iPhone 16: A Leap Forward or Just Another Upgrade?

These 3 iPhone 16 features should have you excited to upgrade

Also: We've used every iPhone 16 model and here's our best buying advice for 2024 We saw refreshed designs, extra buttons, generative AI features, a new camera system, the A18 chipset, and more. Apple inundated its audience with so many reveals that it's difficult to cover everything in detail. However, the question remains: Is it worth upgrading to the iPhone 16? Below is a short list of the three features that'll make you eager to upgrade as soon as possible. The iPhone 16 receives a substantial update to its camera system. The device possesses a 48MP Fusion lens capable of taking wide-angle photographs and far-away shots, thanks to its 2X telephoto option. But what really caught my attention was the Camera Control button. The button acts as a camera shortcut of sorts. Pushing it takes a photo, but the button also supports gesture controls. Swiping on the button with your thumb or finger lets you zoom in or out, while a double light-press presents you with various shooting modes, zoom lengths, photographic styles, and more. It's a fun and intuitive way to take photos. The best part about the button is that it's a great way to introduce more people to photography. Back during WWDC 2024, Apple announced Siri would receive a much-needed upgrade. The company said Siri would gain conversational context, so it remembers what you just told it, and would soon be able to "take actions across apps". As it turns out, the AI is obtaining exactly those features -- and a whole lot more. The new Siri can engage in more natural conversations. Users no longer need to constantly say the AI's name over and over again to issue a command. Just saying "Siri" once is enough and you can then continue talking to the AI like you would a regular person. What's more, Siri can understand you better -- even if you make a mistake. Stuttering or mispeaking won't ruin the input. Also: Apple Intelligence will improve SIri in 2024, but don't expect most updates until 2025 Everything mentioned so far is just the tip of the iceberg. It's been reported that next year Siri will be able to find and act on items on-device based on your context. For example, you could ask the AI what time your mom's flight is landing and Siri will pull together information from texts and emails, and then present this insight to you in a brief response. The iPhone 16's new A18 chipset is powerful. The device's spec sheet shows the hardware includes a 6-core CPU that is 30% faster than the iPhone 15's processor. The A18 also has a "desktop-class GPU architecture" well-suited to "graphics-intensive games". Similarly to the processing unit, the graphics card inside the iPhone 16 is 40% faster than the iPhone 15's GPU. What's more, the A18 uses 30% less power than the A16. Also: Why Apple's new A18 chipsets make the iPhone 16 models worth upgrading to In short, Apple's next-generation device includes many improvements -- and they are needed. Apple Intelligence, which is an important component of iOS 18, enables a wide array of AI features, from object removal in photographs to generative functions. The AI platform will be a major element of iPhones for the foreseeable future -- and the right hardware to support these features will be essential. Besides Apple Intelilgence, the A18 chipset should enable faster processing speeds and better power efficiency. We'll know if that's the case when we get the iPhone 16 for a future review. Be sure to stay tuned for our upcoming coverage.

Should You Upgrade to the iPhone 16?

The iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro will have a dedicated camera button, but you’ll need to wait months for the promised AI features. If there’s one question on every iPhone owner's mind right now, it's “Should I upgrade?†Our iPhone 16 Pro review is out now if you want to check how the new phone stacks up. For those still hemming and hawing about dropping hundreds of dollars on a new device, there are a few things to consider first, especially if you’re planning on waiting for the iPhone 17. For many, switching will boil down to whether a dedicated camera button seems useful to you or how much you truly care about being the first to test the upcoming Apple Intelligence. You don’t need an iPhone 16 to download iOS 18 and all the additions to Apple’s ecosystem found within. Apple supply chain analyst Ming Chi-Kuo shared that new phone pre-orders haven’t matched the iPhone 15 from a year ago. More people are reportedly less excited about the new Pro phones than usual. If you don’t care about AI, the big changes to the latest iPhone are related to hardware. Alongside a new, more powerful CPU and battery improvements, the iPhone 16 has two extra buttons you don’t have on a base iPhone 15. The Camera Control button can open your camera app, snap pics, and even change a few camera settings with a few swipes. The feature is not fully formed, and you’ll need to wait a few months to get DSLR-like shutter button capabilities. There’s so much missing from the initial release that it may be worth holding off on pre-ordering until you can see all the touted features tested firsthand. The iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro models get the iPhone 15 Pro’s action button. By default, it triggers ring or silent modes, but users can set it to access other capabilities like flashlight, translate, or other shortcuts for apps like Shazam’s music recognition. It’s a handy feature on the iPhone 15 Pro and proof that sometimes you just need a physical button instead of a touchscreen. The big new addition is Camera Control. It’s a shallow, “taptic†button that recognizes shallow presses, deep presses, and sliding along it with your finger. Pressing the button can immediately jump to the camera app from your home or lock screen. In the app, you can press it to take a picture. If you slide along the button with your finger, you can select from several photo settings, including zoom, exposure, and depth of field. You’ll have to wait for the button’s coolest feature. Apple promised that Camera Control could act like a DSLR’s shutter button later this year. When you half-press it, the camera will set the focus and allow you to reframe the shot before fully snapping the pic. The Camera Control button, and the camera app in general, will also work with Apple Intelligence to add events to your calendar when you snap a picture of a concert poster or a party invite. It can even perform Google Lens-like image searches. All those features won’t be available on release. The cameras on both the Pro and non-Pro phones have received some minor upgrades. Apple’s calling this year's camera banks its “fusion†camera, though the base iPhone 16 has a 48MP main sensor with a 2x telephoto option. In addition, there’s a 12MP ultrawide that promises better macro photography. The Pro can take video at 4K and 120 FPS, allowing some slo-mo shooting. The new Pro has a 48MP ultrawide and a 12MP 5x telephoto sensor. That’s improved from the 12MP ultrawide and 12MP telephoto on the iPhone 15 Pro. It’s meant to match up to Pixel 9 Pro. The base iPhone 16 and the iPhone 16 Plus models get the same chip as the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max, though the more expensive phones have a more powerful CPU. Just like the A17 Bionic, it’s a 3nm chip, but it now sports a bigger, 16-core NPU used to power background AI processes. The A18 Pro has the same CPU cores as the A17 but has 17% more memory bandwidth for better AI processing. The regular A18 promises 30% better CPU performance than the last generation’s A16 Bionic. The new chip also includes a 5-core GPU, which should provide better performance in some games with this hardware. That combines with iOS 18’s Game Mode, which, like on Mac, limits background tasks to improve gaming performance. The Pro chips should also see two times faster video encoding. The A18 Pro includes a 6-core GPU for even better gaming performance. Apple said it's 20% faster than the previous-gen chip. This new phone also supports faster hardware-accelerated ray tracing. Apple showed Death Stranding played on an iPhone 16 Pro at its showcase, though we'd have to play more games to see if it can match up to any desktop or laptop counterparts. Both phones now have a base of 8GB of RAM, 2GB more than the iPhone 15 Pro. Depending on how you use them, you won’t see much of a difference, though the memory is necessary for all those upcoming Apple Intelligence features, according to the company. The iPhone 16 won’t get Apple Intelligence on release Sept. 20. The iPhone 15 Pro, the only other Apple phone with the RAM and neural processing capabilities to handle on-device AI, won’t have it until later. While Apple hasn’t offered a precise release date for any AI features, the company explained that some features will be coming in October with iOS 18.1. With the next release, Siri will get her redesign with a new typing interface and better comprehension. You’ll need to wait until 2025 for the promised ability for Siri to understand your activities across your apps. If you’re impatient, you could sign up for the iOS 18.1 developer beta and subscribe to later versions. Of course, things may be glitchy if you opt for a beta, so be sure to back up your phone before you try it. This year, you’ll also get a few more AI-enabled upgrades to Apple Mail that can prioritize some messages for you. The phones will add some AI art generation with “Genmojis†alongside a Magic Eraser-like Clean Up tool in the Photos app. Image Playground, Apple’s AI art generator, won’t come until iOS 18.2 or later. Based on the single generated image the tech giant shared with Wired, I can’t say we’re missing much. The expected integration with ChatGPT will arrive before the end of the year, but Apple hasn’t offered a precise date. This means users can get the chatbot right from their phones, though it's essentially little more than the ChatGPT app, which you can download for free. You can use your account if you pay for ChatGPT Plus, and it will answer some questions that Siri is less suited for, namely, online search. It can also manage Apple’s Writing Tools for proofreading, summarizing, or writing your college essays for you. As it stands, ChatGPT integration is a stopgap for when Apple makes Siri better in 2025. Essentially, all of Apple Intelligence is coming out slowly. If you’re not interested in any of those features or this piecemeal approach, you could hold off buying the iPhone 16 until 2025. At that point, I’d argue you’re better off waiting for the iPhone 17 that will likely debut in September next year. Pray Apple doesn’t eventually make us pay for these or future AI features.

