brighter in the pic & view finder than in person)
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(Above: Apple iPhone 16 vs Pixel 9 vs Galaxy S24 Camera Test Comparison – Danny Widget – URL)
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Performance

When I had my iPhone 14 Pro on iOS 18 earlier this year, I often spoke about how the device felt quite performant going into it’s third year of operation, and how I wasn’t sure if it would be a good choice this year to upgrade. It should come as no surprise the iPhone 16 runs phenomenally on iOS 18 – if it still does when you buy yours.
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Even before upgrading to iOS 26, this Ultramarine iPhone 16 is about 21% faster (or more) versus my old iPhone 14 Pro from the time I said it was running phenomenally back in January. More likely than not, a secondhand iPhone 14 Pro/Pro Max will cost on the lower end of the same range of prices you’ll find secondhand iPhone 16s selling for.
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After upgrading to iOS 26

Overall Single-Core and Multi-core performance scores stayed relatively the same, and the iPhone 16 maintained about the same lead in performance over the iPhone 14 Pro I had before sending it out.

Both iOS 26 and iOS 18 feel like they have the same level of responsiveness as each other on a 60 Hz screen. No complaints here, the device runs as it should.
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Brownie Points

• SOS Satellite Emergency features including: roadside assistance, find my, and texting
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• Crash Detection
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• Modern Wifi 7
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• Larger battery versus an iPhone 14 Pro (3561 mAh) versus (3200 mAh)
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• A camera button, like all the new iPhones
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• It uses the same LPDDR5X-7500 (3750 MHz) as the M4 chip (albeit with lower bandwidth but still), and has a whole 8 GB of it! The iPhone 14 Pro only had 6 GB.
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• It can wire-charge up to 50% in 30 minutes.
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• Over 1700 nits maximum brightness.
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• Base model is 128 GB, which is a decent starting amount of storage.
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• About the same performance: iPhone 16 vs Mac mini (Late 2020)
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In Conclusion

The Aquamarine nearly bleeds through the eyes and into the soul, and it’s another one of those color-shifting tones. It’s leaning purple, and worth having a clear case to appreciate the device with and to protect the soft aluminum anodized metal band.

The iPhone 16 is a remarkable phone all-around, a reminder you don’t need the absolute latest and greatest to have a solid smartphone experience. I didn’t expect a whole 20% improvement over Pro-level phones just two generations prior to this one, and yet – here we are. Let’s take a step back and appreciate how far we’ve come, for real this time.. you have the power of a whole M1 Mac mini in your hand.
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