Apple (AAPL) unveiled its iPhone 16 line of smartphones on Monday during its “Glowtime” event at its headquarters in Cupertino, California. The phones come in four models: the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, and the premium iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max models.
The new phones are Apple’s first designed specifically for the Apple Intelligence AI platform, with more powerful chips that can run the software. The base model iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus now feature the same programmable Action button as last year’s iPhone 15 Pro line.
Both the base iPhone 16s and iPhone 16 Pro have new, dedicated touch-sensitive camera buttons that let you launch the Camera app. You can then click again to take a photo or click and hold to record a video.
A light press of the button reveals a new overlay that gives you access to controls like zoom. Third-party apps like Snapchat also use the camera button to quickly share your shots.
iPhone16
Overall, the $799 iPhone 16 and $899 iPhone 16 Plus are similar to last year’s models, except for the arrangement of the rear cameras. They are now stacked vertically to enable spatial photos for use with the Apple Vision Pro headset.
Inside, the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus get Apple’s new 3-nanometer A18 chip, which includes a 2x faster Neural Engine. Apple says the A18’s central processing unit is up to 30% faster than the one in the iPhone 15 line and includes a 5-core GPU that helps run Apple Intelligence, gaming, and camera features. Apple says the new chip will also improve the iPhone 1’s battery life.
The iPhone 16s will also come with computational photography software that offers a 2x telephoto lens option that simulates optical zoom over the standard wide-angle lens. The ultra-wide-angle lens, meanwhile, will be upgraded to 48 megapixels.
Apple also says it’s bringing visual intelligence to the Camera app that will allow you to take a photo of something like a restaurant to get reviews of the place, or snap a photo of a flyer for a concert and instantly add the information to your calendar. If you see a bike in person that you want to buy, you can snap a photo of it and then get a quick Google link to buy it.
This sounds similar to Google’s existing Circle to Search feature for Android phones. I’ll have to see if it works as well as Google’s offering when I get my hands on it.
iPhone 16 Pro
The $999 iPhone 16 Pro and $1,199 iPhone 16 Pro Max get larger displays this time around, with the Pro’s screen growing from 6.1 inches to 6.3 inches and the Pro Max’s from 6.7 inches to 6.9 inches. The larger displays are possible thanks to thinner bezels that make the phone look more like a single pane of glass from the front.
Both Pro phones feature Apple’s new A18 Pro chip and offer better performance than the A18 in the iPhone 16s. The processor’s CPU is 15% faster than the A17 Pro and consumes 20% less power.
The Pro and Pro Max also get more powerful 48MP Fusion cameras and 48MP ultra-wide cameras. The Pro gets a new 5x optical zoom, matching the capabilities of the Pro Max. The iPhone 15 Pro only offered 3x zoom.
Like the iPhone 16s, the Pros get the same camera controls via the new dedicated camera button, and later this year Apple will add a two-stage shutter that locks on to a subject via a software update. You can also now record video in 4K at 120 frames per second for slick slow-motion videos. You can also adjust the frames per second after recording your videos via the Photos app.
As for the sound, the Pros get four built-in microphones and spatial audio recording. The audio mix feature lets you determine how the audio should sound in the videos to record movies with professional sound.
To demonstrate the iPhone 16 Pro’s video capabilities, the company showed how the features were used in the filming of The Weeknd’s latest music video.
Apple Intelligence
As for Apple Intelligence, Apple says the software will be available as a free software update. The first features will be available as a beta in the US next month. Chinese, French, Japanese and Spanish language versions of Apple Intelligence will be available next year.
Apple did not announce any new features for Apple Intelligence, but took the time to remind consumers of the capabilities the company announced during its WWDC event in June.
The company also mentioned its Private Cloud Compute, which runs server-based AI functions without storing your data. Apple says its AI-powered writing tools will be deeply integrated into iOS, from first-party apps like Mail to third-party programs like Slack and Goodreads. The company also says Apple Intelligence will allow you to easily search for specific photos and moments in videos.
Summary tools will be available on iOS, including for SMS, work messages, and email. Mail will also get Priority Emails, which will notify you of the messages Apple Intelligence thinks are most important to you.
Siri is also being improved, making it easier to chat with the voice assistant or ask it questions by typing. Apple says Siri will receive even more powerful improvements in the future.
But the fact that Apple Intelligence isn’t rolling out with the new iPhones could be a problem for Apple. Wall Street is betting the feature will kickstart a new iPhone sales cycle, and any delay in the release of Apple Intelligence could dampen those hopes.
iPhone is Apple’s flagship product and serves as a starting point for customers to explore Apple’s extensive ecosystem of products and services, from AirPods to Apple TV+.
But iPhone sales have been declining recently. The company reported revenue of $39.2 billion in the third quarter, down from $39.6 billion in the same period last year. That’s partly due to the company’s performance in the Greater China region, where revenue fell by about $1 billion last quarter compared to a year earlier.
Nevertheless, the iPhone is still Apple’s biggest moneymaker. In 2023, the smartphone accounted for $200.5 billion of the company’s total revenue of $383.2 billion.
Email Daniel Howley at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @DanielHowley.
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