Updated on August 27 with details on the new telephoto lens and its supplier.
Tim Cook and his team will launch the new iPhone 16 Pro next month and hope it will represent Apple’s first successful steps into the world of generative AI. What will the iPhone 16 Pro offer when it launches? Is the iPhone 15 Pro the smarter choice, given that the new features are mostly limited to software updates that will take months to become available?
Apple CEO Tim Cook takes a selfie at the Apple Store in New York City (Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via … (+)
One of the biggest advantages of the iPhone 16 family over previous iPhones is the integration of generative AI. The backronym Apple intelligence suite requires a certain level of performance from the host smartphone that the vast majority of existing iPhones will not achieve.
The only exceptions are the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. These are the only two Apple smartphones that run on the A17 Pro Apple Silicon chipset – the iPhone 15 was held back with the A16, presumably to create a spec difference that would justify the higher price of the Pro model.
This makes it possible to use Apple’s AI software without buying a new iPhone 16.
It’s also worth considering the status of Apple’s AI software. While parts of it are in public beta, Tim Cook’s team will not launch the software alongside the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro family in September. Instead, a limited set of features will be available via an operating system update planned for October, with ChatGPT added by the end of the year.
The full implementation of Apple’s generative AI will not be available until the end of the first quarter at the earliest, almost halfway through the iPhone 16 Pro’s initial product life cycle. This assumes that Apple’s development does not encounter any major issues that would delay updates. Anyone who buys the iPhone 16 Pro is buying the potential of AI, but that potential is far from being realized.
Students experience Apple products at the Apple Flagship Store in Shanghai (Photo by … (+)
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports on the training Apple’s retail staff is receiving ahead of the iPhone 16 Pro launch, raising two important points.
The first is the date of the training. In previous years, Apple has called its employees together for mandatory training the weekend before the launch, but depending on the store, the training has been moved up to Thursday or Friday, corresponding to the launch date of Monday, September 9, which is earlier than expected and too close to the comfort zone to conduct employee training less than 24 hours beforehand.
The second point is the content of the training. Gurman notes that “Apple plans to continue to make Apple Intelligence a key part of the iPhone sales conversation in stores this fall and has begun training retail associates on the features.” Generative AI has been a key software feature on smartphones since Google announced the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro as the first AI smartphones in 2024. The iPhone 16 family is Apple’s first foray into this area, and retail teams will be pushing this hard in Apple Stores worldwide.
Although the first baby steps of Apple Intelligence will not be available when the mobile phones come onto the market.
A man checks his phone at an Apple retail store in Grand Central Terminal (Photo by Drew … (+)
Update: Tuesday, August 27: One area where Apple is upgrading the hardware and where the older smartphone can’t quite keep up is the new tetraprism-equipped telephoto lens for the iPhone 16 Pro. It offers buyers of the new Pro iPhone a 5x optical zoom. In addition to confirming the specs, The Elec also says that LG will be the lens’ supplier for the first few months of the iPhone’s sales life:
“LG Innotek is expected to supply the module for the first inventory of phones manufactured by Apple, which will account for more than half of the iPhones produced by Apple by year-end. Around the fourth quarter, when the first inventory runs out, Cupertino is expected to use its second-tier suppliers Foxconn and Cowell to also manufacture folded Zoom devices to reduce costs.”
This telephoto lens is available on the larger iPhone 15 Pro Max, but the regular iPhone 15 Pro only has a x3 telephoto lens. If the zoom level of the main camera is a deal-breaker for you, then with an older iPhone that can run Apple Intelligence, the iPhone 15 Pro Max is your only choice. The question might be how much you value the difference between x3 and x5 in your images.
The back of an iPhone with the camera module visible (Photo by Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty … (+)
For many, the right time to invest in a new Apple handset is not when AI comes out, but when AI is there. Those who own the iPhone 15 Pro will have the best of both worlds: an iPhone that runs AI as soon as it comes out, and the ability to upgrade to the latest iPhone when the software is updated. At this point, many will consider waiting a few more months to buy the iPhone 17 Pro, knowing that Apple will have fixed all the software issues and met all the hardware requirements in its first attempt at generative AI.
There’s also an argument for holding back a generation of iPhones if you need to upgrade in the current climate. Once the iPhone 16 Pro comes out, prices on the iPhone 15 Pro will drop. Not climate-related, but enough to offer value. While Apple may not offer a huge discount, carriers and online stores will have stocks of the 15 Pro and Pro Max that they’ll want to clear so you can get a bargain.
Aside from the iOS updates that will be available for all iPhone models, the main differences between the 15 Pro and 16 Pro appear to be a slightly increased battery capacity and the larger zoom of the telephoto lens. This isn’t an iPhone update that focuses heavily on hardware. Since the iPhone 17 handsets are likely to receive significant hardware updates, those looking for physical changes may be best advised to skip this year’s model.
A man communicates via his iPhone 15 Pro Max in front of the new Apple Store in Kuala Lumpur. … (+)
The iPhone 16 Pro’s hardware upgrades are more iterative than innovative. Apple’s big goal for next year will be to develop unreleased software that will run on the older flagship when it’s finally released. And if you don’t already own the iPhone 15 Pro or 15 Pro Max, you’ll soon be able to get attractive discounts.
The iPhone 16 Pro may be the future, but you may want to see what that future looks like before you commit to it.
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