It is Not Brown, It is Desert Titanium

I spent the final yr recapping iPhone 16 rumors, and immediately, every little thing was lastly revealed at Apple’s Glowtime Event. Many of the rumors we lined 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 Digicam Management button, which helps you to flip over the system and fake 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 might see somebody in Palm Springs sporting 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 technology’s lineup is the Digicam Management button I discussed earlier. Contemplating we’re already speaking concerning 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 Digicam Seize button

It was arduous 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 regarded costly. Desert titanium appears to be like like gold from afar, and that’s due to the goldish border across the chassis. That precise bottom of the cellphone is extra of the sort of golden beige you’d put on someplace like Demise Valley or the Sahara desert. I didn’t assume the colour brown might be this game-changing, however there you have got it. Apple made historical past. There’s additionally black titanium, pure titanium, and white titanium if that’s not your type.

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 individuals in contrast them to the colourful array of the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus. Nonetheless, the colour on the again doesn’t should be eye-catching when an organization sells a cellphone 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 appears to be like rather more put collectively than the earlier stovetop with simply two lenses. The Motion Button and Digicam 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 making an attempt to hone in on the message that its smartphones are the cameras to beat, therefore the Digicam Seize button. I received to demo it briefly, although it was Apple staff doing the tapping for me. The Digicam Seize’s taptic button means it will possibly sense once you soft-press or absolutely press it. It might additionally really feel your finger slide from left to proper to cycle via 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.

Greater is best

One other development I seen through the Glowtime occasion is that Apple’s system lineup is getting greater whilst people yearn for smaller telephones. The iPhone 16 Professional and Professional Max are 6.3 and 6.9 inches, respectively, every a couple of factors bigger than earlier than. However since these are professional-level telephones, they need to be greater to offer you extra room to edit, pan, slide, and scroll via no matter work or mission 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 gadgets 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 refined enhancing 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 assessment items in, we’ll be particularly curious to see if the thermal work Apple did contained in the cellphone interprets to the skin. Just a few individuals round me within the viewers had been muttering about how their iPhone 15 Execs had been too heat to deal with after some time. I’ll even be curious concerning the Spatial Video that the iPhone 16 can take and whether or not there’s a technique to translate that content material outdoors of the Imaginative and prescient Professional atmosphere 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 Digicam 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.