The iPhone 16 will probably be formally unveiled at the moment however I will probably be holding out for the iPhone 17.
Whereas the improvements within the Professional fashions are minor in comparison with their predecessors and are solely prone to curiosity die-hard iPhone followers, the conventional iPhone 16 at the very least has a small redesign of the digicam on the again.
They will even now have the motion button that Apple gave the 2 Professional fashions in 2023. If you happen to’re a fan of wealthy colors, you’re in luck right here too. Each fashions will even get a brand new digicam button.
Software program earlier than {hardware}
The massive promoting level of the iPhone 16 this yr is the software program. And it’s not even about fairly gimmicks that conceal {hardware} design selections, nonetheless intelligent and helpful they might be. (This in fact refers back to the Dynamic Island, which makes the digicam and sensor system within the oval of the display screen helpful past its precise perform).
No, this time it’s about actual software program. It’s about AI and wise makes use of for it. As is so usually the case, Apple is a little bit behind the curve with regards to the most well liked trade traits. What makes the scenario even stranger is that Apple was the primary firm to combine cores particularly for processing AI features into its cell chips – the Neural Engine.
Apple Intelligence and the EU directives of terror
The announcement of Apple Intelligence at WWDC 2024 in June got here as a bombshell.
AI integrations so far as the attention can see. Clever summaries of messages, emails, web sites, writing aids for higher expression and magnificence, revised Siri with context consciousness, AI-supported picture retouching… and rather more.
Within the USA, the drumbeat was initially heard loud and clear, however was toned down considerably when Apple defined that Apple Intelligence wouldn’t be obtainable on the launch of the iPhone 16 and that the introduced features can be step by step distributed nicely into subsequent yr.
Throughout the Atlantic, the drumbeat died away fully and by no means actually reached Europe.
It’s because Apple Intelligence will initially solely be obtainable in US English, with different languages coming… sooner or later. Maybe on the finish of the yr, in all probability not till 2025, however Apple has not given us any concrete particulars.
After which there’s the EU problem, the place Apple is actively locking out iPhone and iPad customers with the previous chestnut: there are fears that rules within the EU, together with the Digital Markets Act (DMA), might undermine Apple’s safety and knowledge safety precautions. (Macs are excluded from the DMA.)
In the end, nonetheless, Apple should discover a answer, as a result of this market is simply too vital to be left to Google Gemini, Samsung AI and Chat-GPT.
Fairly uninteresting within the EU
And that is the issue with the iPhone 16, whether or not Professional or not: till Apple Intelligence is launched within the EU within the respective nationwide languages, it’s only marginally extra fascinating than the iPhone 15, iPhone 14 and, if you happen to flip a blind eye, even the iPhone 13 sequence.
A lot of the regular new options of iOS 18 – customisations to the house display screen, for instance – will even be obtainable on barely older, weaker iPhones such because the iPhone SE from 2022, however not Apple Intelligence. Nonetheless, as Apple Intelligence itself is not going to arrive till later, the iPhone 16 lacks the decisive benefit over the older generations in our longitudes.
Higher to attend for the iPhone 17
So except your present iPhone is falling aside, is excluded from the iOS 18 replace as a result of its age or you’re switching from Android to iPhone, there isn’t a cause to purchase the iPhone 16 – particularly for homeowners of an iPhone 15 Professional or 15 Professional Max like me.
If I had to purchase a brand new iPhone, I’d sit out this yr and look forward to iPhone 17 – hoping that Apple Intelligence will probably be obtainable within the EU and in German by then.
And if not, you’ll hear from me subsequent yr when it’s as soon as once more: “That’s why I’d moderately look forward to the iPhone 18”.
This text initially appeared on our sister publication Macwelt and was translated and tailored from German.