Apple has announced the iPhone 16, the latest edition to its flagship smartphone lineup. The iPhone 16 comes in a variety of slightly refreshed colors that are more vibrant compared to previous years. Also revamped is the updated dual-camera arrangement on its back, once again configured vertically, as last seen on 2020’s iPhone 12.
The iPhone 16 has a variety of new hardware improvements, including a new A18 chip with a 3nm process that's 30 percent faster than the iPhone 15 CPU, an action button that debuted on last year's Pro models, and a new physical camera control button below the power button.
The iPhone 16 will be the first mainstream Apple phone to use Apple Intelligence in beta following an update arriving in October. The company first showed off the ai software at WWDC, where it was initially restricted to only the Pro-level iPhone 15 models. While Apple did spend time reviewing many of the upcoming Apple Intelligence features already shown off at WWDC (like custom emojis and the ability to summarize text or emails), it did introduce a new Google Lens-like search feature called Visual Intelligence, which lets an iPhone 16 user search for information based on what the camera sees.
Speaking of cameras, the iPhone 16's dual setup of a 48-megapixel main camera and an autofocus ultra-wide camera offers the “equivalent” of four lenses via a 2x crop mode and a macro mode (more additions from recent iPhone Pro models).
Once again, the standard iPhone will come with 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 generation. But the displays on the pair of iPhone 16s can reach 2,000 nits of peak brightness and dim down to 1 nit.
The 16 follows the same general design as the 15, with a square frame, a glass back that allows for MagSafe wireless charging, Apple’s Dynamic Island top cutout to house the front-facing camera and Face ID sensors, and a USB-C charging/data port at its base. While the return to vertically-aligned rear lenses may seem like an odd reinvention of a design element Apple has gotten rid of, the move back makes sense for better spatial video support on the Apple Vision Pro.
In development… check out our live blog For the latest details.
