The iPhone 16 series continues to showcase exquisite craftsmanship.

Following Apple's annual tradition of holding the fall product launch event in September, it's now July, and the new iPhone is nearing its final decision stage.

At the recently held WWDC 2024, Apple unveiled the Apple Intelligent AI operating system. Considering factors like performance and storage, while the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max will receive related AI features later this year, consumers are still more concerned about the arrival of the iPhone 16 series.

(Image source: Apple)

Of course, for consumers, compared to when Apple Intelligent will go online, they are more anticipating the hardware changes on the iPhone 16 series, as these changes determine whether users are willing to upgrade and contribute to Apple's AI empire.

Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman has revealed several hardware upgrades for the iPhone 16 series, such as a stainless steel battery, a new 48MP ultra-wide lens, and a redesigned camera button. Can these "upgrades" save Apple from its sluggish state in the mobile phone market?

iPhone 16 Series: Apple Starts Mixing Things Up Again

After replacing the mute switch with an action button on the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, Apple has begun experimenting with more physical buttons.

Mark Gurman revealed that the iPhone 16 series will feature a separate camera button, supporting one-touch access to the camera interface, with two functions: click to take a photo and long-press to record video. It's still unclear whether this button will be a physical button or a solid-state button. Meanwhile, the two iPhone 16 standard edition models have inherited the action button from the previous generation Pro, meaning the iPhone's mute switch has become a thing of the past.

While the iPhone 16 Pro/Max has received a separate camera button, the improvement in imaging is not significant. Both Pro-level iPhones have received a new 48-megapixel ultra-wide lens, with the main focus still on an increase in pixel count compared to the previous generation. The iPhone 16 Pro Max's 5x periscope telephoto lens has a larger sensor area, making it actively usable even at night.

(Image source: Mac Rumors)

It is rumored that the iPhone 16 Pro will also upgrade to a 5x periscope telephoto lens in this generation, replacing the previous 3x telephoto lens that has been used for many years. However, considering the space limitations of the iPhone 16 Pro's body, even with the new sensor, there will not be a significant improvement in imaging quality.

Exclusive to the iPhone 16 Pro series is Samsung's new M14 panel, which utilizes micro-lens technology, resulting in significant improvements in brightness and contrast. The application of new materials also gives it a significant advantage in terms of power consumption. It is reported that this generation of M14 panels can achieve an SDR brightness of 1200 nits and an HDR brightness of 1600 nits, with a local peak brightness maintained at 2000 nits.

(Image source: 9to5Mac)

In terms of the battery, the iPhone 16 Pro will adopt high-density battery technology, supplemented by a stainless steel battery case, significantly improving battery utilization and charging speed. However, according to The Information, Apple has not increased the battery capacity of the iPhone 16 Pro to a larger capacity, approximately maintaining the same 4600mAh as the previous generation. As for charging speed, it's only 40W.

Compared to the upgrades of the Pro versions, the standard iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus have few upgrade points. Apart from the action button, camera button, and 48-megapixel ultra-wide lens, the rest of the configurations remain the same as the previous generation. But the good news is that thanks to Apple Intelligent's requirement of 8GB of memory for devices, this generation of iPhone 16 series models all come standard with 8GB of memory, which can be described as an epic upgrade.

(Image source: Mac Rumors)

In terms of chips, Apple's traditional approach is still present, with the iPhone 16/Plus equipped with the A18 chip and the iPhone 16 Pro/Max equipped with the A18 Pro chip. The difference between the two chips mainly lies in high-end features such as AI computing power and ray tracing, with the rest being similar. More importantly, the iPhone 16 standard edition still does not plan to include a display that supports ProMotion.

Overall, the upgrades of the iPhone 16 series are not particularly sincere, especially in areas where the mobile phone market is highly competitive, such as battery capacity, fast charging speed, and imaging, which have not reached the standard line of Android flagships. If Apple wants to compete with Android flagships with the iPhone 16 series, it can only show more sincerity in the software aspect.

Is the iPhone 16 Series Still Not Strong Enough?

Since the iPhone 13 series, Apple's new iPhones have often been criticized, with many loyal Apple fans believing that the iPhone's progress has been too slow and has been left behind by the Android camp.

