00:00:00
- [Tim] A widescreen
iPod with touch controls,
00:00:03
a revolutionary mobile phone,
00:00:05
and a breakthrough internet
communications device.
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(energetic music)
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(phone vibrating)
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Profound new intelligence capabilities
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that will make our platforms even smarter.
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- So this is the iPhone 16,
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and this is the iPhone 16 Pro.
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Brand new, and I've been testing them
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for about two weeks now.
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But you know what I've been
doing way longer than two weeks?
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Working on a new app that
we are finally launching.
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You guys have always been asking me
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where I get my wallpapers.
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Like, it's frequently the number
one suggested search result
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under my name, has been for years.
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So now we've put them all in one place.
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It's called Panels.
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And it's finally live in the App Store,
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both on iOS and on Android.
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Feels really good to be able to say that.
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So if you're wondering where
the wallpaper on these phones
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in the review came from, Panels.
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If you're wondering where the wallpaper
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in the last video came from, Panels.
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Matter of fact, almost all of
the wallpapers on the devices
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and in backgrounds
you've seen in my videos
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for the past year have
all come from Panels,
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which is pretty sick.
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We have a bunch of
awesome artists over there
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that we are splitting profits with 50-50.
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And there's already a ton
of great collections of art
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and much more incoming.
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And we have some pretty
big plans for this thing.
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So it's starting off
as a wallpaper app now.
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I don't want to over promise too much,
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but it's going to be pretty
consistently improving
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over time, which is part of the reason why
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we're offering a
subscription to support it.
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So go pick it up now.
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Poke around, find your
new favorite wallpaper,
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your new favorite artist, and
lemme know what you think.
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It's kind of fun to be
on the other side now,
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on the development side,
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where now other people are
gonna review what we make,
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which is always exciting.
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Anyway, so the meta with
new smartphones these days
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is a bunch of incremental
hardware improvements
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and then a whole bunch of AI features
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that also are being added on top,
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which is where the real value is.
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And while they're a
little late to the game,
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Apple has hit that chapter
too with the iPhone,
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whether we like it or not.
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So the iPhone 16 is a minor,
minor update over the 15,
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but with a ton of new AI stuff
labeled Apple Intelligence.
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Except that stuff's not here
yet, which is a little awkward
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considering basically all of
the marketing for this phone
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is Apple Intelligence stuff.
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Like, I've seen billboards touting that
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as the new thing here.
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Their whole event was
about how it's Glowtime,
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which is a reference to the
new glowing Siri animation.
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But none of that stuff is
on this phone, none of it.
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So the only way to square the
state of this phone right now
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with everything Apple
has said about this phone
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is that it's unfinished.
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Like, this is the most unfinished
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I've ever seen a new iPhone launch.
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So until we actually have all
that Apple Intelligence stuff,
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we are left with a very
incremental upgrade cycle.
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(cheerful music)
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So there's not a lot
actually physically new
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with this year's iPhone,
but it's not nothing.
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So the iPhone 16 looks a little different
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from the iPhone 15.
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There was a moment in
time not that long ago
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where Apple removed the headphone jack,
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and then there was a ton of speculation
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about them maybe removing all
the ports and all the buttons.
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But instead it's gone the opposite way
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and they've added the action
button from last year's Pros
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and yet another button
called Camera Control,
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which we'll get to in a second.
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Aesthetically, though,
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there are some really poppy new colors
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and slightly larger protruding cameras
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lined up on the back of the phone.
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And, okay, I know everyone
puts a case on their phone,
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so this is probably nothing,
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but I think this is the
wobbliest slab phone
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I have ever seen, or at
least that I can remember.
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But either way, the rest of the
general shape and flat sides
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and dimensions of this phone
are basically the same.
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It's very familiar iPhone.
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The Pro phones are even
harder to tell apart,
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but they do have new
displays and they're great.
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So they're slightly bigger, 6.3
and 6.9 inches respectively.
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And the bezels are, I think,
actually noticeably thinner
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and still even all the way around.
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So both sized phones are just
a little larger than last year
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and fit bigger batteries too.
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And we should talk about batteries.
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So when Apple unveiled
all these new phones,
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they made kind of a big deal
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about how they all have slightly
larger capacity batteries
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across the board, and that the new Pro Max
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would have the longest battery
life ever in an iPhone.
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Which I mean, I would hope that
your newest, most expensive,
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most high tech, biggest phone
ever has the longest battery,
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but still, they didn't give
any numbers to support that.
