Posts tagged with "iPhone 16"

After Five Years of Pro iPhones, I’m Going iPhone 16 Plus This Year

My iPhone 16 Plus.

My iPhone 16 Plus.

If you asked me two weeks ago which iPhone model I’d be getting this year, I would have answered without hesitation: my plan was to get an iPhone 16 Pro Max and continue the tradition of the past five years. I’ve been using the largest possible iPhone since the XS Max and have bought the ‘Pro Max’ flavor ever since it was introduced with the iPhone 11 Pro Max in 2019. For the past five years, I’ve upgraded to a Pro Max iPhone model every September.

And the thing is, I did buy an iPhone 16 Pro Max this year, too. But I’ve decided to return it and go with the iPhone 16 Plus instead. Not only do I think that is the most reasonable decision for my needs given this year’s iPhone lineup, but I also believe this “downgrade” is making me appreciate my new iPhone a lot more.

It all comes down to a simple idea: fun.

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iFixit’s Teardowns of the iPhone 16 Lineup Reveal Improved Battery Replaceability and More→

iFixit has released the results of its teardowns of the iPhone 16 lineup. I love these posts because not only do they provide insights into the repairability of the new iPhones, but they also answer interesting questions like:

  • Is the Cameral Control button a physical button?
  • How has Apple changed the way it is managing the heat generated by the Neural Engine?
  • How do the batteries differ between iPhone models?

However, this year, perhaps the most interesting discovery in all models of the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro lines is the use of a new battery adhesive:

The adhesive that secures the battery, in the vanilla and Plus models, is this fancy new sticky stuff that can debond when you pass an electrical current through it. That means no more reliance on finicky, brittle adhesive strips, just a consistent, easily repeatable process.

The post goes in-depth on just how simple it is to remove the battery using tools as simple as a 9-volt battery and alligator clips.

The ease with which the battery can be replaced in the iPhone 16 line went a long way in the repairability score iFixit bestowed on the devices this year. Whereas the iPhone 15 received a score of four out of ten, the iPhone 16 received a seven, a significant year-over-year increase.

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Apple Opens Up About Language Support for Apple Intelligence→

Apple previously said Apple Intelligence will launch with support for U.S. English only, but other languages will be added over the next year. The company has gotten a little more specific than before with statements to The Verge and others that, over the next year, additional languages will include:

  • German
  • Italian
  • Korean
  • Portuguese
  • Vietnamese
  • and others

In addition, according to Allison Johnson at The Verge:

Apple’s AI feature set will expand to include localized English in the UK, Canada, Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand in December, with India and Singapore joining the mix next year. The company already announced plans to support Chinese, French, Japanese, and Spanish next year as well.

It’s good to see Apple becoming more open with information about its plans for Apple Intelligence language support. The iPhone 16 will be out this Friday, and Apple Intelligence’s language support will undoubtedly be a factor for many customers considering whether to upgrade to the latest model.

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Maybe I’m Not a Pro Anymore

Apple just wrapped up their September event revealing a bunch of updates to the Apple Watch, AirPods, and iPhone lineups, and I have only one major takeaway as a person who was absolutely, positively going to get the iPhone 16 Pro if it came in gold: I am seriously considering downgrading to the non-Pro iPhone 16 this time around. 

I’ve been an iPhone Pro user since it was first announced — and in some ways even earlier if we consider the iPhone X to be the first true Pro iPhone when it was released alongside the 8. I always went Pro because I take a huge amount of photos with my phone and, despite currently owning four dedicated photography cameras, none beat the ease of use, access, and versatility of the iPhone. It made sense to use the best camera system available. In a lot of ways, I credit the Pro models with keeping me interested in photography throughout all these years, and learning to utilize the different lenses for different scenes and subjects has felt like learning a skill, like the iPhone Pro was helping me become a pro. I truly believe a lot of those skills transferred directly to the photography I create today.

I read a piece by Allison Johnson over the weekend about the base iPhone experience that resonated with me. She wrote:

At the very least, it looks like Apple is about to bring a little more balance back with the iPhone 16 series. I think that’s how it should be — the Pro iPhone should feel like you’re getting something extra, not being cornered into paying more for an essential feature.

It occurred to me watching today’s presentation that this is the first year where the iPhone’s Pro models feel like they were actually made for professionals. The “extras” Allison is referring to used to be the marquee features of the newest lineup — the Dynamic Island, the Action button, etc — but are now seriously professional features. The latest additions and the reasoning behind their inclusion all felt completely alien to me. I kept wondering: how many people will actually use camera options like the ability to dynamically shift the audio mix while recording in ProRes or capturing 4K content in slow motion to use for a music video? It became clear that the reach of what “Pro” means to Apple has outpaced my own photographic use case. I simply went with the Pro models year after year because I liked having a third lens in my kit and also got some kind of fun bonus feature to mess around with, but I don’t think that’s enough of a reason to justify the jump anymore. And that’s okay!

The base iPhone lineup seems to have pretty much everything I could ever need this time around — including the dedicated Camera Control button and the more fun colors I’ve always been so envious of — so the idea of downgrading seems almost prudent despite being a nonstarter for me as early as this very morning. I think I can be perfectly happy with one less lens and Halide’s Process Zero to keep experimenting with. And maybe the limitation of having one less lens will help me grow as a photographer in an entirely new way this time around. That would be nice!

I’m legitimately very happy for the people out there who will get the iPhone 16 Pro and make use of the latest and greatest Apple’s incredible product design teams have to offer, but I think it’s finally time I step down from the precipice of what the iPhone is capable of. In some ways, it feels simpler now, and the “Pro” name has the weight it should have all along. No artificial reasoning behind which features make it to which device, just one iPhone for the people who need it and one iPhone for the rest of us.

I’m fine being lumped into that second bucket this time around.

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