Apple (AAPL) unveiled its iPhone 16 smartphone lineup on Monday at its “Glowtime” event at its headquarters in Cupertino, California. The phones come in four versions: iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, and the premium models iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max.
The new phones are the first to be designed exclusively for the Apple Intelligence AI platform, and they’re packed with more features, including a more powerful chip capable of running software. The base iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus models feature the same programmable action buttons as last year’s iPhone 15 Pro lineup.
Both the base iPhone 16s and iPhone 16 Pro models also feature a new dedicated touch-sensitive camera button that can be used to launch the camera app. Click again to take a photo, or click and hold to record a video.
Press the button briefly to reveal 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 recordings.
iPhone 16
Overall, the $799 iPhone 16 and $899 iPhone 16 Plus are similar to last year’s models, except for the layout of the rear cameras, which are stacked vertically and allow for spatial photography with the Apple Vision Pro headset.
Inside the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus is Apple’s new 3-nanometer A18 chip, which includes a Neural Engine that’s two times faster. Apple says the A18’s central processing unit is up to 30 times faster than the iPhone 15 series and has a five-core GPU that helps run Apple Intelligence, games, and camera features. Apple says the new chip also improves the phones’ battery life.
The iPhone 16s will also have computational photography software that enables a 2x telephoto lens option that simulates optical zoom beyond the standard wide-angle lens, while the ultra-wide-angle lens has been upgraded to 48 megapixels.
Apple also says it will bring visual intelligence to the Camera app, letting you take a photo of something like a restaurant to get reviews for that place, or a concert flyer to instantly add information to your calendar. If you actually find a bike you want to buy, you can take a photo of it and instantly get a Google link to buy it.
This is similar to Google’s existing Circle to Search feature for Android phones. Once we have it, we’ll have to check if it works the same way as Google’s.
iPhone 16 Pro
The $999 iPhone 16 Pro and $1,199 iPhone 16 Pro Max now have larger displays. The Pro’s screen size goes from 6.1 inches to 6.3 inches, while the Pro Max’s screen size goes from 6.7 inches to 6.9 inches. The larger displays are made possible thanks to thinner bezels, making the phone look like a single piece of glass when viewed from the front.
Both Pro phones are powered by Apple’s new A18 Pro chip, which offers better performance than the A18 in the iPhone 16s. The processor’s CPU is 15 inches more powerful than the A17 Pro, and consumes 20% less power.
The Pro and Pro Max also have more powerful 48-megapixel Fusion and 48-megapixel ultrawide cameras. The Pro has a new 5x optical zoom, matching the capabilities of the Pro Max; the iPhone 15 Pro only offered 3x zoom.
As with the iPhone 16s, the Pro gets the same camera controls via a new dedicated camera button, and later this year Apple will add a two-stage shutter to lock onto your subject through a software update. You can now record video at 120 frames per second in 4K to create sleek slow-motion videos. You can also adjust the frames per second using the Photos app after recording your video.
When it comes to sound, pros can take advantage of four built-in microphones and spatial audio recording. The Audio Mix feature lets you decide how the audio in your video will sound to record professional-sounding movies.
To demonstrate the video capabilities of the iPhone 16 Pro, the company showed how the feature was used during the filming of The Weeknd’s latest music video.
Apple Intelligence
As for Apple Intelligence, Apple said the software will be available as a free software update, with the first features rolling out in beta in the United States next month. Chinese, French, Japanese, and Spanish versions of Apple Intelligence will be available next year.
Apple did not announce new features for Apple Intelligence, but reminded consumers of features it announced during its WWDC event in June.
The company mentioned private cloud computing, which runs server-based AI functions without storing data. Apple said 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 that Apple Intelligence will make it easier to search for specific photos or moments within a video.
Summary tools for SMS, work messages, emails, and more will be available on iOS. Mail will also receive Priority Mail and alert you to messages that Apple Intelligence considers most important.
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