At its own “It’s Glowtime” event, Apple unveiled the iPhone 16 series. It also launched the Apple Watch 10 and AirPods 4.
Apple made the iPhone 16 series the headline feature during the online presentation, but started with the Apple Watch 10 and new AirPods. Since the new Apple phones will attract the most attention, we’re starting with discussing those instead.
iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus
The unveiling of the iPhone 16 series is inextricably linked to Apple Intelligence. Nevertheless, we begin with the announcements surrounding the hardware. The iPhone 16 will appear in two sizes: 6.1 inches and 6.7 inches (Plus). The screen can display up to 2,000 nits of brightness and drop down all the way to 1 nit in dark environments. The glass protecting this display is two times stronger than the competition’s, according to Apple.
A new feature called Camera Control lets users zoom in or select a particular photo mode with a single click and sliding along a button. Visual Intelligence is an AI feature that makes the real world searchable with a long click. For example, those standing in front of a restaurant can make a reservation with a photo and get a link to the venue’s website.
The cameras in question are a pair that Apple presents as if they were four. In fact, the 48MP main camera doubles as a 12MP 2x telephoto lens and is called a “Fusion” camera by the company. The 12MP wide-angle lens now has autofocus and captures 2.6 times more light than before. The additional feature can act like a macro lens (hence Apple’s 4-in-2 claim). Because the two sensors are now positioned vertically, they can detect spatial information together. Spatial Capture lets users record “spatial videos” that can be played back on the Apple Vision Pro headset.
Underneath, Apple is running the iPhone 16 on a significantly newer chip than the A16 Bionic: the A18. This SoC offers a 16-core Neural Engine specialized on LLMs. Apple promises that machine learning workloads run twice as fast on the new device. Memory bandwidth has been increased by 17 percent. Bottom line, the A18 is thirty percent faster than the A16 Bionic or thirty percent more efficient with the same task. This is largely due to TSMC’s second-generation 3 nanometer process on which the A18 is baked. Meanwhile, the GPU is forty percent faster than on the iPhone 15 or 35 percent more efficient with the same workload.
The iPhone 16’s battery is larger than before, although Apple isn’t yet sharing how much mAh juice is involved. The larger capacity, according to the company, is needed to run all the AI violence and heavier games for long periods of time.
In the U.S., the iPhone 16 costs a minimum of $969 (128GB) and the 16 Plus costs $1,119 (128GB).
iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max
The Pro models are a step larger than before: 6.3 inches and 6.9 inches. Thanks to thinner bezels, Apple offers the largest screen ever. A larger battery should lead to the best battery life ever in an iPhone. And fear not: the infamous brown/bronze color long rumored about online turns out to be not nearly as brown as the leaked photos suggested.
The A18 Pro looks remarkably similar, with the same 16-core Neural Engine and similar performance gains over the iPhone 15 equivalents.
A new 48MP wide-angle lens including OIS is available on the Pro models. The 12MP 5x telephoto lens returns from the iPhone 15 Pro models. For videos, the main new feature is 4K/120Hz recording, including Dolby Vision, professional color grading and direct external storage. Audio recordings would also be significantly better thanks to four “studio-grade” microphones, Apple said.
Again, it is actually Apple Intelligence that should impress most after the launch of iOS 18. Obviously, Apple would have been only too happy to launch Apple Intelligence at the same time as the new iPhones.
The iPhone 16 Pro will cost $1,229 (128GB) and the iPhone 16 Pro Max $1,479 (256GB).
Apple Intelligence
Apple mentioned AI remarkably little during the presentation. Instead, it more often includes “generative models.” Apple promises that it values privacy. That’s why it runs as many workloads as possible on-device. Yet Private Cloud Compute allows the company to give users access to much larger AI models. Proprietary servers with hardware built in-house would ensure that data is never retained after computation has taken place. This is verifiable by outside experts, Apple claims.
Apple Watch 10
Also appearing on the scene was a new Apple Watch: Series 10. It offers the largest display ever on an Apple watch. A “wide-angle” OLED provides a wider viewing angle. Apple explains that most users often want to look at their watch quickly and thus need to see the screen more clearly. The end result of Apple’s work is a 40 percent brighter display when not viewed directly.
Under the skin is a 4-core Neural Engine built into the SoC. This AI coprocessor analyzes various bodily processes and can detect autocrashes and hard falls.
In addition, the Apple Watch 10 is significantly lighter and further optimized. Following the iPhone 15 series, Apple is introducing high-grade titanium into the watch series. This replaces the stainless steel of the Apple Watch 9 and results in a 20 percent lower weight. The new watch is 10 percent thinner than its predecessor, requiring steps such as a 30 percent smaller speaker system.
As icing on the cake, the Apple Watch 10 charges faster than ever. Apple promises that users can charge their smartwatch by 80 percent within half an hour. Total battery life sits around 18 hours, according to the company.
The Apple Watch 10 comes out on Sept. 20 and launches with a starting price of 449 euros.
AirPods 4
Finally, Apple introduced a new generation of AirPods. They are said to be the most comfortable AirPods ever. The H2 chip powers earbuds with better bass and personalized “spatial audio.”
Should Siri knock on a user’s door with a phone call, one can nod or shake to answer or not. Other “smart” features automatically reduce music sound when the user makes a call or remove loud background noise such as that from air traffic.
For the first time, the box is USB-C chargeable instead of Lightning, a further move by Apple to conform with the rest of the industry. The cheapest AirPods 4 are $149, while the variant with ANC is available for $209.
Also read: Apple WWDC24: AI equals Apple Intelligence and partnership with OpenAI