It is Not Brown, It is Desert Titanium

I spent the final yr recapping iPhone 16 rumors, and at the moment, every thing was lastly revealed at Apple’s Glowtime Event. Many of the rumors we coated turned out to be true. The iPhone 16 did get a stacked digicam system on the again, plus the iPhone 15 Professional’s Motion Button. The iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Professional have a Digital camera Management button, which helps you to flip over the gadget and faux it’s a point-and-shoot digicam. And yep, the iPhone 16 Professional is available in bronze. It’s not brown like initially reported, and we’re all thrilled about it. Apple calls it “desert titanium,” and certainly, I may see somebody in Palm Springs carrying this shade of solar tan. 

I went hands-on with the iPhone 16 Professional on this new colour and the iPhone 16 in its new colours, particularly teal and pink. Essentially the most important change to this era’s lineup is the Digital camera Management button I discussed earlier. Contemplating we’re already speaking in regards to the iPhone 17 going buttonless, it’s a curious addition. The “taptic” button is a little bit complicated to make use of at first.

iPhone 16 and the Digital camera Seize button

It was laborious getting my palms on the desert titanium iPhone 16 Professional. This was a well-liked colour on the demonstration ground on the Steve Jobs Theater at Apple Park, in all probability as a result of it simply appeared costly. Desert titanium seems to be like gold from afar, and that’s due to the goldish border across the chassis. That precise bottom of the telephone is extra of the form of golden beige you’d put on someplace like Demise Valley or the Sahara desert. I didn’t assume the colour brown may very well be this game-changing, however there you’ve it. Apple made historical past. There’s additionally black titanium, pure titanium, and white titanium if that’s not your model.

In all sincerity, Apple’s tackle the Professional is that it’s so skilled at what it does that it’s all the time dressed for the job, therefore the muted backsides, which I’ve seen complained about on Threads and elsewhere as folks in contrast them to the colourful array of the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus. Nevertheless, the colour on the again doesn’t have to be eye-catching when an organization sells a telephone that begins at $1,000 and claims Hollywood-caliber video recording capabilities.

Talking of which, the iPhone 16’s new colorways are, in truth, eye-catching. They’re vibrant up shut and from afar. I’m additionally digging the brand new stacked digicam array. It seems to be way more put collectively than the earlier stovetop with simply two lenses. The Motion Button and Digital camera Seize button are there, in the identical colour as the remainder of the iPhone 16. This yr contains black, white, pink, teal, and ultramarine (blue).

Apple is attempting to hone in on the message that its smartphones are the cameras to beat, therefore the Digital camera Seize button. I acquired to demo it briefly, although it was Apple staff doing the tapping for me. The Digital camera Seize’s taptic button means it will probably sense while you soft-press or absolutely press it. It will possibly additionally really feel your finger slide from left to proper to cycle by means of menu choices or zoom. It really works precisely the way you assume it would, and in that break up second, it felt simply as delicate because the W/T did again within the Handycam days.

Larger is healthier

One other development I observed in the course of the Glowtime occasion is that Apple’s gadget lineup is getting greater at the same time as people yearn for smaller telephones. The iPhone 16 Professional and Professional Max are 6.3 and 6.9 inches, respectively, every just a few factors bigger than earlier than. However since these are professional-level telephones, they need to be greater to provide you extra room to edit, pan, slide, and scroll by means of no matter work or undertaking is at hand. I nonetheless desire the smaller iPhone 16 Professional to the Professional Max. And this yr, you don’t need to compromise on optical zoom by selecting between the Professional and the Professional Max. It’s 5x optical zoom between each units this time round.

Apple Intelligence is coming

I do know you wish to see extra of Apple Intelligence in motion. I do, too, however we’re nonetheless ready for it to roll out. I noticed extra subtle modifying options between the iPhone 16 and 16 Professional lineups. However I didn’t see any generative textual content, ChatGPT magic, or something like that. That’s on the way in which next month.

Once we get the iPhone 16 evaluate models in, we’ll be particularly curious to see if the thermal work Apple did contained in the telephone interprets to the skin. A number of folks round me within the viewers have been muttering about how their iPhone 15 Professionals have been too heat to deal with after some time. I’ll even be curious in regards to the Spatial Video that the iPhone 16 can take and whether or not there’s a option to translate that content material outdoors of the Imaginative and prescient Professional surroundings in order that it’s not simply restricted to Apple’s product lineup.

If you wish to be among the many first to don a Digital camera Seize button, you’ll be able to pre-order the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Professional later this week. It formally launches on Sept. 20.