- The new iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro models focus on Apple Intelligence and camera features.
- Apple Watch’s Series 10 comes with a bigger display, thinner design, sleep apnea detection and faster charging, among other features.
- The new AirPods 4 offers improved features, ANC for open-ear design, new battery case, and much more.
- With the upcoming software update for the AirPods Pro 2, Apple is focusing on hearing health experience.
Apple’s September “Glowtime” event saw the launch of new products, including the iPhone 16 series, Watch Series 10 and the new AirPods 4. Alongside these new products, Apple also introduced the Watch Ultra 2 and AirPods Max headphones in new colors, and new hearing health features in the AirPods Pro 2.
The big focus of the announcement was on Apple Intelligence (AI) features that take advantage of the new A18 and A18 Pro SoCs, allowing users to make the most of new iPhones. All the products announced at the September 9 Apple event will go on sale on September 20. Here is a rundown of all the Apple announcements.
iPhone 16 / Plus: A18 SoC, Apple Intelligence, new camera key control, and more
A18 SoC:
- Both the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus models are powered by the A18 SoC.
- Built on a second-generation 3nm process, the A18 SoC comes with a six-core CPU, which includes two performance and four efficiency cores. It is 30% faster than the iPhone 15’s A16 Bionic CPU and also consumes 30% less power.
- It also features a five-core GPU which is 40% faster than the iPhone 15’s A16 Bionic and uses 35% less power. It unlocks hardware-based ray tracing and also brings support for AAA game titles for the iPhone 16, which was earlier limited to only Pro models.
- There is also an updated 16-core Neural Engine optimized for running large GenAI models.
iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus: Key specifications, features
- The iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus come with 6.1-inch and 6.7-inch Super Retina XDR displays, respectively. These screens offer up to 2000 nits of peak brightness, which goes as low as one nit in the dark.
- They come with an updated design which includes a new vertically stacked camera array, a new action button for quick access to silent mode, voice memos, translation, and other features.
- There is also a new addition with a capacitive touch Camera Control button, which works as a two-stage camera shutter, and also as a slider for functions like zoom and depth adjustment.
- Both smartphones come with a 48MP primary camera with 2X lossless zoom and a 12MP ultrawide angle camera with auto-focus. The ultrawide angle camera also doubles as a macro camera.
- The iPhone 16 starts at $799 for the 128GB variant, whereas the iPhone 16 Plus starts at $899.
Apple Intelligence on iPhone 16
The new Apple Intelligence features are designed to boost productivity and help users express themselves. These AI features use a mix of both on-device and cloud processing. And with privacy being a concern for some, Apple did highlight that the data in the cloud is never stored and only used for processing your request. Below are AI features that you can experience on the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus models.
- First, we have writing tools where the AI can proofread text and rewrite it in different versions before sending it. It is available everywhere you write, including third-party apps like WhatsApp and LinkedIn. Users can also adjust the tone of their text from friendly to professional before sending.
- Apple has also added a summarization feature where you can get a transcript and summary of the audio. It works on both the Notes app when you record audio and the Phone when you record phone calls.
- The Inbox app is also supercharged with AI, where it shows time-sensitive messages, like invitation deadlines or flight check-in reminders. The app also displays a summary of the mail, instead of the first two lines, thus conveying the most useful info, even without opening the mail.
- Apple Intelligence also includes priority notifications, which show important notifications at the top, like calendar invites.
- AI also allows you to create new emojis by simply describing what you want. With Image Playground, you can also create original images based on text using a stable diffusion model.
- In the Photos app, AI can help find the photo you are looking for simply by describing it, like “barbecue photos from last month” or “airplane photos from San Francisco”.
- AI can even compile photos and create a small video from it, along with nice background music.
- Siri is also enhanced, and you can now ask it to send a particular photo to a contact. For instance, “Hey Siri, send Jeff the photos from last night’s dinner”.
These Apple Intelligence features will be available for free as a software update in US English in October. Apple will also add localized English for countries like Canada, UK, New Zealand and South Africa in December. In 2025, AI will be expanded to more languages including Chinese, French, Japanese and Spanish.
Apple is also adding Visual Intelligence features to the new iPhones, which work like Google Lens on Android smartphones. Simply point the camera to a restaurant and it will pull up the menu, ratings and other information. See a poster for an event, just click a photo and the AI will add all details to the calendar, including venue, date, time, and more.
iPhone 16 Pro, 16 Pro Max: More powerful A18 Pro SoC, more Apple Intelligence features
A18 Pro SoC:
- The new Pro version of the A18 SoC is also built on the second-generation 3nm process.
- The SoC comes with a six-core CPU, which includes two performance cores and four efficiency cores. Apple says the new SoC is 15% faster than the A17 Pro and consumes 20% less power.
- It features a 16-core Neural Engine that can offer AI performance of up to 35 TOPS.
- On the graphics side, you get a six-core GPU that Apple claims is 20% faster than the A17 Pro SoC and allows for 2x faster ray tracing.
- The new SoC also includes new and advanced media features that support the ProMotion and always-on display. It also enables ProRes video recording.
- There is also a new video encoder and Image Signal Processor (ISP), which can process data 2x faster compared to the A17 Pro SoC.
iPhone 16 Pro, 16 Pro Max: Key specifications and features
- The new iPhone 16 Pro models come with even thinner bezels, allowing Apple to pack slightly bigger displays in the same form factor.
- The iPhone 16 Pro has a 6.3-inch screen, while the iPhone 16 Pro Max has a 6.9-inch screen, both supporting up to 120Hz refresh rate.
