Well, smaller will mean something different this year, as the iPhone 16 Pro display is expected to finally grow in size to 6.3 inches, setting it further apart from the basic iPhone 16 model with which it has shared a screen diagonal for a good while.
A larger iPhone 16 Pro will offer more space for the Tetraprism periscope zoom and will bridge the specs gap with the 16 Pro Max, but that might not be the only reason why Apple is doing this.
Ever since it started fragmenting the iPhone franchise and leaving cheaper iPhones severely under-specc’d in order to peddle the more expensive ones, users have been flocking to the Max version. So much so, that it has been the predominant sales driver and Apple might want to shake things up and spread demand over a larger pool of its most expensive iPhones.
Given that the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus are expected to still sport puny 60Hz displays, while the iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max will come with Tetraprism zoom lens, Apple might just succeed in its sales tactics again.
