Apple has just concluded its “Its Glowtime” Event wherein it introduced the latest Apple Watch Series 10, AirPods 4, and the latest iPhone 16, 16 Plus, 16 Pro, and 16 Pro Max.
The iPhone 16 and 16 Plus now come with a customizable Action Button, Camera Control, and are powered by the all-new A18 chip with support for Apple Intelligence.
iPhone 16 and 16 Plus
The iPhone 16 and 16 Plus are built around 6.1-inch and 6.7-inch Super Retina XDR displays with OLED and Dynamic Island, respectively. The front is also protected by the latest-generation Ceramic Shield that is said to be 2x tougher than glass on any other smartphone.
The duo also comes with a customizable Action button that by default switches between Ring and Silent mode but it can open the camera, flashlight, or controls. Moreover, it can recognize music with Shazam, activate Voice Memos, Focus, Translate, and more.
In addition to the Action button, the latest iPhones introduce Camera Control which allows you to open the Camera, adjust settings like zoom, and take photos. It’s a flush button with haptic feedback and supports touch controls. The latter is what allows you to go through settings like Zoom and Photographic Styles.
While we’re on the topic of the camera, the duo features a 48MP Fusion camera with a 2x optical-quality Telephoto option. It allows 2x capture by using the 12MP center of the sensor. This is accompanied by a 12MP ultrawide lens with autofocus and doubles as a macro camera. Apple also announced that the latest iPhones feature Spatial Capture and Spatial photos.
Under the hood, the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus features the latest A18 chipset built for Apple Intelligence and on the 3nm second-generation technology. The chip has a 6-core CPU, a 5-core GPU, and a 16-core Neural Engine,
The 6-core CPU is comprised of 2 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores that are said to be 30% faster than the A16 Bionic chip. The 5-core GPU, on the other hand, is 40% faster and 35% more efficient than the A16 Bionic. The GPU also allows you to enjoy AAA games and new titles like Honor of Kings: World.
The 16-core Neural Engine is said to be 2x faster than the A16 Bionic chip and optimized for large generative models.
The new chip supports AI-powered features like the new Clean Up tool for your photos, systemwide Writing Tools built into iOS 18, summarized notifications, and even improved Siri. Among the upgrades to Siri include a more natural, relevant, and personal assistant that can follow along even when you stumble over words and now has on-screen awareness.
Other features include being able to create your own emojis based on your description and visual intelligence. The latter now lets you learn the menu of a new restaurant or the breed of a dog by taking a photo or event have ChatGPT summarize your notes. Visual intelligence will be introduced later this year via a free update.
Pricing and Availability
The iPhone 16 and 16 Plus come in five colors – Black, White, Pink, Teal, and Ultramarine. In the Philippines, the duo are priced at:
iPhone 16
- 128GB – PHP 54,990
- 256GB – PHP 61,990
- 512GB – PHP 73,990
iPhone 16 Plus
- 128GB – PHP 62,990
- 256GB – PHP 69,990
- 512GB – PHP 81,990
Local availability will be announced at a later date though.
Ram found his love and appreciation for writing in 2015 having started in the gaming and esports sphere for GG Network. He would then transition to focus more on the world of tech which has also began his journey into learning more about this world. That said though, he still has the mentality of "as long as it works" for his personal gadgets.
