I’ve been rounding up iPhone 16 rumors for the last year and today, Finally, everything is revealed The iPhone 16 was unveiled at Apple’s Glowtime event. Most of the rumors we reported were true. The iPhone 16 has a stacked camera system on the back, and it also features the action button from the iPhone 15 Pro. The iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro have a camera control button that can be used like a point-and-shoot camera by flipping the device over. And yes, the iPhone 16 Pro is bronze in color, not brown as initially reported, and we’re all excited about it. Apple is calling it “Desert Titanium,” and sure enough, someone in Palm Springs might be getting a tan of that shade.
I got hands-on with the new iPhone 16 Pro, as well as the new iPhone 16 in teal and pink, specifically. The biggest change to this generation lineup is the aforementioned camera control button. It’s an interesting addition, considering we’ve already been told the iPhone 17 will be button-free. The “taptic” button is a bit confusing to use at first.
iPhone 16 and camera capture button
It was a tough sell to get the Desert Titanium iPhone 16 Pro. this On the demo floor at Steve Jobs Theater in Apple Park, the color was popular, probably simply because it looked expensive. Desert Titanium looks gold from afar, due to the gold trim around the case. The back of the phone is actually closer to the golden beige you’d wear in places like Death Valley or the Sahara Desert. I never thought brown would be such a groundbreaking color, but here it is. Apple has made history. If that’s not your thing, it’s also available in Black Titanium, Natural Titanium, and White Titanium.
Honestly, Apple’s take on the Pro is that the Pro is so professional that it’s always dressed for work, hence the drab back. I’ve seen people complain about that on Threads and elsewhere, comparing it to the colorful array of the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus. but, For a company selling phones that start at $1,000 and claim to have Hollywood-level video recording capabilities, the color on the back doesn’t need to be eye-catching.
Speaking of which, the new iPhone 16 colorways are actually eye-catching. They’re vibrant from close up and far away. We also like the new stacked camera array, which looks much more cohesive than the previous stovetop with just two lenses. The action button and camera capture button are arranged in the same color as the rest of the iPhone 16. Four colors are available this year: black, white, pink, teal, and ultramarine (blue).
Apple is a company whose smartphones of You can’t beat a camera, so there’s a camera capture button. I did a quick demo, but the tapping was done by an Apple employee. The camera capture taptic button senses when you press it lightly or fully, and you can also slide your finger from left to right to cycle through menu options and zoom. It works exactly as you’d expect, and in that moment it felt just as sensitive as the W/T from my Handycam days.
Bigger is better
Another trend I noticed during the Glowtime events was that people Admire For smaller smartphones. The iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max are 6.3 and 6.9 inches, respectively, a few points larger than before. But these are pro-level smartphones, so big You have more space to edit, pan, slide, and scroll through your work and 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. Both devices now offer 5x optical zoom.
Introducing Apple Intelligence
You’d love to see more of Apple Intelligence in action. I do, but we’re still waiting for that to happen. We saw more sophisticated editing features in the iPhone 16 and 16 Pro lineups. But we didn’t see any text generation or ChatGPT magic. That’s coming soon. next month.
When I get my iPhone 16 review unit, I’ll be particularly curious to see if the thermal solutions Apple has implemented inside the phone are reflected on the outside. Around me, several people in the audience were mumbling about how the iPhone 15 Pro got too hot to handle after a while. I’m also curious to see what spatial video the iPhone 16 can capture and whether there’s a way to transfer that content outside of the Vision Pro environment so it’s not exclusive to Apple’s lineup.
If you want to be one of the first to get the camera capture button, you can pre-order the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro later this week, before they officially launch on September 20th.
