Apple did it again! On September 9th, the tech giant released the highly anticipated iPhone 16 series. If you've already checked out our deep dive into the iPhone 16 Pro, join us now as we uncover what's new with the standard iPhone 16.
This year, the iPhone 16 is strategically positioned to capture the market through its exceptional value. Serving as a cornerstone for Apple's future ecosystem, the device holds a more significant strategic role. This is particularly evident in its enhanced support for Apple's AI capabilities. The standard iPhone 16 addresses the shortcomings of the iPhone 15 by successfully integrating with Apple intelligence.
To facilitate these advancements, the iPhone 16 has received a substantial upgrade in its system-on-chip, transitioning from the A16 in the iPhone 15 to the brand-new A18 chip. Compared to the N3B process used in the A17 Pro, the second-generation 3nm process in the A18 offers significant improvements in energy efficiency. The neural engine has seen a twofold speed increase, and the memory subsystem has been upgraded with a 17% bandwidth boost. Moreover, the A18 boasts a 6-core CPU, comprising two performance cores and four efficiency cores, delivering a 30% performance improvement over the iPhone 15's CPU while reducing power consumption by 30% at equivalent performance levels. Powered by the A18, the iPhone 16 supports ray tracing, enabling it to seamlessly handle 3A games previously exclusive to the iPhone 15 Pro.
A phone's user experience is influenced by many factors, but the underlying processor and memory are still crucial determinants of its longevity.
This year's iPhone 16 uses a 6.1-inch screen, and the iPhone 16 Plus uses a 6.7-inch screen. After three generations of square and diagonal camera modules, the iPhone 16 returns to a vertical dual-camera setup. Love it or hate it, it's definitely more distinctive.
Adopting the same vertical arrangement of ultra-wide and main cameras as the iPhone 15 Pro, the iPhone 16 now supports spatial video. Similar to the Pro models, the standard iPhone 16's camera improvements are primarily focused on the ultra-wide lens. The aperture has been upgraded from f/2.4 to f/2.2, allowing the sensor to capture more light and improve low-light performance.
Additionally, the iPhone 16 inherits the Pro model's macro photography capabilities, allowing users to capture close-up shots of subjects like flowers, insects, and textures, offering more creative possibilities for photography enthusiasts. The front-facing camera remains unchanged at 12 megapixels.
This year, the iPhone 16 offers a diverse color palette including black, white, pink, ultramarine, and teal. All models feature a matte-finished colored glass back, providing a premium look and feel that's resistant to fingerprints. The color scheme of the iPhone 16 is bolder than its predecessor, with more saturated ultramarine and teal. The reintroduction of the white color option is anticipated to be a crowd-pleaser.
The prices for the standard iPhone 16 are as follows:
- iPhone 16 with 128GB of memory for $799;
- iPhone 16 with 256GB of memory for $899;
- iPhone 16 with 512GB of memory for $1,099;
- iPhone 16 Plus with 128GB of memory for $899;
- iPhone 16 Plus with 256GB of memory for $999;
- iPhone 16 Plus with 512GB of memory for $1,199.
A new cycle for the iPhone, on what?
If the biggest upgrade of the iPhone 15 was undoubtedly the USB-C port, it's harder to pinpoint a single major change in the iPhone 16. Beyond the new camera control button and narrower bezels, the hardware design remains largely unchanged. AI has taken center stage, with Apple explicitly positioning the iPhone 16 as its first AI-powered device. While the addition of a camera control button seems to push the dream of a seamless, hole-less iPhone further away, Apple has justified its inclusion by highlighting its role as a shortcut for AI features. This answers a common question: Why does Apple still introduce a camera control button when the learning cost of the iPhone 15 action button is already high enough?
This button can lower the barrier to entry for using Apple's AI features. After all, whether it's Apple's or other models' AI, there's still a learning cost, and it may even conflict with the user's existing habits. More importantly, this button cultivates a new user interaction habit: a quick tap for a quick response, direct access with one button.
With minimal hardware changes, what will drive the next cycle of iPhone sales? Even before today's event, Cook had already given us the answer: Apple intelligence. Some analysts predict that the iPhone 16 will usher in an AI-driven supercycle, with sales potentially exceeding 240 million units in fiscal year 2025. To put that into perspective, the iPhone 6 series, the best-selling iPhone ever, sold 220 million units. A 240 million unit sales figure would mean that Apple could create a new sales record in a period marked by the longest replacement cycle and a recovering global economy.