September is here and new iPhones are arriving like clockwork. Apple unveiled its latest iPhone models at an event in Cupertino today and as expected, the iPhone 16 handsets look very similar to last year’s models.
While the smartphones, standard and Pro versions, took center stage, Apple also showed off the new Apple Watch Series 10, two new pairs of AirPods, and detailed hearing aid features coming to the second-generation AirPods Pro.
The company also went into detail about its latest mobile chipsets that power the new iPhones and reminded people what they can expect when iOS 18 with Apple Intelligence launches later this month. If you missed the announcements live, Engadget has you covered; here’s everything announced at Apple’s iPhone 16 event.
iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus
Apple unveiled the new iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus at the event, featuring a water and dust resistant design and new colors like ultramarine, teal, and pink. The iPhone 16 has a 6.1-inch display, while the iPhone 16 Plus has a 6.7-inch display.
Both of them can get up to 2,000 nits of brightness, and go down to 1 nit in the dark. The Action button has made its way to this series of iPhones as well, and it’s just as customizable as last year’s Pro-model iPhones.
There’s also a new easy-to-reach camera control “button,” which allows you to quickly control the camera with a slide of your finger. This tool can also use Visual Intelligence, an AI-powered feature coming to iOS 18 that can tell you more about whatever you point your camera at.
It looks similar to Google Lens, and can do things like add live event dates to your calendar after you turn the camera on a flyer you see on the street.
The camera array on the standard iPhone 16 model includes a 48-megapixel main Fusion camera, a 12MP telephoto lens, and a new ultrawide camera with autofocus. The array will also be able to capture spatial photos that can be seen on Apple’s Vision Pro.
We confirmed in our hands-on text of the iPhone 16 that it has the same style of camera control button as the more expensive iPhone 16 Pro. It’s a physical button, but haptics add another layer of feedback when you “lightly press” the button rather than pressing it all the way down.
Both standard iPhone 16 models run on the new A18 chip, which has a 16-core neural engine optimized for generative models. The internals feature a 6-core CPU and a 5-core GPU, which will be crucial for powering all the new Apple Intelligence features coming in iOS 18.
According to Apple, both the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus have bigger batteries than their predecessors, and when combined with the efficiencies added from the A18 chipset and iOS 18 improvements, overall battery life should be noticeably longer (though Apple hasn’t given exact estimates). Both the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus are available for pre-order today starting at $799 and $899, respectively, and will be widely available on September 20.
This year’s Pro series of iPhones includes the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max, which have 6.3-inch and 6.9-inch ProMotion, always-on displays, respectively. Both are made from grade 5 titanium, which Apple claims is lighter than stainless steel. These handsets will be available in four new colors: black, white, natural, and desert, the latter of which resembles a dusty gold hue.
According to the company, the iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max are built from the ground up for Apple intelligence, able to take full advantage of all the new features coming in iOS 18. These handsets run on the new A18 Pro chipset, which leverages 3nm transistors and is even faster and more efficient than the standard A18 chip found in the regular iPhone 16 lineup.
The rear camera array on both models includes a 48MP Fusion Camera, a 48MP ultrawide shooter, and a 12MP telephoto lens. The main camera improvements allow for 4K, 120fps video, and slow-motion recording.
Both phones also feature a new camera control button that provides easy access to the camera and all of its tools for both capture and editing. Both smartphones also feature four studio-quality microphones for better audio capture, and they also allow spatial audio recording.