The Case for a New Color: Apple Intelligence on the 16 and 16 Plus Announcements, and Why China is Not a Top Seller

The iPhone 16 and 16 Plus are official, with Action Buttons inherited from the 15 Pro and a new look for the camera bump. We’ve just gotten some hands-on time with them in Cupertino, California, following the announcement, and the great news is that color is back, baby: they look great.

The first mainstream phone to use Apple Intelligence will be the iPhone 16, as an update comes in October. The company first previewed the AI software at WWDC, where it was initially gated to Pro-level iPhone 15 models only. At the same time that Apple was looking at Apple Intelligence, it gave us a preview of a new search feature calledVisual Intelligence, which allows a user to look out for information based on what the camera sees.

Last quarter, global iPhone sales were down 1 percent from the same time period a year earlier, though Apple still managed to rake in billions and beat overall revenue expectations. The iPhone’s drop in China, a key market for Apple, was more stark: Earnings results showed that iPhone sales in China declined 6.5 percent, significantly more than the 2.4 percent decline analysts predicted. Apple is no longer a top seller in China.

Users can point the camera at a dog or take a photo of a restaurant if they click and hold the camera button.

Insight into the future with Apple Intelligence and Siri, Siri, Writing Tools, Siri and a Wide-Angle OLED Display

The 16 Pro will allow for recordings of 4K resolution at 120 frames per second, as well as better audio recording capabilities.

Siri and Writing Tools will use the AI features, which are integrated with ChatGPT — giving users the ability to rewrite, fix grammar and summarize texts, notes and emails, Apple said.

Apple Intelligence will roll out next month — only in U.S. English — with iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1, with more features to be added on later.

The Apple Watch Series 10 has the thinnest profile yet, along with a larger wide-angle OLED display that Apple says is up to 40 percent brighter when viewed at an angle. While you sleep it is possible to measure breathing disturbances and see if you have sleep apnea. A sensor for water temperature and depth is built into the new watch.

Apple unveiled new models and promised a more comfortable design for its AirPods: AirPods 4 and AirPods 4 with what it calls active noise cancellation.

The company says that means they offer hearing protection, a hearing test and hearing aid feature. But the hearing test and hearing aid features are still awaiting authorization from global health authorities.

The Apple 16 and 16 Plus Models: Predictions for the AirPods Pro 2 and Other Higgs-Inspired Devices

But these non-Pro iPhone 16 models also get an all-new feature: the “camera control” that acts as a dedicated shutter button and a way to change various settings both in the Camera app and elsewhere. The improvements to the 16 include a new button, which has the equivalent of four lenses despite only having two.

The iPhone 16 starts at $799 with 128GB of storage and the iPhone 16 Plus starts at $899 with the same built-in storage. Pre-orders will open on September 13th, but the phones are set to be released on September 20.

Apple will make the AirPods Pro 2 over thecounter later this year. Apple is launching a couple of other hearing-focused features on the AirPods Pro 2, including a feature designed to protect hearing and a clinical-grade hearing test. The free software update in more than 100 countries will include these features.

The Watch Ultra didn’t get any major updates during this event, but Apple announced a sleek satin black finish as well as a titanium Milanese Loop band that Apple says is “made from corrosion-resistant titanium and designed for scuba.”

The new device comes in a polished aluminum finish in black, with matte options for rose gold and silver or a polished titanium finish that Apple says is 20 percent lighter than the Series 9. The Watch Series 10 starts at $399 and will become available on September 20th.

Apple’s “It’s Glowtime” Event at the 18th Festival of Electronics, Spectroscopy, and Technology

Yet Apple is also outfitting the iPhone 16’s Camera Control button with a new feature, called Visual Intelligence, which will automatically search for things you take photos of. You can add the photo of the concert poster to your calendar by snapping a photo with it.

The “It’s Glowtime” event has ended. While the iPhone 16 was the headliner of today’s showcase, Apple had several other announcements to share, including some exciting new additions to its smartwatch and AirPods lineups.

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.

This lineup of phones has an Action Button, which was introduced by Apple last year. The switch that used to be called the Mute switch has been replaced. 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).

The Case for a Supercycle: The Evolution of Apple’s Smartphones to the Highest Revenues in the App Store (Preliminary Report)

The rear cameras are now stacked vertically on a smaller pill-shaped camera bump. This arrangement is better suited for capturing spatial video, lest we all forget about the Vision Pro. It is just a new look for the regular iPhone and Apple likes to change things up every few years.

The 16 and 16 Plus will be available for a starting price of $799. Will the new buttons make them worth the upgrade? As soon as I get my hands on them, I will find out.

A “supercycle” is what it sounds like: an extended period of economic growth in a boom and bust cycle. The phrase is being applied to something. Those who track the tech market feel that the time is near for an increase in iPhone sales.

The strongest iPhone sales year ever will be better than the previous record of 231 million in 2015, according to a managing director of Wedbush Securities who tends to be positive on Apple.

According to Morgan Stanley analysts, the announcement wouldn’t necessarily move the market in a big way, but that they see the potential for Apple to perform better than historical seasonality.

The most influential piece of technology in the world, Apple’s iPhone, saw its sales fall for four quarters before getting a boost in the holiday season. An estimated 1.5 billion people already use iPhones around the world (though Apple has not confirmed this data), and the broader smartphone market is now considered saturated. The upgrade cycles have been longer. In the UK, Apple is required to support security updates on iPhones for at least five years into their lifespans. Even small changes to the iPhone’s repairability, due in no small part to aggressive Right to Repair advocacy in the US, have led to consumers hanging on to their old phones for longer.

This includes more slick photo-editing features, AI-generated custom emoji, email-writing and messaging tools, and a much more natural-sounding and interpretive Siri voice assistant.