At Apple’s Glowtime event, the company unveiled its next top-of-the-line phone duo, the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max. The phones are largely similar to their predecessors, but feature better hardware, improved cameras, and of course, Apple Intelligence – including an additional button for using AI with your camera.
The premium phones are larger yet slimmer. The iPhone 16 Pro has a 6.3-inch display and the iPhone 16 Pro Max has a 6.9-inch display – the largest iPhone ever. The iPhone 16 Pro starts at $999 with 128GB of storage, while the iPhone 16 Pro Max starts at $1,199 with 256GB of storage. Both are available for pre-order starting September 13 and will launch on September 20. Both the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max have titanium frames only and come in four colors: black, white, a silvery natural tone, and the tan desert color.
Apple Intelligence (cutely abbreviated to “AI”) is the suite of artificial intelligence tools the company is introducing on the iPhone 16 series. Features include changing the tone of messages, improved Siri, enhanced search in photos and videos, and new camera controls (more on that below). Although Apple Intelligence will also be available on the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, Apple is positioning its new AI as an incentive for most owners of older iPhones to upgrade.
More from the Apple event
The iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max also have something new compared to the cheaper iPhone 16 and 16 Plus: a dedicated button (both clicky and capacitive) for Visual Intelligence (located under what was once the antenna slot below the lock button on the right side of the phones). This is a camera-focused aspect of Apple Intelligence: just press the button and the phone will suggest insights to you, which is very similar to Google Lens. There are other features too, like lightly touching (not pressing) the button to open camera options like zoom and aperture for depth – just sliding your finger back and forth can do things like zoom in and out.
You can zoom and use other photo controls by tapping (but not firmly pressing) the camera button.
The iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max come with the Apple A18 Pro chipset as Apple continues its strategy of equipping the two highest-end iPhones with only the most advanced chip. The iPhone 16 and 16 Plus both get the A18 chipset.
Unlike their predecessors, the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max are no longer the only phones of their generation to feature an action button, which was added to the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus.
However, the top models in the iPhone 16 series still have some premium features, such as telephoto lenses. This year, both the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max have the 5x optical zoom that only the larger iPhone 15 Pro Max had, which is a win for lovers of smaller phones. Now, only the larger battery separates the iPhone 16 Pro from the Pro Max.
The iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max also feature a 48-megapixel main camera that features a new sensor that enables 2x macro zoom as well as 4K video at 120 frames per second for the first time at Apple. The phones also feature a 48-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera to round out the trio of rear cameras.
The different professional audio recording settings during video recording.
The phones have four audio microphones placed around the phone and can also record spatial audio to enhance spatial videos shot with the phones for viewing on the Apple Vision Pro. There are also professional audio recording settings: a trio of options including In-Frame, Studio and Cinema, which change how loud voices and background noise appear in the final recording.
Voice Memos also has improved functionality. Users can now listen to audio files – such as a song – and speak or sing along. Then the phone’s advanced processing removes the background music to preserve the user’s voice.
With the new capacitive camera button means new cases, and Apple has a few that allow finger control MagSafe and
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