Apple Unveils iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max at 'Glowtime' Event: Bigger Screens, Faster Performance, and New Camera Control Button
At
its "Glowtime" special event, Apple introduced the iPhone 16 Pro and
iPhone 16 Pro Max, featuring larger displays, significantly faster
performance, and a new Camera Control button.
As in previous years,
Apple has released two Pro-level iPhones. While the iPhone 16 Pro and
Pro Max share many of the same features, their key difference lies in
size. This year, the iPhone 16 Pro boasts a 6.3-inch display, and the
Pro Max has increased from 6.7 inches to an impressive 6.9 inches.
The new iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max come equipped with larger Super Retina XDR OLED displays and thinner bezels, providing a more immersive viewing experience. Apple has also introduced a machined chassis with a graphite-clad substructure for improved thermal management.
These OLED displays support HDR, True Tone, ProMotion, and P3 color, offering a 2-million-to-1 contrast ratio. Outdoors, the screens can reach up to 2,000 nits of brightness, ensuring excellent visibility even in bright sunlight.
The iPhone 16 Pro's 6.3-inch display features a resolution of 2,622 x 1,206, while the Pro Max’s 6.9-inch screen boasts 2,868 x 1,320. Both offer a sharp pixel density of 460ppi, delivering stunning clarity.
At the top of the screen is a punch-hole camera, seamlessly integrated into the Dynamic Island UI, housing a 12MP TrueDepth Camera for Face ID.
Following the iPhone 15 Pro series, the Action Button returns, replacing the traditional switch and adding more functionality.
The iPhone 16 Pro models feature a new capacitive Camera Control button, offering a seamless way to launch and control the camera. Users can press to shoot or slide their finger to adjust the zoom level, along with accessing enhanced Apple Intelligence features.
Powered by the A18 Pro chip, built on a 3-nanometer process, the iPhone 16 Pro is 15% faster than the previous generation. The six-core CPU includes two performance cores and four efficiency cores, delivering more power while using 20% less energy. The six-core GPU is 20% faster than the A17 Pro, and ray tracing is now twice as fast. Additionally, the 8GB of memory and the 16-core Neural Engine boost memory bandwidth by 17%, enhancing onboard Apple Intelligence and AI-driven features.
On the rear, the iPhone 16 Pro retains the familiar triple-camera system within a square bump. The Main camera, now called the Fusion camera, still features a 48MP sensor capable of shooting 24MP photos through pixel binning. A virtual 2x zoom is achieved by cropping the sensor.
The Ultra Wide camera has been upgraded to the same resolution as the Fusion camera, improving macro photography. With a new image signal processor and video decoder, which are twice as fast as those in the A17 Pro, the iPhone 16 Pro takes photo and video performance to the next level.
This combination of hardware upgrades and intelligent software makes the iPhone 16 Pro a powerful device for photography, gaming, and more.
The iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max bring notable upgrades to the Telephoto camera, which still uses a 12MP sensor but now features Apple's Tetraprism lens on both models. This enhancement delivers a 5x telephoto optical zoom, a significant improvement over previous versions.
The video performance of the iPhone 16 Pro has also been enhanced, supporting 4K video at 120fps. This includes ProRes recording to external hard drives for professional-grade footage. Additionally, users can adjust playback speeds of 120fps footage directly in the Photos app, offering more control over their video content.
A significant audio upgrade comes with four microphones featuring a lower noise floor, improving clarity in recordings. The addition of Spatial Audio capture takes video recording to a new level, allowing for immersive sound experiences. New audio mixing features enable users to isolate or blend the subject's audio with background music. A future update to Voice Memos in 2024 will introduce two-track recording.
The iPhone 16 Pro continues with USB-C support at 10Gbps speeds, alongside MagSafe wireless charging up to 25W. It now supports Qi2 charging standards, making it more versatile for wireless charging. Connectivity upgrades include Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.3, while the second-generation Ultra Wideband chip ensures precise AirTag tracking.
Preorders for the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max will begin on Friday, with shipments starting on September 20.