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If there are two things Apple thinks its iPhone fans like, its big screens and camera tricks. Apple finally pulled the sheet off its upcoming iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max phones at its neon-streaked Glowtime event on Monday. While the Pro models are larger than they’ve ever been, the headline feature is a physical “camera control” button that’s supposed to be a little more versatile than just using the volume button to snap pics.
Oh, but perhaps there are three things Apple thinks its fans enjoy. Those long-promised AI features, dubbed Apple Intelligence, returned at Glowtime. Some of those previously touted intelligence features will use camera control. The iPhone 16 should be the phone to headline many of these new AI integrations, though customers who pre-ordered the phone in time for the September release will still need to wait at least another month to get ChatGPT on their phones.
The iPhone 16 lineup looks a bit like the iPhone 15—save for the pill-shaped camera array on the base models—but this time, the Pro model is a bigger beast than the base iPhone. While the regular iPhone 16 has a 6.1-inch display and the iPhone 16 Plus has a 6.7-inch screen, the Pros now sport a 6.3-inch, and the Pro Max is 6.9 inches. Sure, the Google Pixel 9 Pro changed up screen sizes with an XL version, but Apple seems to think its customers want more screen real estate, period.
A bevy of new colors are available for pre-order, including the rumored ugly brown “gold titanium” color first hinted at in leaks last month. The regular iPhone 16 also comes in green, pink, blue, and white shades. More than anything, it seems Apple’s promoting many of the same hardware tweaks with the base iPhone 16 and the Pro models, though the more expensive phones are going to sport extra camera capabilities like 4K slow-mo at 120 FPS.
How Does the Camera Control Button Work on iPhone 16?
Screenshot: Apple Apple has made a big production out of the “shot on iPhone’ schtick with previous iPhone releases (though, of course, with thousands of dollars of extra equipment and post-processing). The deal now is that you’ll actually feel like a photographer with some of the extra buttons on the iPhone 16. This takes the form of a low-profile switch on the right side of your phone. You use it to launch the Photos app, take a picture, or even swipe through a few rudimentary camera controls. Finally, Apple’s brought that “taptic” button it couldn’t make work on the iPhone 15.
With a light press, you can bright up some controls like zoom or exposure. A full press will actually take a photo. It’s not exactly like a DSLR, where a half press locks the exposure, and a full click will snap the pic. However, in a later update Apple promises it will add a two-stage shutter to lock focus and exposure. That will be pretty significant, and it feels like an obvious addition that those who preorder will miss out on at first. Apple also said it would allow it to be used in third-party photo apps such as Kino.
The cameras are all receiving some minor upgrades no matter if the sensors are arranged vertically or in a triangle.
The Pro models will see an improved ultrawide lens from the previous 12 MP to a 48 MP sensor. The Pro’s periscope lens now allows for a 5x optical zoom, same as the Pro Max. If that’s not enough, Apple says the Pro models can now record 4K at 120 FPS, allowing for 60 FPS, 30 FPS, or a lower-frame 24 FPS slow-mo video effect. A new “Audio Mix” feature on the Pro versions allows editors to make some small adjustments to sound after they record it.
For those who hoped to see Spatial Videos on a base iPhone, the regular 16s support them on their new stacked camera setup. However, if you already spent $3,500 on a Vision Pro, you can turn any regular image or even artwork into a faux-3D Spatial image now with VisionOS 2.
What Will iOS 18 Software Look Like on iPhone 16?
Screenshot: Apple Apple upgraded the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus phones with the A17 Bionic from last year’s iPhone 15 Pro. As expected, the engineers at the end of 1 Infinite Loop have shoved an A18 Bionic chip in the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max. If you want better graphics processing, you’d opt for a device with the A18 Pro Bionic chip that comes with extra GPU cores and support for ProMotion and always-on displays. The 6-core Pro version also comes with a 16-core NPU that could handle some background AI tasks a bit better. Either way, they should be marginally more efficient and powerful than the iPhone 15’s A16 Bionic.
The other benefit of the new iPhones is the increased RAM, which now stands at 8 GB compared to the previous 6 GB on the iPhone 15. That’s mostly to help power the AI features.
Each phone is meant to support iOS 18 right out of the box. However, many of the promised Apple Intelligence generative AI features are still getting some time to bake in Tim Cook’s crowded baking ovens. First on that list is ChatGPT integration, which is coming “later this year.” In addition, “later this year,” Apple will allow Camera Control to pull up Apple Intelligence features like a Google Lens-like search with the photos users take. The feature could also add events to users’ calendars or search for places to buy whatever you’re currently window shopping for.
If you haven’t tried out the iOS 18 beta, it offers some extra customization options for the home screen, support for RCS, and dozens of other small quality-of-life improvements. Combined with the rest of Apple’s OS slate we expect to drop this month, there will be a few new features for all iPhone owners, regardless of whether you buy the newfangled iPhone 16 just for AI and a special camera button.
While we were expecting iPhone 16 to launch with the fabled ChatGPT integration, that’s apparently still not coming until later this year, as late as October according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. Live call transcriptions and Magic Eraser-like image editing tools should arrive later this year, according to Apple. Even the touted AI image generator titled “Image Playground” that the Cupertino company showed off at WWDC 2024 won’t be in time for the iPhone 16’s release.
