The launch of the iPhone 16 series came at Apple’s “It’s Glowtime” event to much fanfare on Monday. During the event, the company showed off several hardware and software upgrades coming with the new generation of iPhone devices. However, it seems the company’s words about “faster USB 3 speeds” might have been taken out of context, and the tech giant isn’t actually offering improved transfer speed with the new iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max lineup.
iPhone 16 users may not get improved USB transfer speeds
The Cupertino-based tech giant claimed while listing the numerous upgrades for the iPhone 16 Pro models that Apple's new generation of smartphones will get “faster USB 3 speeds.” However, as a report by MacRumors pointed out, this could be confusing wording on the part of the company.
Taking a look at the technical specifications for the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro models here and here, it reveals that the USB 2 and USB 3 transfer speeds for the base and Pro models are 480Mbps and 10Gbps, respectively. Interestingly, the same speeds were available on the iPhone 15 Pro and non-Pro models. If that’s the case, then there’s no real improvement in transfer speeds.
It seems that what Apple really wanted to communicate is that the iPhone 16 Pro models, equipped with the A18 Pro chipset, offer faster data transfer speeds compared to the non-Pro models, which are equipped with the A18 SoC.
However, the claim would be true if the tech giant were to compare the transfer speed of the iPhone 16 Pro to that of the iPhone 14 Pro, which was the last generation with the Lightning cable.
However, for those looking to get 10Gbps transfer speeds with the iPhone 16 Pro models, users will need the appropriate USB-C cable, which must be purchased separately. Notably, USB 3.0 is the third generation of the Universal Serial Bus standard, offering faster data transfer speeds compared to previous versions.
The iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max also have a larger display with a 6.3-inch and 6.9-inch Super Retina XDR OLED display, respectively. The display also has a 120Hz refresh rate (ProMotion) and up to 2,000 peak brightness units.