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So we don't actually know
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how much larger in
milliamp-hours the battery is
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or how much longer the
battery actually lasts.
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All I have to go on is Apple's
website's comparison tool,
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which only measures in
video playback hours.
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So it has the iPhone 16 at
22 hours of video playback
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up from 20, and the 16 Pro Max
is all the way up to 33 hours
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versus last year's big phone's 29.
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Unfortunately, this means
almost nothing to me
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because video playback can be optimized
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with like, cores on a chip.
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Who cares?
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But now the phones are out
and people have gotten them
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and torn 'em apart, measured 'em.
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Turns out the batteries are
about 6% larger across the board
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and 9% larger on the Pro.
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And I've found battery life
about the same as last year,
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to be honest.
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Like, not noticeably better,
not noticeably worse.
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I end up saying a lot of
the same things about it,
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like it lasts me a whole day on the Pro,
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heavy use, no problem.
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What actually did make a
difference to me, though,
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is faster charging.
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Less people are talking about it,
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but all of the new iPhone 16 lineup
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supports up to 45 watt wired charging now.
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Apple never talks about fast charging,
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they never brag about like,
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how fast you can go 0%
to 100% or 0% to 80%,
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but when their phones do get
slightly faster at charging,
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it's pretty nice.
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It's too bad it doesn't come
with a fast charging brick
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in the box.
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But I have a fast charger.
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I am loving the new
fast charging in bursts.
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And also MagSafe supports,
with the new puck,
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up to 25 watt wireless
charging instead of 15.
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On the inside, these phones
have the A18 and A18 Pro chips.
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And again, I'd be lying if I told you
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I just noticed any
difference right out the box
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and I think basically anybody would.
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But yes, they will benchmark
10%, 20%, 30% faster
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depending on what you ask it to do.
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But the extra power is definitely
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more about fringe activities,
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high-end stuff, future-proofing.
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I was actually more curious, though,
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to find that all of the models
have eight gigs of RAM now.
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So the Pro phones and the non-Pro phones,
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which usually have different amounts.
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No doubt this is because the
Apple Intelligence features,
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when they eventually ship,
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are going to need every last bit of it.
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But for now, hey, you can enjoy more RAM
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for all your other apps too.
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IOS 18 launched with these new phones too.
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So I made an entire
separate video about iOS 18,
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all the new features.
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That's what's rolling out
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to everybody's older
iPhones as well now too.
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So you can put your home
screen icons wherever,
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you can color your home screen icons,
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you can change your lock screen shortcuts,
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basically customize the iPhone
a bit more than ever before.
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You could argue this makes a
bigger difference to the iPhone
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than any of the other hardware stuff.
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But yeah, I'll link that full video below.
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But speaking of new hardware,
there is one other new button.
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(energetic music)
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So I guess nobody at Apple is
allowed to call it a button,
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but I'm gonna call it a button.
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So this is the new Camera Control button
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on all of the new iPhone 16's.
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I've used and played with
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and thought a lot about this button.
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And actually, it all comes down to
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smartphone cameras in general.
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My take is that smartphone
cameras are like headphones' EQ.
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Like, you get a new pair
of headphones out the box
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and you listen to 'em, you don't like 'em,
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oh no, no, don't worry.
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That's just one of the ways
that these headphones can sound.
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You can change the EQ
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and it'll sound like a totally
different pair of headphones.
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And that's also true
with smartphone cameras,
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this year more than ever with the iPhone.
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So the default photos from the iPhone
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look more iPhoney than ever.
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Remember how every year in the
blind smartphone camera test
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the iPhone loses
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because it kind of overly
brightens all the shadows
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and it doesn't have as much contrast?
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Yeah, it's still doing that,
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especially in photos with people in it.
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But the purpose of this new
button has been made very clear
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and it's kind of a theme
for the whole phone,
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which is, well, camera control.
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This year, Apple's kind
of just giving back
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control of the camera to
users in an interesting way.
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But you have to know how to use it.
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Like, you have to know that
it's a double half press
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with just the right weight
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to bring up the sliding
menu of camera controls
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for things like exposure compensation
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and zoom and photographic styles and tone.
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And then play with it enough to realize
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that tone is actually maybe
the most important one,
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where turning up tone actually
removes shadows even more
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but turning down tone
brings real shadows back.
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But it doesn't seem to have a memory,
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so you have to remember to set it
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every time you open the camera app.
