iPhone 16 Series Debuts

The iPhone 16 series was revealed on Sept. 9, featuring the 16, 16 Plus, 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max, all equipped to run Apple Intelligence, an AI suite of features locally.

Apple Intelligence has a wide range of functions meant to boost productivity, expand the capabilities of Siri and provide other features.

Users can have AI proofread and professionalize their texts and documents, auto-transcribe and summarize audio recorded in the default recorder app and prioritize and summarize their app notifications.

Apple Intelligence can also generate custom emojis called “Genmoji,” such as “disco ball pigeon,” and the Image Playground app lets users generate cartoon-style images, including using pictures in your gallery for reference. This means you can create AI art of yourself and others.

One of the most interesting features is the upgrade to Siri, which can answer more personal questions such as “What time is mom coming from the airport?” given that the answer lies somewhere on your phone, such as in iMessage or the Apple Mail app.

For certain requests that Siri cannot perform or answer, you will be prompted to send that question to ChatGPT to finish the request.

The gallery app has two helpful features: removing unwanted objects and people from photos, such as people in the background of a shot and searching for specific images and videos, such as “Katie with a red umbrella,” to find that exact media.

The iPhone 16 and 16 Plus come in a fashionable lineup of ultramarine, teal, pink, white and black and have more color saturation than iPhones in recent years.

The most notable upgrade to the 16 and Plus is the A18 chip. It was a surprise, considering that Apple had given their base iPhone models one generation of old A chips and had reserved the newest chips exclusively for the Pro models since 2022, starting with the iPhone 14 series.

For example, the 2023 iPhone 15 and Plus used the 2022 generation A16 Bionic chips, while the 15 Pro models used the latest 2023 A17 Pro chips.

The reason behind using a one-generation-old chip for the base models was likely a cost-saving measure, but with the introduction of on-device AI on the iPhone 16 series, using one-generation-old chips would likely not run smoothly to meet the heavy computational demands AI requires.

This is also why the base iPhones are expected to have 8GBs of RAM to handle AI operations more seamlessly and, if true, it would mean that they have two more GBs of RAM compared to the base 15 models.

Nonetheless, the base 16 models have a 30% faster CPU and 40% faster GPU than the base 15 models.

A disappointment to the base iPhones is the absence of a high refresh rate display that makes animations, scrolling and gaming more visually fluid and remains exclusive to the Pro models.

iPhones first used high refresh rate displays since the iPhone 13 Pro and remain the only premium phone lineup in the industry not to use high refresh rate screens as even budget $200 phones have this feature.

Introduced exclusively on the 15 Pro models, the 16 base models now get the action button. This programable button can perform quick functions such as turning on the flashlight and activating Shazam.

This marks the end of the mute switch, which was used since the very first iPhone in 2007 and is now replaced by the action button across the 16 lineup.

Similar to the action button, the 16 base and Pro models sport a new “camera control” button that uses touch-sensitive pressure and swipe gestures to give new ways to how the camera app is used, such as slightly pressing the button to lock focus and applying harder pressure to snap a photo.

Users can also use swipe gestures to switch through camera control functions like adjusting exposure, bokeh and focal length.

Although this button is the first in the industry, it expands on an existing standard feature for all phones. For almost the past decade, an overwhelming majority of phones have been able to use the volume buttons to snap photos and/or use a zoom slider.

The camera hardware for the base models remains mostly the same as last year’s, with the same 48MP wide and 12MP ultrawide, but the ultrawide has a slightly wider aperture of 2.2 compared to 2.4, letting in more light capture and also can now be used for macro mode.

The orientation of the cameras on the base models has become vertical again, as was last seen on the iPhone 12 before it was changed to a diagonal orientation. The switch back to a vertical orientation helps capture spatial video that can be played back on an Apple Vision Pro headset.

The 16 series now can charge up to 25 watts via MagSafe, up from 15 watts on last year’s phones and reportedly can charge to approximately 50% in half an hour. This means that iPhones can charge at similar rates both wired and wirelessly.

They also get enhancements to how audio is captured for video, allowing for clearer voices and eliminating background noises using the “audio mix” feature. This feature for removing background noises can also be enabled for voice and video calls.

The 16 Pro and Pro Max got larger displays by 0.2 inches compared to last year’s, making them 6.3-inch and 6.9-inch displays, respectively.

The Pro models get a new 48MP ultrawide camera and the Pro ditches the 3x zoom camera and opts for the same 5x zoom camera used on the Pro Max, making them aligned in camera hardware all around.

The Pro iPhones come in similar colors to last year’s, including Black Titanium, White Titanium, Natural Titanium and Desert Titanium. This is the second year the Pro iPhones use a grade 5 titanium build.

The A18 Pro chip is exclusive for the Pro models and has a 15% faster CPU and 20% faster CPU compared to last year’s 15 Pro phones.

Several features, including Apple Intelligence and camera control, won’t be available at launch and will come soon after through a software update.

The iPhone 16 starts at $799, Plus at $899, Pro at $999 and Pro Max at $1199. All available beginning Sept. 20.

For any inquiries or further information, please contact Jose Cervantes at JoseC.Press@pm.me