A little over a month ago, Apple announced the iPhone 16, its new flagship phone with some nice and not-so-nice features. You are likely wondering: Should you buy it?
The iPhone 16 is Apple’s newest flagship, announced on September 9, 2024, along with the Apple Watch Series Ten, AirPods 4th Gen, AirPods Max (Gen 1.5), and Apple’s suite of artificial intelligence features, called “Apple Intelligence.” Except for the AI suite, these items were released on September 20, 2024.
The iPhone 16 has several new features, some good and some bad. On the hardware side, the iPhone has many new features, including a new processor, new cameras, and a couple of new buttons. The new base iPhones have a new processor, the A18. This processor is (supposedly) 30% faster than the iPhone 15’s processor and more efficient. It also gets new cameras, meaning it should shoot better photos. They also come in a new layout so they can shoot what Apple calls “Spatial Capture” meaning it can use both cameras to make 3D video, which you could view on an Apple Vision Pro headset. The last new hardware features are buttons, the Action Button, and Camera Controls. The Action Button is a button above the volume that allows you to do whatever you want, like open the camera or turn on or off silent mode. The last hardware feature is the new Camera Controls button, which is both a touchpad and a camera, allowing you to use the camera and change settings in the app to achieve any style you would like and make using the camera app one-handed more accessible.
On the software side, the iPhone 16 will launch with iOS 18, the latest version of iOS. iOS comes jam-packed with features, from a new photos app to more control over your home screen. One of the most significant new software features is Apple Intelligence, a suite of Artificial Intelligence (AI) features intended to be Apple’s version of AI to compete with Samsung’s Galaxy AI and Google’s Gemini. Sadly, Apple Intelligence will only be available to iPhone 16s, and the 15 Pro and Pro Max. Another feature coming to iOS is the ability to move icons outside of the grid, meaning you can place apps anywhere on your screen instead of just being in a grid. As well as moving icons around, you can change the colors of app icons to whatever you want, similar to what you can do on Google’s Pixel series of phones.
Along with customizing your home screen, you will now be able to change around your quick settings, what Apple calls the “Control Center.” But, the most prominent feature for me is RCS Support for iMessage. RCS stands for Rich Communication Services, essentially the Android version of iMessage, allowing instant messaging and higher-quality photos and videos. As an Android user, the amount of garbled images and videos means that this would be a fantastic update for me, as I would finally be able to text without being at a disadvantage when texting iPhone users.
So, based on the specs and software, should you buy it? If your phone is dying, maybe. The iPhone 16 has a bunch of new features, but many of them aren’t worth it. Take the Camera Controls button, for example. Are you, as someone considering buying a base iPhone, really going to use it? It seems more like a gimmick than anything else; something was put on the iPhone to show that something had changed over last year’s phone. And Apple Intelligence isn’t even coming out right now; it’s coming out later this year, and as someone who has a Google Pixel, a phone with AI features, I don’t use them. They can come in handy sometimes, but not enough to be convenient for me. It seems like the Apple Intelligence AI Suite will be the same. So, don’t buy the newest iPhone unless you need a new iPhone, and not right now, because many of the significant new features aren’t even out yet.
RELATED STORIES:
https://www.wired.com/review/apple-iphone-16-and-iphone-16-plus/
https://www.tomsguide.com/phones/iphones/apple-iphone-16-review
https://www.techradar.com/phones/iphone/iphone-16-review
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