One thing to stay up for: Apple has remained extra hesitant about AI than rivals like Google, which has gone full-bore with the expertise of their software program, providers, and smartphones. As Cupertino pulls the curtain again on Apple Intelligence, the iPhone 16 is the corporate’s first telephone to combine AI as a central characteristic, powering quite a few new digital camera capabilities.
Pre-orders for the iPhone 16 (6.1-inch), iPhone 16 Plus (6.7-inch), iPhone 16 Professional (6.3-inch), and iPhone 16 Professional Max (6.9-inch) open on Friday, and the gadgets will hit shops on September 20.
Whereas the brand new fashions’ deal with AI options isn’t a surprise, Apple can be introducing varied new hardware-based digital camera controls.
The brand new digital camera management button is the primary bodily button the corporate has added to the iPhone in a while. Quick or sustained clicks can function completely different capabilities, and the button acknowledges a number of gestures with haptic suggestions. Apple’s presentation confirmed how the brand new button can summon preview, zoom, and different digital camera controls inside the iPhone’s predominant digital camera app.
Holding the button prompts a brand new AI characteristic Apple revealed this week, referred to as Visible Intelligence, which can debut later this yr. When customers level the digital camera at objects like eating places, billboards, or animals, the telephone can immediately retrieve details about them. Apps like ChatGPT and Snapchat will even supply varied functionalities powered by Visible Intelligence.
The iPhone 16 is notably the primary non-Professional mannequin to assist the Apple Intelligence options unveiled at WWDC in June. Customers can generate emojis, entry Siri’s new ChatGPT-like performance, routinely edit textual content, and rapidly set up recordsdata.
The brand new A18 processor powers these options roughly 30 % sooner than the iPhone 15, with customers upgrading from older fashions experiencing an much more vital efficiency uplift.
A public beta for Apple Intelligence will launch in October for American English customers, with assist for different English dialects arriving in December. Betas for Chinese language, French, Japanese, and Spanish are deliberate for 2025.
The iPhone 15 Professional made vital strides in gaming final yr, and the iPhone 16 additional raises the bar by supporting AAA titles with out requiring the Professional mannequin. Customers can take pleasure in top-rated video games like Murderer’s Creed Mirage and Resident Evil Village on the go or forged them to their TV by way of AirPlay.
Apple claims that gaming efficiency on the iPhone 16 is round 30 % higher than on the iPhone 15 Professional.
One other characteristic that was beforehand unique to the Professional mannequin, the customizable motion button, is now included with the usual iPhone 16. Different notable additions embrace a bigger battery, Wi-Fi 7, macro pictures, satellite tv for pc textual content messaging, and extra.
In the meantime, the iPhone 16 Professional and 16 Professional Max supply a number of efficiency and content material creation upgrades over the 15 Professional, to not point out barely larger screens.
The A18 Professional SoC is constructed on 2nd-generation 3nm expertise, and presents a 16-core Neural Engine. The 6-core CPU consists of two high-performance cores and 4 effectivity cores, delivering roughly a 15 % efficiency increase and double the pace of knowledge processing in comparison with its predecessor. The 6-core GPU additionally presents as much as 20% higher efficiency than the A17 Professional with {hardware} ray tracing.
The machine helps sooner USB-C switch charges and doubles video encoding knowledge processing.
The iPhone 16 Professional is supplied with a brand new 48-megapixel “Fusion” digital camera, that includes a second-generation quad-pixel sensor that eliminates shutter lag for 48-megapixel ProRAW and HEIF pictures.
One of many key options of the Professional mannequin is its capability to document 4K video at 120fps in Dolby Imaginative and prescient. It additionally helps half-rate, quarter-rate, and one-fifth-rate playback for spectacular slow-motion results. Moreover, video and audio recordings can selectively scale back background noise to make voices clearer.
Apple claims battery life on the iPhone 16 Professional Max has been prolonged to as much as 33 hours, due to a brand new mechanical design and superior energy administration system that additionally improves warmth dissipation for higher sustained efficiency.
Beginning costs are $799 for the 6.1-inch iPhone 16, $899 for the 6.7-inch iPhone 16 Plus, $999 for the 6.3-inch iPhone 16 Professional, and $1,199 for the 6.9-inch iPhone 16 Professional Max. A free software program replace, releasing on September 16, will carry iOS 18 to the iPhone XR and later fashions, introducing new Management Middle choices, RCS messaging, and enhanced password administration options.