- These new Pro iPhones are made from Grade 5 titanium and come with the same capacitive camera button as seen on the iPhone 16 models.
- In the photography department, there are three cameras – the main 48MP fusion camera with a 24mm focal length, with 2x telephoto lossless zoom at 48mm; a 12MP 5x telephoto camera with a tetra prism design and 120mm focal length; and a 48MP ultrawide camera with 13mm focal length.
- Staying on photography features, Apple is also introducing new Photographic Styles where you can apply preset filters and fine-tune each photo to your liking, making color grading easier.
- There is also a new video action mode to capture stable video footage, and spatial audio capture with four mics to cancel out unwanted background and wind noise. It also includes an Audio Mix feature that lets you optimize the way voices sound in the videos in the frame.
- The video mode also supports 4K 120fps cinematic slow-motion video capture.
- The iPhone 16 Pro prices start at $999 for the 128GB model, whereas the iPhone 16 Pro Max starts at $1199 for the 256GB model.
Advanced Apple Intelligence on iPhone 16 Pro models
- The Apple Intelligence features in the Pro models largely remain the same as in the base models, but there are some added features.
- In the voice memo app, musicians can record a song without a mic and layer another track on top of it, like a previously recorded guitar track. It plays the guitar track from iPhone speakers while also recording the new voice. The AI can then cancel the background noise and isolate and enhance your voice. You can even merge both recordings.
- This is one of the initial features and Apple did mention many more will be coming with new software updates.
Apple Watch Series 10: Focus on thinner design, health features, and more
- The new Series 10 smartwatch comes with a bigger display and thinner design. At 9.7mm, Apple says it is 10% thinner than the Series 9 and weighs 20% less.
- Apple says the new smartwatch offers up to 30% more screen, allowing users to have slightly bigger font without compromising on the display area.
- The new display, which Apple calls Wide Angle OLED, is 40% brighter and updates once a second in the always-on mode, allowing it to be more efficient.
- The S10 SiP comes with a 64-bit dual-core processor and a four-core Neural Engine for AI tasks.
- One of the new features of the Apple Watch Series 10 now lets you play music from the speaker, which is a nice addition but may not offer a room-filling sound like smartphones. It could be good to use in closed spaces, like an office cabin or even in a bedroom.
- The smartwatch also comes with even faster charging, which can charge up to 80% in 30 minutes, though battery life, a persistent problem with Apple Watch, is not significantly improved.
- Talking about AI features, it comes with on-device Siri, the AI can automatically detect and start a workout, and it also comes with crash and fall detection.
- Apple has introduced a new translation app for the Apple Watch, which also supports offline translation features.
- Besides, there is a big focus on health. The device can track sleep changes and also detect possible sleep apnea using an accelerometer and rolling analysis, atrial fibrillation, and more. However, given the limited battery life, sleep tracking may not be easy if the watch is worn throughout the day.
- For athletes, the new Apple Watch can detect water depth and temperature, and offer the distance, speed and time when kayaking. For surfers, it offers information on rising and falling tides.
- The Apple Watch Series 10 starts at $399 for the 42mm GPS model and $499 for the 42mm GPS+Cellular model.
Apple also announced a new color option for the Apple Watch Ultra 2. It will now also be available in a new black titanium case along with new band options. The price remains $799.
New AirPods 4, updated AirPods Pro, AirPods Max
Lastly, Apple also introduced two new AirPods 4 models, an improved AirPods Pro 2 and a refreshed AirPods Max.
AirPods 4:
- The AirPods 4 featuring an open-ear design is available in two variants – the regular one at $129 and the one featuring ANC for $179.
- With an H2 chip inside, the TWS brings improved connectivity, better battery life, and other features.
- It supports a hands-free calling experience – where you can nod your head to accept or reject an incoming call.
- There is also a voice isolation feature for clear calls, which eliminates background noise, whether you are in a subway or on a busy road.
- Apple has updated the drivers to offer richer bass and a personalized spatial audio experience.
- There is also an improved transparency mode to hear your surroundings.
- There are two more features – adaptive audio, which automatically reduces the level of noise depending on the changing environment, and conversation mode, which automatically reduces the music level when you are talking to someone and increases back when you stop talking.
- Apple says the AirPods 4 case is the most portable yet, delivers up to 30% more battery life and supports Apple Watch and Qi wireless chargers.
- There is also a speaker on the case which can help in finding it in case you misplace it.
AirPods Max with new colors, AirPods Pro 2 update to unlock new features
- Apple has updated the AirPods Max over-the-ear headphones with new colors and included USB-C charging capabilities.
- The AirPods Max starts at $549.
- Moving on to the AirPods Pro 2, Apple is introducing new hearing protection and guidance features, along with self-regulating volume control for hearing health.
- Apple, citing its hearing study, mentions that one in three people is exposed to loud environmental noise, which can be while commuting, from lawnmowers, or even at events. This results in hearing loss over time, with most cases not diagnosed or treated.
- Apple will bring a new software update, which is under FDA approval now, to allow users to take a five-minute hearing test and customize the audio based on their hearing capabilities.
- This updated hearing profile will be applied everywhere, from music to phone calls and videos. The data will be saved securely in the Health app and users can regularly take these tests to update their hearing profile.
- With this updated feature, the Apple AirPods Pro 2 can also be used as a clinic-grade hearing aid, although it is unclear how long this hearing support will last before recharging becomes necessary. It is, nevertheless, a good innovation.