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But you also have this D-pad
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that lets you change even
more elements of a photo,
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including undertones and mood and color
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and really mess around
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and dial in the look
of the photos you want.
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And this one does have memory,
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so every subsequent
time you open the camera
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it'll remember your color hue and tone.
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So I found that tone at
around -0.5 is a nice balance
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for most photos that I've been taking.
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Feels less flat, more contrasty.
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This is all really useful to me.
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And combined with the actual
new cameras on the phones,
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this has risen the iPhone back to the top
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of my personal favorite rankings
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of smartphones to shoot with.
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I just like having more
control over the camera.
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Camera control.
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But it is really finicky.
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Like, the placement on the side
of the phone for the button
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is mostly ideal for landscape,
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but would definitely be easier to reach
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if it was closer to the corner.
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But if we're being honest,
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most people take photos and
videos in portrait these days
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and the corner would be
horrible for portrait,
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so they split the difference
and moved it up a bit
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so you could reach it.
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But it's still not great.
00:10:04
And the half press
sensitivity takes some time
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to really get used to.
00:10:07
I'm on week three now,
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and I'm still accidentally taking pictures
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by tapping too hard.
00:10:12
And the scrolling, it has momentum physics
00:10:14
and you can accidentally scroll too far
00:10:16
and go past the thing you were targeting
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in this more continuous
scrolling interface.
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It is just finicky enough
and just hidden enough
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that I honestly think like,
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99% of people will never use this
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for anything other than just
a camera shutter button.
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And I guess that's fine too.
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I personally did quickly get used to
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opening the camera quickly
with the Camera Control button.
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And so I remapped my action button
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to something else, my Tasks app.
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And I've also remapped
my lock screen shortcut
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so it's now flashlight
and my Tasks app again.
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And you can always just
swipe over sideways
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from the lock screen and
get to the stock camera app.
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So if you really want, you can
map the Camera Control button
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to open any other camera
app on your phone,
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or just keep waiting for
Apple Intelligence features
00:11:00
that this will probably
make more sense for.
00:11:02
So yeah, long story
short, one, it's a button.
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Two, it's also a customization slider.
00:11:08
Three, it's just gonna be
a button for most people.
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But also four, there are
new cameras on the back.
00:11:15
(bright music)
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So there's a bunch of new
cameras across the line
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for both iPhone 16 and 16 Pro.
00:11:24
Best way to summarize it,
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okay, so iPhone 16's cameras are nice,
00:11:29
like they're pretty solid main cameras,
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very much in character
with iPhones of the past
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but not noticeably better
than previous years.
00:11:37
And then the 16 Pro cameras
with the much bigger main sensor
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and the higher resolution
ultrawide and the 5X telephoto
00:11:44
are a significant step up, in my opinion.
00:11:47
The main camera I think is
my favorite primary sensor
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in any smartphone to shoot with right now.
00:11:52
It's really good at basically everything.
00:11:55
The ultrawide is also better,
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but kind of only in
detail during the daytime
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since it's a 48 megapixel sensor now.
00:12:02
But the sensor's not bigger enough
00:12:04
to matter at night, though.
00:12:06
And now my night ultrawides
00:12:07
all look kind of
vignetted for some reason.
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I mean, look at that, it
looks like I added a filter.
00:12:13
But then the 5X telephoto on
both the Pros is also nice now.
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And there is some chatter
about it being worse
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at the 3X to 4X range
00:12:21
because you're still
having to do digital zoom.
00:12:23
And technically that's true,
00:12:25
but I find the 5X to be
a pretty useful zoom.
00:12:27
And it's also better at
resolving all the detail past 5X
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than before, even without AI.
00:12:32
Shutter speeds are super fast
00:12:34
and freeze action better than ever before.
00:12:36
This is kind of underrated,
but I love this.
00:12:38
Like, this shot came from a
moving car at highway speed,
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and so did this one, so that's sick.
00:12:44
And the ease at which you can
get a shallow depth of field
00:12:46
with a closeup subject
00:12:48
is on par with any other
big sensor Android flagship
00:12:51
like S24 Ultra or Pixel 9 Pro.
00:12:53
And no, Apple has absolutely
not fixed the lens flare issue
00:12:58
with point lights at night.
00:12:59
So for those who are wondering, sorry.
00:13:02
But aside from that,
video is very impressive.
00:13:05
I'll be publishing the
next Auto Focus video
00:13:07
on the Silverado EV
pickup truck pretty soon,
00:13:10
so subscribe over there
for that, first of all.