Apple's iPhone 16 Pro Gets a Little Smarter With Apple Intelligence

Apple Intelligence is in beta and many other features are coming later on. The Max might be too big. Maybe you don't need a Pro? The iPhone 16 has been one of the weirder smartphone launches I've seen from Apple in the nine years I've been covering tech. Much of the product's new capabilities are wrapped around Apple Intelligence -- a suite of smart features powered by artificial intelligence -- which isn't available at launch. Apple will roll out a software update in October to deliver these promised perks. But my entire testing period with the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max has been on a developer beta of iOS 18.1, which has many (not all) of these Apple Intelligence features already running. I feel like I have a good handle on what the experience will be like for iPhone owners in October, though this early version of the software also had a few bugs. While doing some performance testing, for example, Resident Evil Village crashed a few times no matter whether I had maxed out the graphics settings or not. Apple couldn't replicate the issue but suggested I roll back to the stable version of iOS 18 to fix the problem. Broadly, there are some nice improvements with the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max. They deliver some of the best performance on a phone, have solid battery life, and have excellent camera systems. When you throw in Apple Intelligence, there are moments when the new capabilities are helpful day to day, but there is no must-have software perk (yet) that makes Apple's AI features leaps ahead of the smartphone pack, nor worthy of an upgrade alone. In some ways, Apple Intelligence makes it feel like the company is playing catch-up. Take smart replies as an example. This is one of the new "AI" features in Apple's Mail client and the Messages app. If someone messages you, you'll get a prompt above the keyboard to send a reply generated based on the context of the conversation. It might not be a surprise for my recipients, but I have been liberally using smart replies in Gmail and Google Messages on Android for years. I am very thankful for the seconds I've saved not having to type out, "Thank you!" or "Sounds good." Now, iPhone owners can take advantage. However, I have only seen these smart replies in the Messages app (likely another beta bug). Siri is a big part of the Apple Intelligence package. Now, when you activate the voice assistant, there's a lovely glow around the entire screen. You can even keep using your phone after triggering Siri so asking a question doesn't have to interrupt what you're doing. If you make a mistake in your question or change your mind mid-sentence, Siri can still decipher what you're asking and answer.

The iPhone 16 Pro Max has better battery life and great cameras, but Apple Intelligence hasn't arrived

Apple's iPhone 16 family of phones will hit shelves on Friday. Ahead of their launch, I've spent the past five days been testing the high-end iPhone 16 Pro Max. It's a great phone with cool updates like a dedicated camera button, and it charges faster over MagSafe than earlier Pro models. The screens are also slightly larger than prior versions. But this review is tricky, because one of the banner features Apple has been hyping -- on stage and in its new ads -- is Apple Intelligence. It's Apple's suite of AI features for the iPhone, and it's not coming until later this year. There are reasons to be excited. A few of the new AI features, like changes to Siri, photo editing, and the option to have AI rewrite text for you, will launch in beta in October. More additions, such as as Apple's image and emoji generator, more personal Siri responses and integration with ChatGPT, will come later. I was able to test some of the beta features for this review. Others weren't available. Those limitations make it difficult to provide a comprehensive assessment of the new device or to suggest whether the upgrade is worthwhile. Apple shares slid earlier in the week after analysts suggested lighter demand for the iPhone 16 Pro models this year. TF Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said the problem is that Apple Intelligence isn't out at launch. Barclays also feared it may be because the Chinese language version of Apple Intelligence won't launch until 2025. Here's what you need to know about the new iPhone 16 Pro Max, as of now.

