Big change to new iPhone that’s hard to miss
Apple’s new iPhone 16 series will be made available to the Australian public today — and there’s a big change that’s hard to miss.
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On Friday morning, crowds will be flocking to Apple stores to get their hands on the new iPhone 16 series and other new tech from Apple.
I was lucky enough to get my hands on the new iPhone on Thursday afternoon, and there’s one big change that I reckon will prove to be a hit.
I’ve just had it for one night, but I wanted to give you my first impressions before it hits the market.
What’s new that’s available today
On offer is the suite of new phones: iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max.
In terms of audio, there’s the new AirPods 4, AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation and new-look AirPods max.
And when it comes to the wrist, there’s a new Apple Watch Series 10 and a new-look Apple Watch Ultra 2 will also be available to the Australian public today.
New button on iPhone 16 Pro Max
The first thing you’ll notice on the new iPhone 16 Pro Max is an extra button.
Camera Control is more than just a gimmick, and I think it’s going to prove extremely useful.
It’s located on the bottom right side of the phone, close to where your thumb normally rests.
A press of the button quickly brings up the camera. Taking photos is one of the most common things people do with phones, so having a shortcut to the camera is welcome.
But it actually does more than that. Once the camera is open, you can half press the button to bring up zoom options.
In horizontal mode, it feels very much like a digital camera as you zoom in and out with your right forefinger.
A double light press opens up the pro settings, allowing you to easily change depth, exposure, style and tone.
I particularly like the position of the button and it feels natural to use when taking photos.
An upgrade is coming soon which will allow a two-stage shutter to automatically lock focus and exposure on a subject with a light press.
Third party developers are also working on new ways to use the button.
The iPhone is starting to feel more like a camera with a phone than a phone with a camera.
Action button
The Action button has been retained from the iPhone 15 Pro and is now part of all phones in the iPhone 16 series.
This will be a new experience for a lot of iPhone users so I’ll give it a quick rundown.
It’s essentially an “everything button”, in that you can customise it to how you want to use your phone.
Options for the Action button include Silent Mode, Focus (silences notifications and filters out distractions), camera (not needed now we have Camera Control), Torch, Voice Memo, Recognise Music (Shazam), Shortcut (to open an app), Translate, Magnifier (which turns the phone into a magnifying glass), Translate (translates English into foreign languages) and Controls (a way to access key controls).
Camera - everything is new
This brings me to the new camera system, which has had a major upgrade.
Apple calls the main new set-up a 48MP fusion camera, powered by the new A18 Pro chip (this is purpose built for the new AI Apple Intelligence which is expected in Australia in December).
It’s supposed to read data about twice as fast as previous models.
There’s also a 48MP Ultra Wide camera and a 5x Telephoto camera.
The 48MP Fusion camera is equipped with a quad-pixel sensor, which is supposed to give you “two optical-quality cameras in one”.
The phone can record 4K120 fps video in Dolby Vision, at the best resolution and frame-rate ever on an iPhone.
Using this, you can adjust the playback speed after the video has been captured, slowing it right down from, for example 120fps to a very slow 24 fps.
There’s also zero shutter lag for 48MP ProRAW or HEIF photos — meaning what you see in the preview is actually what you’ll get in the image. It’s also better for capturing moving objects, which is always a challenge.
Another cool feature is Spacial Mode.
This allows for photos and video to be taken with depth for viewing in the Photos app on the Apple Vision Pro. I don’t currently have the Apple Vision Pro so I couldn’t test it, but I like the concept.
In terms of audio capture, there’s new hardware and software, with four studio-quality mics.
Even from the quick play-around I had tonight, it’s clear the camera system is one of the best around and the video may be unmatched.
A different look
The iPhone 16 Pro Max is made from super-light Grade 5 titanium (think spacecraft) and the colours include black, natural, white, and desert.
The iPhone 16 Pro phones are the thinnest bezels (border) of any Apple product and the iPhone 16 Pro Max has the biggest display on an iPhone ever.
I’m consuming a lot of media on my phone, as well as doing professional work, so the bigger, the better.
You can definitely notice the difference.
The new iOS 18 gives people a lot of options to customise the phone as well, giving it a unique look.
In terms of the specs the 16 Pro Max is the top of the line, as you’d expect from a flagship.
You can get it with 1TB, enough to store about 250,000 photos or enough movies to watch continuously for 20 days.
It has the A18 Pro Chip, a 16-core Neural Engine and 6-core CPU and GPU.
Smaller transistors mean it is more energy efficient, which combined with a larger battery, means about four more hours of video playback, giving in the best battery life of any iPhone in history.
Early indications are that this is the phone for people who want a top-notch camera and all the perks of one of the most souped-up iPhones in history.
Apple Watch Series 10
I’ve also had a look at the new Apple Watch Series 10, which this year has a more square design.
It’s had a redesign focused on wearability, readability and usability, available in both 42mm and 46mm
It’s thinner and lighter than the previous watches, which is noticeable, as every gram on your wrist matters.
I ended up with the Sport Loop band, which is perfect for me as I often struggle to have a watch fit snugly.
In my opinion, the best thing about the watch is thanks to the increased refresh rate. Rather than every minute, it now refreshes every second, so you can actually see the seconds ticking away (reminder, the average person lives about 2 billion seconds so make the most of them!)
This means you can have funky watch faces. One that caught my eye shows a line slowly climbing past the hours and minutes.
Charging the watch is fast. About 30 minutes takes it from empty to 80 per cent. This is great for people who want to give it a boost during the day so they can get the benefits of sleep-monitoring.
The smart stack is now better at working out what to display, which is good because you don’t want to be fiddling around with it too much.
And for the first time, you can actually listen to media on your watch (like a song or podcast). It’s not massively loud, but it’s good enough.
And when you make calls, the voice isolation is better at eliminating background noise.
There’s also a new depth gauge, temperature sensors and a tides app for fisherman and surfers, handy for people who live near the beach (but you won’t catch me near the water at this time of year).
For me, it’s the better refresh rate and larger screen that are the best improvements.
AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation
You can get either the AirPods 4 or the AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation.
I would definitely lean towards the headphones with noise cancellation.
I tried it out and the tech is pretty amazing. When you put these on, you can have a loud aircraft sound played in the background and it pretty much cuts it all out.
This would be useful for flights, or other noisy situations like a morning commute on public transport.
Apparently Apple looked at 50 million ears (data points) and analysed the best way to design the new AirPods 4.
They certainly fit well in my ear.
My overall thoughts
Apple has brought some impressive new tech to the table this year.
There’s a new button on the iPhone, which is actually useful.
The camera system is also another level up.
The watch is fancier, and better and the noise cancellation on the AirPods is incredible.
As you probably noticed, I used the phrase “the best ever” a few times, which is definitely want consumers want to see.
Originally published as Big change to new iPhone that’s hard to miss
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