00:13:12
But that's gonna be shot
entirely on iPhone 16 Pro
00:13:15
and I've been very happy with it.
00:13:16
And Apple also added a 4K 120
FPS mode to the Pro phones,
00:13:20
and it's sick.
00:13:22
It looks great.
00:13:23
It is really convenient to shoot and edit.
00:13:25
The only thing you gotta
be careful with is storage,
00:13:28
'cause it can really eat up storage.
00:13:31
Like, you can get up
to near a gig a minute
00:13:33
and that's before you even do
4K 120 ProRes or ProRes Log.
00:13:38
But yeah, I still love shooting it anyway.
00:13:40
It also proves to me that
they have the processing power
00:13:44
and the sensor readout speed to do 8K 30,
00:13:48
they just choose not to.
00:13:51
And I wonder why sometimes.
00:13:52
This is also the first year
00:13:53
they're using the term Fusion camera.
00:13:56
And you kinda have to dig in a little bit
00:13:58
to try to figure out what that means.
00:14:00
Turns out it's basically the
same thing as last year's,
00:14:03
like, punch-in optical quality zoom,
00:14:07
but with a slightly updated
image processing pipeline.
00:14:10
Cool.
00:14:11
But also that zoom
00:14:12
is not technically
one-to-one optical quality
00:14:15
because the photo sights are
smaller in that smaller crop.
00:14:18
Nevertheless, iPhone 16 camera, good.
00:14:22
iPhone 16 Pro camera, great.
00:14:25
(upbeat music)
00:14:31
There is something truly
weird about this product
00:14:34
being launched at an Apple
event called Glowtime
00:14:39
and not launching with the
thing that glows, the new Siri.
00:14:43
There's something weird about people
00:14:44
happily going out to a 5th
Avenue Apple store this week
00:14:47
which is literally
glowing with rainbows now,
00:14:49
and walking out with a brand new phone
00:14:51
that doesn't have that.
00:14:52
Like, there's something just off
00:14:54
about billboards and marketing material
00:14:57
all highlighting Apple Intelligence,
00:14:59
and Tim Cook saying
this was the first phone
00:15:01
built from the ground up
for Apple Intelligence.
00:15:04
- The next generation of
iPhone has been designed
00:15:07
for Apple Intelligence from the ground up.
00:15:10
- Yet this phone does not have
Apple Intelligence at all.
00:15:15
It's all coming soon and
coming later this year
00:15:18
and into next year eventually
with software updates.
00:15:21
But if I've said it once,
I've said it a million times,
00:15:23
never buy a product based on the promise
00:15:26
of future software updates.
00:15:27
Buy it for what it is
right now when you buy it.
00:15:30
That's been the golden rule for forever.
00:15:33
But yet here we are, times have changed.
00:15:37
This has been a common trend alongside AI.
00:15:41
And you think Apple might be
immune to it, but they're not.
00:15:43
They're a public company.
00:15:44
And just like lots of
other public companies,
00:15:46
they've sort of caved to this pressure
00:15:49
that they have to appear
00:15:50
like an AI-first, AI-forward
company, like a leader in AI.
00:15:54
So they have presented a ton of AI stuff
00:15:58
that they're working on, and
they've done the song and dance
00:16:01
of like, "Hey, we're AI-first
00:16:02
and the phone's built
from the ground up for AI.
00:16:05
It's our whole theme this year."
00:16:07
But the fact of the matter
is it's not good yet.
00:16:10
It's not.
00:16:11
It's actually not even finished.
00:16:12
If it was, they'd be shipping it.
00:16:13
But it's in beta and
they're still working on it
00:16:16
and they'd rather keep working on it
00:16:18
than ship it to you now.
00:16:21
So how do we square this?
00:16:24
Do we even square this?
00:16:27
You remember the Rabbit R1.
00:16:29
The Rabbit was a little AI in a box,
00:16:32
pretty classic 2024 product.
00:16:34
When I reviewed that Rabbit,
it was basically useless,
00:16:38
like literally almost none of
the functionality was working
00:16:41
as it shipped.
00:16:42
And so I said so in the review.
00:16:44
Same with the Humane AI Pin,
00:16:46
really, really, really bad product
00:16:48
missing almost all of its functionality.
00:16:51
Worst product I've ever reviewed for now.
00:16:54
Both of those products have
started to get some updates
00:16:57
since I reviewed them.
