I spent last year recapping the iPhone 16 rumors and today I’m here to Everything is finally revealed At Apple’s Glowtime event, most of the rumors we covered turned out to be true. The iPhone 16 has a stacked camera system on the back, and it also has the action button from the iPhone 15 Pro. The iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro have a camera control button, so you can flip the device over and pretend it’s a point-and-shoot camera. And yes, the iPhone 16 Pro comes in bronze. Not brown as initially reported, and we’re all excited about it. Apple calls it “desert titanium,” and I actually saw someone wearing this tan in Palm Springs.
I’ve been hands-on with the new colors of the iPhone 16 Pro and the new colors of the iPhone 16, especially the teal and pink ones. The most significant change in this generation’s lineup is the camera control button I mentioned earlier. Considering that we’re already talking about the button-less iPhone 17, this is an intriguing addition. The “taptic” button is a bit confusing to use at first.
iPhone 16 and camera capture button
It was hard to get my hands on the Desert Titanium iPhone 16 Pro. this It was a popular color on the demo floor at the Steve Jobs Theater in Apple Park, probably because it looks expensive. Desert titanium looks like gold from a distance because of the gold trim around the chassis. The actual back of the phone is more of a golden beige, something you’d wear in Death Valley or the Sahara Desert. I never thought brown could make such a big difference, but now I do. Apple made history. If that’s not your style, there’s also black titanium, natural titanium, and white titanium.
To be honest, what Apple is saying about the Pros is that they are very professional in what they do, so they are always wearing clothes that match the job. So the back is kind of monotonous, and I’ve seen people complaining on Threads and other places about the colorful colors of the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus. but, When a company sells a phone that starts at $1,000 and claims Hollywood-quality video recording capabilities, the color on the back doesn’t need to be eye-catching.
The new colorways for the iPhone 16, however, are actually eye-catching. They’re vibrant, whether you look at them up close or from afar. I also like the new stacked camera array. It looks much more organized than the previous stovetop, which only had two lenses. There’s an action button and a camera capture button, which are the same colors as the rest of the iPhone 16. This year, there’s black, white, pink, teal, and navy (blue).
Apple is trying to make sure that its smartphones convey the following message: that There is a camera capture button because that is the only way the camera can win. I only had a brief demo, but an Apple employee tapped it for me. The taptic button on the camera capture can sense when you press it lightly or press it hard. You can also slide your finger left and right to cycle through menu options or zoom in and out. It works as I expected, and at the moment it felt as sensitive as the W/T back in the Handycam days.
The bigger the better
Another trend I noticed during the Glowtime event was that Apple’s lineup of devices was getting bigger as more and more people were joining. commiserate For smaller phones, the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max are a few points larger than before, at 6.3 inches and 6.9 inches respectively. But these are professional-level phones, so Bigger It gives you more room to edit, pan, slide, and scroll through your work or projects. I still prefer the smaller iPhone 16 Pro over the Pro Max. And this year, you don’t have to compromise on optical zoom when choosing between the Pro and Pro Max. This time, both devices have 5x optical zoom.
Apple Intelligence is Coming
I know you want to see more of Apple Intelligence. I do, but I’m still waiting for it to be released. I’ve seen more sophisticated editing features between the iPhone 16 and 16 Pro lineups. But I haven’t seen any generative text, ChatGPT magic, or anything like that. It’s coming soon. Next month.
When we get our iPhone 16 review units, we’re particularly curious to see if Apple will transfer the heat work it does inside the phone to the outside. A few people in the audience muttered after a while that the iPhone 15 Pro was too hot to handle. We’re also curious about the Spatial Video that the iPhone 16 can handle, and if there’s a way to transfer that content outside of the Vision Pro environment so that it’s not exclusive to Apple’s product lineup.
If you want to be the first to get your hands on the camera capture button, you can pre-order the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro later this week, with the official release date being September 20.