Completely happy iPhone 16 launch day! Apple’s newest iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Professional fashions at the moment are within the palms of customers, and we thought we would do a fast first impressions overview for these of you who’re ready for a supply or who’re nonetheless on the fence about upgrading.
This yr’s iPhone 16 is the most important improve for the standard mannequin that we have seen in a while. Efficiency is just not too far off from the Professional fashions, the Motion Button is not Professional unique, and Apple introduced the enjoyable new Digicam Management button to all iPhone 16 fashions, not simply the 16 Professional and Professional Max.
The Motion Button is extra helpful than ever earlier than with iOS 18 as a result of you possibly can assign Management Middle actions and even third-party app performance. It might activate the flashlight, open the Translate app, toggle on Darkish Mode, open your favourite app, and a lot extra.
Apple has talked up the brand new Digicam Management button, which is supposed for use for taking images in both panorama or portrait mode. It’s a little complicated at first, as a result of it is a button, but it surely additionally helps stress sensitivity contact gestures like swipes. The location is just not tremendous handy in portrait mode and could be a little awkward to make use of, and it takes a while to regulate to how the button works.
The button does do rather a lot, although, and you’ll press twice to snap a photograph, press as soon as after which press and maintain to take a video, or use gestures to swap totally different instruments to regulate picture parameters.
If you happen to’re holding your digital camera in panorama orientation, the button placement makes extra sense, however a variety of iPhone images is completed in portrait mode slightly than panorama mode. Apple moved the digital camera lenses from a diagonal place to a vertical place, and the iPhone 16 fashions now help spatial picture and movies for the Imaginative and prescient Professional, but it surely’s not clear how many individuals are literally utilizing that performance.
Apple added new Photographic Types and a useful little adjustment pad for enhancing the depth and look of these kinds, so it is general a way more helpful function than earlier than. You possibly can arrange a favourite type after which apply it to your whole photos for a customized look.
For video, there’s an Audio Combine function that modifications the way in which that audio sounds in your video recordings. You possibly can pull out the voice of the topic of a video whereas muting the background noise, or direct all sound ahead like in a film.
There are new coloration choices this yr, and the teal iPhone that we examined was a vivid, vibrant shade of blue. You may as well get ultramarine (a darkish purple blue), pink, white, and black.
As for the A18 chip, relying on which iPhone you are upgrading from, you may not see any velocity enhancements as a result of most iPhone apps do not stress the CPU or GPU of contemporary processors, however the A18 does help Apple Intelligence. All iPhone 16 fashions get the Apple Intelligence options coming in iOS 18.1 and later updates.
For a smartphone beginning at $799, the iPhone 16 is a surprisingly good worth this yr, and it is a worthwhile improve if you happen to’re coming from something older than an iPhone 14. With the iPhone 14 and past, it is a much less apparent improve, however there are nonetheless some nice options to stay up for.