Apple's iPhone 16 Is Ready for Apple Intelligence

Apple has turned the page on the Apple calendar to introduce the next iPhone. To no one’s surprise, the iPhone 16 is the next model, coming after the iPhone 15. The lineup includes the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max. The handsets made their debut at the company’s annual September hardware event in Cupertino, California. (New Apple Watches were announced too.)

The latest iPhones have a few new tricks to differentiate them from their predecessors—the Action Button is now available on all iPhones in this lineup, and there’s a new Camera Control button dedicated to snapping photos. On the whole, many of the improvements are in the software—iOS 18—which is also available to download next week if you have a compatible device. The iPhone 16 models are designed to take advantage of all the Apple Intelligence features announced earlier this year, however, you won’t see many of these until the iOS 18.1 update arrives in October.

I’ve compiled everything you need to know about the iPhone 16 range below. Preorders for the iPhone 16 start September 13, and here are the prices: iPhone 16 is $799, iPhone 16 Plus is $899, iPhone 16 Pro is $999, and iPhone 16 Pro Max is $1,199. They’ll be available in stores starting September 20.

The iPhone 16 looks different from prior iPhones—the camera arrangement is vertical rather than diagonal—but otherwise, they’re identical. The iPhone 16 Pro range better resembles their predecessors but is slightly bigger: the iPhone 16 Pro has a 6.3-inch screen (up from 6.1 inches), and the iPhone 16 Pro Max is 6.9 inches (up from 6.7 inches). The phones aren’t dramatically bigger, but Apple has shaved the borders around the screen to maximize screen space.

Every iPhone in this lineup has the Action Button, which Apple debuted last year. This replaces the Mute switch. You can customize the Action Button to toggle on a flashlight, a Shortcut, or some other setting. You can even set it to function exactly like the Mute switch if you miss the Mute switch (though it’s far less satisfying).

Apple says the ceramic glass in these models is 50 percent tougher than the first generation of Ceramic Shield, and a new manufacturing process makes the body colors richer. The iPhone 16 comes in pink, teal, ultramarine, white, and black.

But there is a new button gracing the iPhone’s hardware: Camera Control. This is like a physical shutter button on cameras—a hard press takes a photo, a long press takes a video, and you can now make a light press to enable a cleaner viewfinder without all the user interface elements. Within this light press, you can slide your finger on the Camera Control button to swipe through zoom levels; if you do a double light press, you can move through other modes. You can use this light press to maintain the focus on a specific subject when capturing videow.

A dedicated shutter button is something we’ve seen on several smartphones over the years, most notably Sony’s Xperia phones. But Camera Control goes further than just taking photos. This is also Apple’s way of making it easy for you to learn more about the world around you. Point your iPhone at something, tap the Camera Control button, and you’ll get information about what your camera is looking at. For example, use this feature—Apple calls it Visual Intelligence—on a restaurant name and it will surface a menu, restaurant hours, reservation details, and more. If you take a pic of a flyer on a wall, you can add the advertised event to your calendar. (Yes, it works a lot like Google Lens.)

Unlike recent iPhones, all the iPhone 16 models use the same chip: the A18. Well, almost. The iPhone 16 and 16 Plus use the A18, whereas the Pro models have the “A18 Pro.” These chipsets have a neural processing unit that is twice as fast at processing AI tasks. Apple says it has beefed up the system’s memory (RAM) by 17 percent, which should help run processor-intensive AI features too.

The A18 is built on the 3-nanometer process and is 60 percent faster than the iPhone 12 and 30 percent faster than the iPhone 15, according to Apple. On the graphics end, you can expect a 40 percent speed bump in graphics-intensive tasks. For the Pro models, Apple says, the neural engine is 15 percent faster than the previous A17 Pro, the GPU is 20 percent faster, and the CPU is 16 percent speedier. The A18 Pro has one extra GPU core over the A18, but the CPU also technically performs slightly faster than the A18 because there are larger cache sizes.

As usual, there are small updates across the board. The phone’s screens are brighter, Wi-Fi 7 support is now included, and the OLED panels are more efficient. There’s better heat dissipation to improve thermal performance too—by up to 30 percent over the iPhone 15 when gaming on the iPhone 16. On the iPhone 16 Pro, specifically, Apple says there’s a graphite layer for even better thermals.

As for the cameras, the biggest improvements are coming to the ultrawide sensor. In the Pro models, this 48-megapixel camera has a larger sensor and can produce sharper ultrawide images, but in the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus, their respective 12-megapixel ultrawide can now take advantage of macro photography. You can move super close to a subject and get sharp, in-focus pictures.

The standard iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus now can snap 2X optical photos thanks to the 48-megapixel camera. This isn’t a third camera, but a feature where the main camera’s sensor is cropped in to produce optical-like quality at 2X zoom level. Both Pro iPhones now have a 5X optical zoom camera as well; previously, this was exclusive to the Pro Max model.

One thing to note on the main camera of the iPhone 16 Pro models—Apple is calling it a 48-megapixel “Fusion camera,” which essentially means it can read data from the sensor twice as fast and should mean the ability to snap subjects in motion without much motion blur. (You’ll have to capture them in HEIF or ProRaw mode.) I am most excited to try the slow-motion video capabilities, as the iPhone 16 Pro models can now shoot 4K video at 120 frames per second, which will make slo-mo video look much nicer.

The Pro models also give you more control over the microphones on the phones. You can choose between different audio modes to simulate different effects. Studio, for example, makes your scene sound like you’re in a nice studio; Cinematic lets some background noises bleed in while maintaining the clarity of the voices of any subjects in the frame.

Finally, the MagSafe system is getting a small upgrade—there’s Qi2 support for broader compatibility with third-party devices. Apple also has a new MagSafe Wireless Charger that can charge the iPhones even faster.

Apple Intelligence and iOS 18

What will make your new iPhone 16 actually feel more new are many of the changes in iOS 18—I’ve rounded up the top features here. These include things like the ability to rearrange home screen icons wherever you want, changing the color tint of the icons, and even customizing the Control Center. You can finally hide apps from the app library or lock them so they’re only accessible via authentication.

Arguably the biggest upgrade is in Messages: Apple has added Rich Communication Services (RCS) support in iOS 18. This is the modern messaging standard that evolved from SMS and MMS, and it means texting your Android friends finally won’t be a painful experience. You’ll get modern amenities like typing indicators, read receipts, images that don’t look tiny and pixelated, and even transcription for voice messages. Welcome to 2024!

Don’t forget the Apple Intelligence features! You can use generative AI to create your own emoji (GenMoji!), proofread emails, change the tone of sentences, summarize your email inbox, and so much more. Siri now sounds more natural and can even understand when you make an error in your initial query and need to stop and say something a second time. You can even type to Siri! (Read more here.)