But objectively speaking, the upgrades of the iPhone 16 series can be considered the most sincere generation from Apple in the past two years.

Apple lags behind the imaging capabilities of the Android camp, but the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max will make room for larger sensors by increasing the body size, with the former increasing to 6.36 inches and the latter to 6.9 inches. With the further expansion of the body, both the iPhone 16 Pro/Max will use a 1/1.14-inch main camera sensor, which is larger than the previous generation's 1/1.28-inch but still not reaching 1 inch. The additional periscope telephoto lens of the iPhone 16 Pro may allow it to have better telephoto capabilities.

However, we also need to consider the formidable opponents faced by the iPhone 16 Pro/Max: the vivo X100 Ultra not only uses a 1-inch sensor for its main camera but also a Samsung HP9 two-hundred-megapixel telephoto lens for its telephoto end; while the OPPO Find X7 Ultra and Xiaomi 14 Ultra both feature dual telephoto solutions.

(Image source: vivo)

Even worse is the iPhone's battery life, which was once Apple's forte, with a small battery and strict power management scheme creating a miracle. However, as Android manufacturers continue to develop high-density batteries, such as Honor's Qinghai Lake battery and vivo's Blue Ocean battery, they have achieved both thinness and lightness while maintaining large battery capacities. Since Apple has already considered joining the high-density battery camp, why not increase the battery capacity?

The standard iPhone 16 has not received due treatment, especially in terms of imaging and display. The long-awaited high refresh rate panel did not appear in this generation, and the camera solution only received a simple upgrade to the ultra-wide angle section. Honestly, the upgrade of the ultra-wide angle is mainly for Vision Pro's spatial video service, but Vision Pro's sales are dismal, and it's not worth Apple's effort to have its "sales champion" support it.

(Image source: 9to5Mac)

Of course, Samsung, which has also seen limited hardware improvements, has seen its Galaxy S24 series sales soar with the Galaxy AI slogan. Apple may have seen Samsung's success story and wants to strengthen the AI concept to boost the sales of the iPhone 16 series. But can the late-arriving Apple Intelligent replicate the success of the early Galaxy AI?

iPhone 16 + AI: Apple Aims for a Stunning Comeback

During this year's 618 shopping festival, the iPhone 15 series once again took the top spot on multiple e-commerce platforms with its ultra-high sales, but the process was more tortuous than in previous years. For example, Apple rarely ran advertisements on Tmall this year, releasing large coupons during the first phase of 618, with the iPhone 15 Pro Max offering discounts of up to over 2000 yuan, representing a considerable discount.

The predicament of the iPhone 15 series served as a wake-up call for Apple. At WWDC 2024, Apple finally delivered its self-developed AI solution. After this conference, Apple's stock price rose sharply, successfully attracting significant capital attention. However, the actual implementation of Apple Intelligent will have to wait until this fall, when the iPhone 16 series is released. Therefore, whether this solution will work and restore Apple's market reputation depends on how the new iPhone performs.

(Image source: Mac Rumors)

All four models of the iPhone 16 series will be equipped with A18/Pro chips built on a 3nm process, meaning their performance gap will further narrow. Considering the importance attached to AI by Apple and the entire mobile phone industry, there will be no significant "knife cut" in NPU computing power. Now it remains to be seen how Apple's AI capabilities will be implemented globally, such as which partner Apple will choose in the Chinese market and what functions the local side-end large models can achieve.

(Image source: Apple)

In Xiao Lei's opinion, Apple Intelligent may be able to reverse the reputation of the iPhone 16 series, but the hardware gap is also regrettable. Especially in the Chinese mainland market, HarmonyOS NEXT will be open to all ordinary users in the fourth quarter of this year, facing a stronger, smarter, and more modern system, as well as Huawei's new flagship Mate 70 series. Does Apple really have the confidence to deal with it?

Regardless, the iPhone 16 series has not yet been officially released, and apart from some information from the supply chain, it's difficult to predict what major surprises Apple may have in store. But judging from the existing hardware clues, if the iPhone 16 series wants to reverse its reputation and return to its peak, Apple's AI still needs to make greater efforts to make up for those inherent deficiencies.