More buttons, strong AI: Apple iPhone16 series and the cyclical charm of tech

Cupertino: There was a time phones had a lot of buttons, or physical keys, dotting the sides. Then, over the past few years, minimalism in different degrees was the way.
Apple is clearly of the opinion that adding another button, something akin to a digital camera control experience, is the way to make things more intuitive for photography and recording videos.
Remember, it was last year with the iPhone 15 Pro phones, that the ring/silent toggle morphed into a more customisable Action button. How many physical buttons on an iPhone now? Five.
Nevertheless, there’s more to the new iPhone 16 series, than just a physical key. The 2024 iPhone line-up continues to be four phone strong (any generational updates for the iPhone SE, if at all, remain a mystery). That is, the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max.
Significant performance updates with the new line of chips under the hood, both Pro phones with slightly larger displays, significant camera changes, and the groundwork for Apple Intelligence—in case you’re wondering when that’s arriving, most of that suite lands as part of another iOS 18 update (likely to be iOS 18.1) next month, and will remain free to use.
That said, HT can confirm that some generative AI functionality such as transcriptions of voice notes, have landed on earlier iPhones, with iOS 18 (the release candidate is out now).
Apple executives explained to HT that the innards of this new addition include a high-precision force sensor which not only enables taps, but also lighter press gestures, alongside a capacitive sensor that allows for toggling between different layers of settings without having to lift the finger off the button.
That is the key—don’t lift the finger off the toggle, which as the exec explained is key to successfully navigating the camera settings. Slide the finger left or right to toggle between options, and a light tap to select an option. Functionality is same on the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro phones.
In the time we spent with the new iPhones after the keynote, it took a bit of effort to get the hang of how hard to press for a light press or a double click effect. That said, once you do find the right touch (effort yes, but doesn’t take much time), it may just be one of those things that you hadn’t realised you needed.
Since this button sits on the lower half of the right-side spine (as you hold the phone; it’s some way below the power key), which seems to be a good placement considering it’ll fall easily to hand in the landscape orientation, and with some re-learning, in portrait orientation shooting modes as well.
The camera app on the iPhone 16 series also moves a number of photography styles to quicker access via this button, which does eliminate a need for editing later within the Photos app.
It will be interesting to see how well this physical button works with a number of third-party accessory cases too—since the capacitive nature of Camera Control requires swipe gestures, and cutouts on cases will need to leave a bit more room either side.
This is a new addition to the broad Apple Intelligence suite, which HT has detailed extensively when it was announced at the annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) this summer. Visual Intelligence is linked with the Camera Control key, lest you still needed convincing.
Click and hold the Camera Control button to open camera -> click the button again and Apple Intelligence will deliver actions based on context. If the camera saw a restaurant, Apple says it’ll try pulling up reviews, reservation details and the menu. If what the camera sees are the details of an event, it’ll invoke the calendar. Apple says this artificial intelligence processing is partly done on device, and partly on the cloud.
It remains to be seen how well Visual Intelligence works in the real world, and its capabilities depending on the region you’ll be using it in. For example, restaurant reservations will not be available everywhere, and likely not for all restaurants. This is Apple’s response to Google’s Circle to Search, that’s making its way to more Android phones after a period of exclusivity on Samsung’s devices? Very much so.
Structurally, there’s more parity between the non-Pro and the Pro iPhones, which is good news for buyers of the former. The aforementioned Camera Control aside, the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus inherit the Action button as well.
The rear camera, though it is still a duality, are now stacked vertically (this positioning is better suited for spatial video recordings; Apple’s making a creator case for the Vision Pro)
No changes with screen sizes, but there is a definite change in how the colour saturation has been delivered on the new iPhones. They look more attractive, and colours are a bit more pronounced than the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus.
Ultramarine (that’s a really nice shade of blue) along with green and pink, join white and black. The latter has a really nice matte black look, something that reminded me of the matte black on the iPhone 7 Plus, all those years ago.
Under the hood is the Apple A18 chip. There are a couple of important things to consider here. It succeeds the A16 Bionic from the iPhone 15 series, which means this is essentially a two-generation leap in terms of processing power for the latest non-Pro iPhones.
Apple isn’t dabbling with the A17 or the A17 Pro for the new iPhones. Secondly, while the previous chip was on the 4-nanometer architecture, the Apple A18 switches to the smaller 3-nanometer architecture.
The advantages are clear—more performance per watt and therefore less battery consumption, faster graphics (and therefore support for previously Pro exclusive AAA gaming titles) and in line for all Apple Intelligence features. Generational improvements are to the tune of up to 30% faster CPU and 40% faster 5-core GPU. HT will be able to comment on the battery stamina improvements after a detailed review of the iPhone 16 series.
They don’t necessarily feel bigger in the hand, but both Pro models this year get slightly larger displays—6.3-inches instead of 6.1-inches on the iPhone 16 Pro, and 6.9-inches instead of 6.7-inches for the iPhone 16 Pro Max.
That should, taking advantage of slimmer bezels and a few millimetres in footprint, add a line or two of text as you read something on a webpage or an e-book. More important, the revamped camera troika.
The iPhone 16 Pro phones have parity on camera hardware, unlike the iPhone 15 Pro series that had some variations on lenses and zoom. The 48-megapixel primary sensor is what Apple calls a Fusion camera, which sits alongside a 48-megapixel ultrawide sensor and a 12-megapixel 5x telephoto.
The big addition is 4k video at 120 frames per second, or fps, and with Dolby Vision. The Photos app allows for an editing option to slow down playback speeds later. This does have a lot of promise, but our limited time with the iPhone 16 Pro phones doesn’t allow us to draw a conclusion on real-world performance of that, or the audio mix upgrades or spatial video.
The A18 Pro is the fastest smartphone chip of its generation, says Apple. It might give Qualcomm and MediaTek, its competition in the smartphone chip space, some sleepless nights. But then again, this is Apple doing what Apple does best—simply resetting the performance and power-per-watt benchmark.
The official pricing that Apple has confirmed to HT, suggests that the iPhone 16 Pro will be priced ₹1,19,900 onwards, with 128GB as the base spec, while the iPhone 16 Pro Max will be priced ₹1,44,900 but with 256GB as the entry storage spec. That does beg the question, should 128GB really be an option on a Pro iPhone? Both phones have 512GB and 1TB as storage choices.
The iPhone 16 prices are ₹79,900 onwards, while the iPhone 16 Plus holds a sticker price of ₹89,900 onwards, with 128GB, 256GB and 512GB storage choices. These price tags aren’t entirely dissimilar from the 2023 launch pricing for the iPhone 15 series, which is a rarity at a time when annual pricing inflation has been more than prominent with most recent smartphone launches.