The iPhone 16 isn't the Google Pixel killer I was hoping for

Apple Intelligence shows some really great promise -- if only Apple would deliver it. AI is today's buzzword. And if you have an iPhone, Apple Intelligence is buzzing all over. The iPhone 16 is the first phone built with Apple Intelligence in mind, and whether you're buying one this week or not, it's hard to escape it. Back in June, when Apple previewed its AI suite coming to compatible devices next month I was confident that the company would reserve exclusive Apple Intelligence features for the iPhone 16. After all, the ever-expanding Google Pixel line just unveiled a ton of AI features that are surely appealing to certain iOS users, so I expected Apple would surely have some exclusive AI tricks up its sleeve to keep them from jumping ship. Boy, was I wrong. If you're looking for a comprehensive list of exclusive iPhone 16 AI perks, there's just one: Visual Intelligence. The tool, which won't be available at launch like the rest of Apple Intelligence, is activated using the new Camera Control button to allow users to scan an object or place to take a relevant action or learn more about it. For example, you could point your iPhone 16's camera at a dog to identify its breed. Similarly, you could check a restaurant's OpenTable listing after scanning its sign, or add an event to your calendar based on a concert poster's details. There's also an integrated math-solving utility that relies on ChatGPT's smarts to help students with their assignments. While Visual Intelligence is undoubtedly a welcome addition, it's too underwhelming compared to rivaling companies' progress in the AI department. Google Lens operates similarly and has existed on all relevant smartphones for years. In fact, iPhone 15 Pro users can already map the Action button to trigger the feature if they've installed the official Google app. So, Apple cloning and offering it as the sole exclusive AI feature is disappointing -- to say the least. Perhaps the most significant difference between Google's and Apple's philosophies is, to use one of Apple's iconic words, courage. The former company is infamous for developing and putting out all sorts of wild features, then randomly killing them -- presumably based on internal metrics. Google isn't necessarily afraid of releasing a bad product. It tries, adapts accordingly, and moves on when it needs to. Apple, on the other hand, has a reputation to maintain. The firm is known for running extensive experiments internally rather than using its user base as alpha testers. As a result, it typically comes up with reliable solutions that are either late or lacking when juxtaposed with those of other brands. They tend to be mild and stable, however, and iPhone users appreciate that. But with Apple Intelligence, it seemed like Apple was willing to take chances to catch up with Google and Samsung, starting with the iPhone 16. That didn't happen. The Pixel phones are packed with AI features that truly enhance the phone's best feature, the camera. You can repaint an object in a photo (Reimagine), change the background (Magic Editor), add yourself to a group photo (Add Me), minimize pixelation in zoomed shots (Zoom Enhance), stitch several shots into one (Best Take), etc. That's not to mention the dual exposure video feature that maintains accurate colors throughout the frame. These options truly give users pretty much full control over their camera output, allowing them to come up with some creative and more enhanced results. I then look at my pitiful iPhone, which only supports removing intrusive objects with Clean Up when it comes to AI photo edits. Beyond media-related features, the recent Google Pixel phones can also perform some neat tasks using AI. These include answering the phone and responding to calls on users' behalf, having more natural conversations with Gemini, and so on. It really feels like a true AI smartphone rather than a smartphone with a sprinkle of perfuntory AI on top. Apple Intelligence isn't AI-nough All of this isn't to say Apple Intelligence isn't a great start. Writing Tools in the iOS 18.1 beta has been proofreading my articles for weeks now. And AI on the iPhone also skillfully summarizes notifications, emails, messages, and articles on the web, all useful features that perfectly complement my text-based workflows, and most of them work offline. It's also worth noting that Apple Intelligence is free, while some of Google's AI features require a Gemini Advanced subscription (or will once the Pixel 9 grace period runs out). In Google's defense, though, analysts suggest that Apple could start charging for new AI features as well in a few years, once its product matures. And given the complexity of Google's current AI features, the fee is arguably justified and plenty of Gemini's great features are free. Apart from Apple Intelligence being significantly less intelligent than its Google counterpart, the full feature set won't debut until mid-2025. So, while Apple is already advertising the smarter Siri that can pull user data from apps, the feature won't actually arrive until next year. In fact, iPhone 16 users won't get any Apple Intelligence features before next month, with more exciting additions involving generative images to follow in 2025. Google's Pixel features are all available now. Apple is trying to sell a promise for an iPhone that is objectively less advanced than its present rivals, and that's not a good look. It's all symptoms of scrambling to keep up with the fast-paced AI race. The company has been boasting about Siri's improved smarts at events every few years, and yet it still continues to fail at executing the most basic tasks on my end. What guarantees the upcoming Siri won't be as bad? Apple had a chance to put Google and the rest of the AI world on notice with the iPhone 16. Instead, it only showed how much Apple Intelligence still needs to learn.