Apple's new generation of phones has more power, new physical buttons, and is ready for Apple Intelligence.
Apple has announced the iPhone 16, the standard version of its flagship smartphone this year. It offers a range of refreshed colors that are more vibrant than in previous years. It also has a refreshed dual-camera setup on the back with a vertical setup, similar to the one last seen on the iPhone 12 from 2020, although the island camera arrangement looks cleaner.
The iPhone 16 is really something to watch this year.
The iPhone 16 has a number of new hardware improvements, such as the 3nm A18 chip that promises 30% faster performance than the A16 Bionic in the iPhone 15. It also comes with the Action button that debuted on last year's Pro models, satellite messaging (starting in the US and Canada), hardware-accelerated ray tracing technology, and a new Camera Control button below the power button.
The iPhone 16 will be Apple's first regular phone to support Apple Intelligence, something the regular iPhone 15 doesn't support. First announced at WWDC 2024, Apple Intelligence will initially only be available on the iPhone 15 Pro models. While Apple spent time showcasing many of the upcoming Apple Intelligence features at WWDC, the company previewed a new Google Lens-like search feature called Visual Intelligence, which will let iPhone 16 users search for information based on what the camera sees.
Once again, the standard iPhone will have a 6.1-inch display, while the larger iPhone 16 Plus will have a 6.7-inch display — the same size as the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus they succeed. However, the iPhone 16 pair's displays stand out thanks to their ability to offer a peak brightness of 2,000 nits and dim down to 1 nit.
iPhone 16 colors that users can choose from.
The iPhone 16 shares the same design as the iPhone 15, including a squared-off frame, a glass back that enables MagSafe wireless charging, a Dynamic Island cutout at the top to house the front camera and Face ID sensors, and a USB-C charging/data port at the base. While returning to vertically aligned rear lenses might seem like a strange rehash of a design element Apple has abandoned, it actually makes sense for better spatial video support on the Apple Vision Pro.
The iPhone 16 starts at $799 for the 128GB storage configuration and $899 for the same storage configuration for the iPhone 16 Plus.