00:16:59
But again, I can only review
what's in front of me,
00:17:01
like I got that thing in the mail
00:17:02
just like real customers
00:17:04
are gonna get that thing in the mail,
00:17:05
and now it feels like the new iPhone
00:17:07
is suddenly in the same boat.
00:17:09
So I guess the difference
00:17:10
between the Rabbit and the
Humane Pin and the iPhone is,
00:17:15
well, one, the iPhone is
a fine standalone product
00:17:19
even without the promised stuff.
00:17:20
And it's viable and usable,
00:17:22
where the other two, not so much.
00:17:24
But two is that Apple at
least now has some element
00:17:30
of a track record of
developing and shipping things
00:17:34
that they promised, where
Humane and Rabbit didn't.
00:17:39
So you could argue there's
some dimension of trust to this
00:17:42
and that Apple is really leaning heavily
00:17:44
on how much you trust them.
00:17:46
Because to be honest,
to me it's really bold
00:17:48
to be shipping the product
like this without any
00:17:51
of these big things that you're promising.
00:17:53
Like, they must really
believe in themselves
00:17:55
to eventually ship this stuff
so that people aren't mad.
00:17:59
But yeah, that's the AI
world we live in, I guess,
00:18:03
is that everyone has this pressure
00:18:04
to feel like a leader in AI
00:18:06
and be shipping all these
new features and stuff.
00:18:09
But a lot of it, not that
good yet, not that done yet.
00:18:12
So I'm planning an entire separate review
00:18:14
of Apple Intelligence as
a whole when it comes out.
00:18:17
I've been using some of
the features in 18.1 Beta
00:18:20
on my 15 Pro, but even
this is really limited.
00:18:23
Like, it's basically just writing tools
00:18:25
and the new Siri animation.
00:18:27
But they have a long way to go.
00:18:28
I'll say get subscribed
00:18:30
to see the Apple Intelligence
review when it drops,
00:18:32
when it's done,
00:18:33
because clearly it's a
big part of this phone.
00:18:37
(bright music)
00:18:44
So you made it this far into the video,
00:18:46
or you skipped ahead to this chapter
00:18:48
'cause you just really wanted an answer
00:18:49
on if you should buy these phones or not.
00:18:51
Fine either way.
00:18:52
So okay, you should buy the iPhone 16
00:18:57
if you're on an iPhone 13 or older
00:19:01
and you know, that phone
is on its last legs
00:19:04
and you're really looking for
an upgrade to a new iPhone.
00:19:07
Fine.
00:19:08
Anything newer
00:19:09
and it probably won't feel
like it's worth an upgrade.
00:19:11
And you should buy the iPhone 16 Pro
00:19:14
if you really want a better
phone in cameras or displays.
00:19:19
That's really the two places
00:19:21
where the Pro shines
over the regular phone.
00:19:23
The cheap iPhone really has
never looked better, honestly.
00:19:26
It has the Camera Control,
00:19:27
it matches the RAM of
the more expensive Pros,
00:19:30
it has the more interesting
colors if you're into that.
00:19:32
It has the action button now too.
00:19:34
And it has the same
brightness of the display
00:19:36
and it also goes all
the way down to one nit,
00:19:38
just like the Pro screen.
00:19:39
Now, I personally cannot use
00:19:42
a 60 hertz, $800 phone in 2024.
00:19:46
I just can't do it.
00:19:47
And there are lots of people just like me
00:19:49
who will immediately have
to upgrade to the Pro
00:19:51
just for that.
00:19:52
But there are also tons of
people who don't even notice
00:19:57
or care about ProMotion.
00:19:58
Which, I know, it's kinda hard
to wrap my head around too.
00:20:02
But for those people, yeah,
00:20:03
the base phone is gonna be great.
00:20:05
But then as someone who shoots
a lot of photos and videos
00:20:07
and you know, social media
stuff, the Auto Focus channel,
00:20:09
between all that,
00:20:11
the cameras are better enough on the Pros
00:20:13
for that to be worth the upgrade for me.
00:20:16
But yeah, I still say buy
it for what it is today,
00:20:20
not for what it could be tomorrow.
00:20:22
And even without any of the AI stuff
00:20:25
maybe ever coming to these
phones, they're still rock solid,
00:20:28
very, very incremental upgrades.
00:20:32
Thanks for watching.
00:20:34
Catch you guys in the next one.
00:20:35
Peace.
(bright music)
