Updated September 8 with details on Apple’s AI delay.
Tim Cook’s subtle showmanship will be in full flow this Monday at Apple’s Glowtime event. The launch of this year’s iPhone range will take place in front of an undoubtedly delighted crowd in the Steve Jobs Theater, as Cook’s team presents features that will deliver “in a way that only Apple can.”
But they are just phones.
Apple does not have exclusivity in innovation or in the debut of new technology in the market. In the current market, countless alternatives offer a better experience, a more robust offering, and more capabilities than the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro.
Of course, if you are locked into Apple’s ecosystem, have invested thousands of dollars in apps, services and subscriptions, and if your other digital hardware is also from Apple, there’s only one game in town. To experience new smartphone technology, you must wait for Apple to decide the right time.
For many, “just a phone” is enough. The capabilities of modern smartphones ensure that no matter the platform or manufacturer you choose, the basics will always be there. That includes the iPhone. I’m not looking at this grouping. I’m looking at the high frontier. I’m looking at innovation, experimentation, and evolution. I’m looking at the cutting edge of mobile communications. There are more voices than Apple.
Take three features of the iPhone 16 family that Apple will use as the big selling points: artificial intelligence, increased zoom, and the new capture button. Not only are all of these available in competing devices, they also have been through multiple iterations over many years.
Google launched 2023’s Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro smartphones as the first AI smartphones. Since then, you have had generative AI suites released by the major manufacturers —Samsung’s Galaxy AI is probably the largest by user base—and as we enter a new smartphone cycle, we will be seing the second generation of AI software and hardware coming through. Google’s recent Pixel 9 event brought Gemini AI and a new raft of AI-powered tools to the Android platform.
The awkwardly backronymed Apple Intelligence will not be available at the iPhone 16 launch. Instead, a subset of features will arrive in October, ChatGPT is scheduled “before the end of the year”, and the full sweep of first-generation AI will not be in place until March, some fifteen months after Android.
Update: Sunday September 8:
Writing for the Power On newsletter, Mark Gurman reports that Apple has delayed more sections of its generative AI platform:
“The new Apple Intelligence tools will indeed be a big part of Monday’s launch event for the iPhone 16. But it also will become increasingly clear that consumers will have to wait for the best features.”
The first release will focus on summarizing texts, such as notifications and web content, AI-powered editing tools for photos, and phone call transcription. The most well-known AI feature—at least by consumers—is the text generation engine of ChatGPT. While this will be part of Apple Intelligence, Gurman reiterated the late December window for a potential release.
In between the implementation issues of Apple Intelligence itself, Apple will have to contend with the Digital Markets Act and the potential that the implementation may be seen as anti-competitive. This means that when Apple Intelligence does launch, it will not be available in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Sweden.
While rivals continue to innovate and gather anonymised data from millions of users, when Apple finally decides to join the AI race it will be years behind.
Apple debuted a folding periscope lens on the iPhone 15 Pro Max last year and will be bringing this to the iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max this year. Optical zoom offers far more clarity and fidelity than digital zoom, which manufacturers have chased for many years. Apple’s 2023 debut of the folding lens technology in 2023 came three years after the first smartphone lenses from Huawei and Xiaomi. Samsung and Google both joined the party in 2021.
Last year’s programmable action button on the 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max will be available across the full range of iPhone 16 and 16 Pro models, along with an additional Capture Button that supports the camera. Physical buttons and sliders have long been a staple of phone design. You have Samsung’s Bixby button, OnePlus’ alert slider, Sony’s camera shutter buttons, and more.
Innovations found in the Android world feel years ahead of Apple’s efforts. The current generation of foldable phones reaching the mainstream have iterated from the first narrow-bodied devices to today’s designs that can be easily mistaken for a regular phone when closed, but open up to the near nine-inch screens of the Honour Magic V3 or Pixel 9 Pro Fold.
Android devices are putting more emphasis on easy repair and replacement not just by first- and third-party repair centres but also by users who want to have the option to replace parts on their own smartphones rather than pay a hefty premium having a sealed unit broken open to replace a simple component. Fairphone has been leading the way for many years, and HMD’s new Skyline handset makes repairability a strong selling point.
While they may not pick up as many titles as Sony or Nintendo consoles, smartphone gaming is a vast market. Still, it’s noticeable that the big titles are predominantly targeted to Android. It’s no wonder specialist gaming handsets can be found in a wide variety of Android handsets. Handsets are specifically tailored to gaming needs for fast-reacting and refreshing screens, shoulder buttons, active cooling, and increased processing power. The all-around phone will be used for casual gaming, but for those who need the edge, there are phones explicitly designed for their needs.
When Tim Cook and his team take to the stage at Monday’s Glowtime event, they will tell their story of challenge and adversity to bring you the best iPhone and new features in a way that only Apple can. Every manufacturer tells the same story; no phone launch would be complete without these moments.
The iPhone 16 family is not an isolated case that stands apart and atop the rest of the smartphone market. It does not dominate the market, nor does it monopolise all of the best features. The blend of software and services that make up iOS has created a phone beloved by the user base, but it is not the only all-rounder smartphone that delivers a good browser, solid connectivity, and a well-populated library of third-party apps.
Apple’s iPhone is not the one smartphone that rules them all. The iPhone represents the right choice for some people, and there are better choices for others. When Tim Cook takes to the stage to tell the story of the iPhone 16 family, remember it is just one in a sea of many.
Now read more about the iPhone 17 and how Apple plans to reduce its reliance on Qualcomm…
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