At Apple’s fall “Glowtime” keynote, the tech giant revealed its iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max.
While this year’s iPhone lineup isn’t the significant update many were hoping for, with most of the key iOS 18 Apple Intelligence features delayed until later this year (with some arriving next month), there are several key new features worth noting, including the tech giant’s new Camera Control button that’s available across the entire lineup, the A18 chip, AI-powered Apple Intelligence features, and more.
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Other upgrades include bigger screens and reduced bezels
Apple iPhone 16 Pro
iPhone 16 Pro Max
Apple’s iPhone 16 Pro line features a few notable upgrades over last year’s iPhone 15 Pro, including a dedicated camera button, a new A18 Pro chip, a bigger screen, and several AI-powered Apple Intelligence features.
This year’s iPhone 16 Pro comes in at 6.3-inches and 6.9-inches, respectively, slightly increasing the size of both Pro iPhone models. The bezels surrounding each display appear to have been reduced, too. The build is still Titanium, and the overall design of the smartphone looks very similar to last year’s iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, including the matte squared-off sides and rear.
This year’s higher-end iPhone features Apple’s new A18 Pro chip, offering a modest 15 percent performance bump over the already very powerful A17 Pro. The updated chip features a 16-core Neural Engine and a 6-core GPU that’s 20 percent faster (this allows for faster USB-C transfer speeds).
On the camera front, Apple says that its Camera Control button will be updated later this year with the ability to lock direction on a subject with a two-stage shutter, similar to a DSLR. At launch, the button offers quick access to camera features like optical zoom. Video capture has also been updated to 4K 120fps in ProRes and frame-by-frame color grading. On the camera hardware side, the iPhone 16 Pro features a main 48-megapixel shooter, a 48-meagpixel ultra-wide, and 12-megapixel 5x telephoto camera.
Other upgrades include improved microphones for better audio capture that Apple describes as “studio quality.” Battery life has also been improved, with the tech giant stating that the iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max offer “a huge leap in battery life” and “the best battery life on an iPhone ever.”
This year’s iPhone 16 Pro colors include black, white, silver and the new desert (which looks like gold to me). TheiPhone 16 Pro starts at $1,000with 128GB of storage and the iPhone 16 Pro Max starts at $1,200 with 256GB of storage. Both devices are available to pre-order on Friday, September 13 and release on September 20th.
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The iPhone 16 now features the “Action Button”
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iPhone 16 Plus
This year’s iPhone 16 line blurs the line between the “Pro” and the base-level iPhone by offering a new camera button and the Action Button, alongside the A18 chip.
This year’s key standout is the same dedicated “Camera Control” button the iPhone 16 Pro offers. This feature activates the camera, but also AI-powered features that are capable of identifying what’s in an image. The example shown off during the keynote involved someone snapping a photo of an ad for an event and then automatically adding that information to their calendar. Last year’s iPhone 15 Pro-exclusive “Action Button” is now available on the base-level iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus.
The iPhone 16 series features the tech giant’s new 3nm A18 chip, offering a 30% jump from the iPhone 15’s A16 chip, according to Apple. This year’s color array includes black, white, ultra marine, teal, and pink. Apple claims that the iPhone 16’s 2nd generation ceramic shield is two times stronger than its predecessor. Screen brightness can now reach 2,000 nits.
The base iPhone 16 continues to come in two sizes: 6.1-inches for the iPhone 16 and 6.7-inches for iPhone 16 Plus. The rear camera array has also shifted to be smaller and vertically oriented. Speaking of cameras, this year’s iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus feature a dual setup that includes a 48-megapixel main shooter and an ultra-wide camera that utilizes sensor cropping to offer more focal length options.
Overall, the iPhone 16’s design looks very similar to the iPhone 15’s, including its squared off design, Dynamic Island front display cutout, and more.
TheiPhone 16 starts at $800and the iPhone 16 Plus starts at $900. Both devices are available to pre-order on Friday, September 13th and release on September 20th.
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