Apple Launches iPhone 16 with Apple Intelligence (Video)

Apple (AAPL) introduced its iPhone 16 line of smartphones during a “Glowtime” event at its headquarters in Cupertino, California, on Monday. The phones come in four styles: iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, and the premium iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max.

The new phones are Apple’s first designed specifically for Apple’s AI Intelligence platform, and they have more powerful chips that can run the software. The entry-level iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus now feature the same programmable Action button that was on last year’s iPhone 15 Pro line.

Both the entry-level iPhone 16s and iPhone 16 Pro also have new dedicated touch camera buttons that you can tap to launch the camera app, then tap again to take a photo or tap and hold to record video.

Lightly pressing the button brings up a new overlay that lets you access controls like zoom. Third-party apps like Snapchat also use the camera button to quickly share photos.

iPhone 16

Overall, the $799 iPhone 16 and $899 iPhone 16 Plus look similar to last year’s models, except for the way the rear cameras are arranged. They’re now arranged vertically to allow for 3D shots for use with Apple’s Vision Pro headset.

Inside the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus is Apple’s new 3-nanometer A18 chip, which includes a 2x faster Neural Engine. Apple says the A18’s CPU is up to 30% faster than the one found in the iPhone 15 line and includes a 5-core graphics processor that helps run Apple Intelligence, games, and camera features. Apple says the new chip will also improve the iPhone 1’s battery life.

The iPhone 16s will also feature computational photography software to create a 2x telephoto option that simulates the optical zoom of a standard wide-angle lens. Meanwhile, the ultra-wide-angle lens will be upgraded to 48 megapixels.

Apple also says it’s bringing visual intelligence to the camera app, which lets you take a photo of something like a restaurant to get reviews of the place, or snap a photo of a flyer for a concert and instantly add the information to your calendar. If you see a bike in real life that you’d like to buy, you can snap a photo of it and then get a quick Google link to buy it.

This sounds similar to Google’s existing Circle to Search feature for Android phones. I’ll have to see if it works as well as Google’s offering when I get it.

iPhone 16 Pro

The $999 iPhone 16 Pro and $1,199 iPhone 16 Pro Max both have larger displays this time around, with the Pro’s screen jumping from 6.1 inches to 6.3 inches and the Pro Max’s screen growing from 6.7 inches to 6.9 inches. The larger displays are thanks to thinner bezels that make the phone look more like a single sheet of glass on the front.

Both Pro phones are equipped with Apple’s new A18 Pro chip, which offers better performance than the A18 chip in the iPhone 16s. The CPU is 15% faster than the A17 Pro and uses 20% less power.

The Pro and Pro Max also have more powerful 48-megapixel fusion cameras and 48-megapixel ultra-wide cameras. The Pro has a new 5x optical zoom, which matches the capabilities of the Pro Max. The iPhone 15 Pro only offered 3x zoom.

Like the iPhone 16s, the Pro gets the same camera controls via a new dedicated camera button, and this year Apple is adding a two-stage shutter that locks on to a subject via a software update. You’ll also now be able to record 4K video at 120 frames per second for smooth slow-motion videos. You can also adjust the frame rate after recording videos via the Photos app.

When it comes to audio, the Pros have 4 built-in microphones and spatial audio recording. The Audio Mix feature lets you define how you want the audio in your videos to sound, so you can record professional-sounding videos.

To illustrate the iPhone 16 Pro’s videography capabilities, the company showed how these features were used in The Weekend’s latest music video.

Apple Intelligence

As for Apple Intelligence, Apple says the software will be available as a free software update, with the first features arriving as a beta in the U.S. next month. Language versions of Apple Intelligence in Chinese, French, Japanese, and Spanish will be available next year.

Apple didn’t announce any new features for Apple Intelligence, but it did take time to remind customers of the capabilities it announced at WWDC in June.

The company mentioned its Private Cloud Compute, which runs AI features on a server without storing any data. Apple says 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 Apple Intelligence will allow for easy searching for specific photos and moments in videos.

The digest tools will be available on iOS, including for text, work, and email messages. Mail also gets priority emails that notify you of what Apple Intelligence considers to be the most important messages.

Siri is also getting an upgrade that will make it easier to talk to the voice assistant or ask it questions via typing. Apple says Siri will get even more advanced improvements in the future.

But the fact that Apple Intelligence won’t launch with new iPhones could be a problem for Apple. Wall Street is counting on the feature to fuel a new iPhone sales cycle. Any delay in Apple Intelligence’s release could put an end to those hopes.

iPhone is Apple’s most important product and the entry point for customers who want to continue enjoying Apple’s rich ecosystem of products and services, from AirPods to Apple TV+.

But iPhone sales have been declining recently. The company reported $39.2 billion in iPhone revenue in the third quarter, down from $39.6 billion in the same period last year. That’s partly due to the company’s performance in the Greater China region, which saw year-over-year revenue decline by about $1 billion in the latest quarter.

Despite this, the iPhone is still Apple’s biggest source of revenue. In 2023, the smartphone accounted for $200.5 billion of the company’s $383.2 billion in total revenue.

Email Daniel Howley at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @DanielHowley.

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