iPhone 16 Pro should cost the same as last year — and that’s great news

How much will it cost to buy a brand new iPhone 16 Pro ? While we expect the regular iPhone 16 to stay at the same $799 price tag as the last few generations, there have been some concerns the Pro model could go up in price. Fortunately it sounds like you don’t have much to worry about.

According to Mark Gurman , Apple is set to keep the $999 starting price for the iPhone 16 Pro. That means Apple won’t be pulling the same trick it pulled with the iPhone 15 Pro Max , and effectively raising the price of entry by $100 by scrapping the 128GB storage option. This does contradict previous speculation about the 16 Pro’s price, but we can all agree that static prices are a good thing.

While the 256GB iPhone 15 Pro Max was the same price as a 256GB iPhone 14 Pro Max, the lack of a 128GB storage option meant the cost of entry was higher. Which wasn’t ideal for people who wanted all the exclusive new features, like the tetraprism lens , at the lowest possible price.

While I’m no fan of the fact 128GB storage options are hanging around for quite so long, the lower price does make those phones slightly more affordable. Or as affordable as a $1,000+ phone can be.

Gurman also noticed that he expected the touch sensitive camera button, so far known as the Capture button , will be available on all iPhone 16 models. Which is what we already heard was happening, but it is good to keep hearing it from trusted sources like Gurman.

Also noteworthy are battery life improvements and the new thinner bezels on Pro models — which Gurman says are “noticeable”. Both of which are great upgrades to have. Nobody likes giant bezels, and strong battery life is arguably the most important part of a smartphone’s repertoire.

The iPhone 15 series had pretty solid battery life , though the iPhone 15 Pro was one of the weaker options — clocking in at 10 hours and 53 minutes in our custom battery life test. While not a bad score, it certainly leaves room for improvement, and hopefully the iPhone 16 Pro can add a couple of hours onto that time.

We won’t find out about the battery life before we can get the iPhone 16 Pro and the rest of its cohorts into our lab for testing. As for the pricing and design details, we should hear all about that later today during the launch event.

Be sure to check into our Apple Glowtime event live blog for ongoing coverage of the show, and if you want to tune in yourself make sure to bookmark our guide on how to watch the Apple Glowtime event .

More from Tom's Guide

• Two AirPods 4 models launching at Apple 'Glowtime' event — here's the differences
• Apple Watch 10 — last-minute leak just revealed biggest upgrades
• iPhone 16 colors revealed before Apple event — here’s all the new options