iPhone 16 series launches with native Apple Intelligence on device

Cook said the next generation of iPhones has been designed for Apple intelligence from the ground up. “It marks the beginning of an exciting new era.” The new 6.1-inch iPhone 16 and 6.7-inch iPhone 16 Plus now feature a new A18 bionic processor with a new camera control button also adding new visual intelligence features that use the camera to give you quick answers. The iPhone 16 now gets 2x telephoto zoom enabled by the 48-megapixel fusion camera, giving users the equivalent of four lenses, including one for macro images.

Apple Intelligence powers personal intelligence across the iPhone 16 with Private Cloud Compute, accessing private servers needed to run the generative models. The phone now gives users access to writing tools that help change and proofread, image playground and filtering of photos with simple searches. Siri, meanwhile, gains onscreen awareness and can interact more naturally with users. It understands the context of the user, so you can just ask for things to be done.

Sribalan Santhanam, VP of Apple Silicon, said the A18 Bionic is a two-generation jump needed to assist the Gen AI models and features new CPU and GPU architecture, much faster than the earlier model.

The iPhone 16 Pro is now 6.3 inches of screen and the Pro Max is 6.9 inches. Powered by a new 3-nanometer A18 Pro chip with a 16-core neural engine, the phone comes with unique features like faster ray tracing, pro res video recording and quicker USB transfers. The phone now has a 48MP Fusion Camera and a 48MP ultra-wide camera with a 5x telephoto camera. The phone now offers more professional photographic and creative styles before and after capture. Plus 4K 120 frames per second bring cinematic slow motion to the iPhone 16 Pro phones. From studio-quality mics to new sound editing, the iPhone 16 Pro brings in audio capabilities rare in smartphones.

The Watch Series 10 uses the accelerometer to monitor a new metric during sleep called breathing disturbances. (Image: Apple)

Apple Watch Series 10

The Apple Watch Series 10 has the “biggest display and thinnest design ever” in the wearable segment for Apple with its first wide-angle OLED display. It is built using polished titanium, making it lighter than earlier models. It is also the fastest-charging Apple Watch ever and is powered by the new S10 processor. Dr Sumbul Ahmed Desai, Apple’s vice president of health, said the watch now comes with new Sleep Apnea detection capabilities using the “accelerometer to monitor a new metric during sleep called breathing disturbances”.

New AirPods

Apple also launched a new generation of the popular AirPods range with noise cancellation, adaptive audio and transparency modes coming to the base models of the new AirPods4. AirPods Max has been updated with new colours and USB-C charging. The AirPods Pro, meanwhile, gets new health features including hearing protection which will be on by default, hearing test results and a hearing aid features to help those with hearing loss.

The writer is in California on the invite of Apple.

iPhone 16 series, Apple Watch Series 10, AirPods 4: India prices