A new operating system, new Apple Watches (Series 10), new AirPods (Airpods 4 and AirPods Pro 2), new colors, USB-C galore, and four new iPhone 16s… Tim Cook’s sack was full for his keynote from September 9th. 20 Minutes gives you the secrets of the new smartphones from the Apple brand which will go on sale from September 20.
Artificial intelligence in the crosshairs
“This is the beginning of a new and exciting era!” As usual, Apple’s CEO did not lack adjectives (“revolutionary”, “unique”…) to describe the new iPhone 16. The new smartphones will be available in four models: iPhone 16 (6.1”); iPhone 16 Plus (6.7”), but also iPhone 16 Pro (6.3”) iPhone 16 Pro Max (6.9”), the Pro models being slightly larger than usual. And good news: their price* remains the same as that of the iPhone 15 when they are launched in 2023.
Proud to play Mr. Plus, the Apple boss inaugurated the arrival of Apple Intelligence, Apple’s AI on its devices. This is made possible by the arrival of two new chips: A18 for the iPhone 16 and A18 Pro for the iPhone 16 Pro. With functions that we expected: writing messages by adopting a specific tone (familiar, professional, etc.), creating Emojis specific to the context of a message, searching for photos in your gallery based on a simple description in an input field (“Zoé in the mountains”, “Mom at Christmas”, etc.).
In light of these new features, SIRI, Apple’s voice assistant, finally seems to want to evolve (not too soon!), with a better understanding of our requests. We will not only be able to talk to it, but also write to it, ask for recommendations or even play a song whose title a friend has simply given us by SMS. And why not ask it by voice to send photos of the last barbecue to a specific person!
All this is quite promising, it remains to be seen how, in practice, this AI touted by Apple at every level, will make our daily lives easier. Because if some of these new features are already available in France (notably those around our photo/video gallery), others will not be until next year. This function called Visual Intelligence and which allows, by photographing the front of a restaurant to directly display its menu on the iPhone screen, or that of a concert poster, to reserve your place without waiting, will it be part of the package from September 20 in France? Mystery.
A new button to enhance photos and videos
More interesting for future first buyers of the iPhone 16, and already available, is the new button located on the left edge of the terminals. Named Camera Controlit allows you to go further in shooting. By directly launching the camera or triggering a photo or video, but also, from a double tapto access settings: zoom, focus, depth of field.
Featuring haptic feedback Camera Control should improve the photo/video experience of smartphones.
The iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max are equipped with a 48-megapixel main sensor, a 48-megapixel ultra-wide-angle sensor and a 12-megapixel telephoto lens. They have a 5x optical zoom. But also smart filters called Photographic Style.
4K 120fps videos
Once a photo is taken, it is possible, using a touchpad, to customize the appearance and style of a photo by applying adjustments to specific colors. The function seems quite promising. And for video, place on the Pro and Pro Max to 4K recordings up to 120 frames/second in Dolby Vision HDR, and to so-called slow motions Cinematic Slow Motionlike those shot by The Weeknd for his latest music video, for which the iPhone 16 Pro was used.
Intriguingly, a new Mix Audio function will allow, during a shot, to isolate the voices of the different people in the image, then to make a remix by modifying the volume. Enough to seduce experts. Plus most, we can use it to simultaneously record our voice on a piece that we listen to.
For its part, Apple is therefore setting the tone for many new features, but is not the first in the field of AI, which is already widely developed by some competitors, such as Samsung, Google or Honor. It remains to be seen whether the French will rush to buy these new, smarter terminals or will prefer to wait, more wisely, for their promises to actually be made in France…
*iPhone 16: 969 euros (128 GB); 1,099 euros (256 GB); 1,349 euros (512 GB).
iPhone 16 Plus: 1,119 euros (128 GB); 1,249 euros (256 GB); 1,499 euros (512 GB).
iPhone 16 Pro: 1,229 euros (128 GB); 1,359 euros (256 GB); 1,609 euros (512 GB); 1,859 euros (1 TB).
iPhone 16 Pro Max: 1,479 euros (256 GB); 1,729 euros (512 GB); 1,979 euros (1 TB).