My understanding is that it’s an iOS thing and will work on the most recent phones. Also, a lot of the best of AI will come in a later point release.
The main AI features are only supported on iPhone 15 Pro models and above. Non-pro iPhone 15 and earlier models are not supported. There may be a few features that are hardware-independent, but the sweet sauce is only going to be available to iPhone 16 models and iPhone 15 Pro models. This is because of Apple’s stinginess with RAM. 8GB is the absolute minimum necessary to make AI work, and phones below the 15 Pro only have 6GB at most.
It was almost certainly unnecessary but I got up at five in the damn morning to order a 16Pro the minute that it launched. I’ll get it a week from today. Remember back when if you didn’t order certain models in the first half hour you might have to wait weeks after the launch day to get your device? I doubt that will be an issue today and I also doubt that people will camp out in line a week from Monday at the stores.
Well I was wrong about that. All models of the Pro and Pro Max now have ship dates in the second week of October. Probably some false scarcity but still.
I’m not familiar with the details in this case, but a lot of AI works via neural networks which are easier to process with certain dedicated hardware blocks and types of DSPs that are not as common on other devices. I’d strongly suspect that those blocks did not exist in previous generations of iPhones, because they cost money to exist. I’d guess that the newer models do have specific hardware to enable their AI.
(I spent 15 years as an embedded software engineer working in cell phone design, and now work for an augmented reality company. Good AR leverages similar hardware capabilities.)
It looks like in-store pickup is still available at some Apple Stores on September 21, depending on your particular model/color/capacity configuration. I think you can change your order from delivery to in-store pickup if that all works out for you.
I’m not sure that’s the case. My thinking behind this is that AI (the Apple kind) will be also be available on every iPad and Mac with a minimum of an M1 chip. So that means that even the base model MacBook Air and Mac Mini from 4 years ago can utilize AI. I can’t think of what AI-related hardware the low end MBA and MM from 4 years ago have that last years iPhone 15/15 Plus don’t, except that those Macs have 8 GB of RAM and those iPhone models have only 6 GB of RAM.
Basically, as mentioned by jjakucyk above, it looks like it comes down to the 8 gigs of RAM. This would suggest that Apple Silicon SoCs M1 and after and similar A-series SoCs have always had the AI capability, it’s just a question of having enough RAM to make it a tolerable experience.
I currently need to upgrade from an old iPhone XR. The battery is terrible, it’s only 64gb, and response is less than snappy.
AT&T wants to give me $350 to upgrade to a 16 or 16 Pro. If I upgrade to a 15 Pro, the trade in is just $45. I’ve been a customer for over 15 years, and it’d be nice to get a better trade-in. But barring that, it’s a tough decision.
I’m looking at att.com and it looks like the there is only a $100 difference between the 15 Pro and 16 Pro. Which means with your trade-in, the 16 Pro would be $649 and the 15 Pro would be $854? Is that correct for you? That seems like a no-brainer decision to me.
It’s even better when you consider that the 16 will be much more future-proof than the 15, particularly in regard to AI. You might not think it’s important now, but in the coming years as the tech matures and gains capabilities, AI might become the sort of thing that is so pervasive in everything you do that you don’t know how you ever lived without it.
Another way to look at it is that if you’re going to keep the 16 for another 6 years before you get your next iPhone, you’ll have very effectively amortized the cost.
And when you’re talking about snappiness in general, that extra 2 gigs of RAM the 16 has over the 15 will go a long way.
edit-
wait I messed up. the 15 pro has AI and the xtra 2 gigs of RAM. nevremind, Im an idiot. in my head I was comparing a regular 15.
Verizon’s deal for me was effectively the same for a 15 Pro as for a 16 Pro (free with a trade in of my 13 Pro) which is odd but whatever. I’m sure that they know what they are doing. My phone has been sitting in San Bernardino since late Monday night and is supposed to be at my door between 9:30am and 1:30pm on Friday.
Much faster and it will have several more hours of battery life. I haven’t played with the camera yet but I barely use the camera anyway so it’s wasted on me. The slightly bigger screen and body is more noticeable than I thought it would be. I’m going to have to relearn some muscle memory.
-Sent from my iPhone 16Pro
Nice. Mine’s a block away. Opposite experience of you - the camera is my most used feature and the most desirable upgrade.
Well, that and the satellite texting. I might get rid of my Garmin InReach if this works at least as well. Which I expect it to…
I may stop by the Apple Store over the weekend to check out the new model.
And regarding this, yes, that’s cool. But I’ve accumulated quite the pile of Lightning cables, which will mostly be rendered redundant.
Yeah. I’m keeping a couple in case a guest needs one but a bunch will be donated.
Can the Teeming Millions troubleshoot this idea for me?
I currently have an XR, which ATT will take for a $350 credit. Or, I could buy an iPhone 12 on Amazon for $290, which ATT will take for a $1000 credit. (And I’d then be able to sell my XR back to Apple for $90.)
The Amazon phone is sim-locked to ATT. I don’t believe it comes with any requirements to be activated with ATT or anything, but I don’t know - I’ve never gotten a phone from Amazon before.
Does anyone see anything that makes this a not-smart move?
I never got this. The first thing I do with a new phone is put it in a case; I rarely, if ever see the color on the back of my phone. A case makes it easier to hold/thicker, gives a better grip (silicone or patterned plastic instead of metal/glass) & offers some fall protection. I also prefer a kickstand case which means it’ll stand up on a table so I can better view it while eating something.
I’ve always used a thin, transparent case. In part so I can see the color I bought.
This time, with my new 16 Pro? So far I’m going commando and liking it. I put on a screen protector, but that’s it. I appreciate the slightly reduced bulk and the ease of fishing my phone out of my pocket without any grippy silicone to hang up on the fabric. We’ll see how long this lasts.
I also put an opaque case on my new phones, which is why I find Apple’s ads about the cool new color they’re offering so ridiculous.
Well, the most basic reason probably is that people, despite using cases, would bitch and moan if Apple didn’t offer a choice of colors. That alone practically forces Apple to offer some choice.
Another basic reason is money. Apple admitted that they added gold as a color option years ago because they knew that color would be a very popular enticement in China, a market at that time they were still trying to penetrate.
And to get a little psychological here, choosing a color is a way of personalizing your phone, letting it reflect your personality (to the degree to which a color million of other people chose can achieve that, anyway). Even if you don’t see the color every day because of the case, you know it’s there because it was your choice to put it there. You’re reminded every time you take it out of its case. A smartphone these days is an exceptionally intimate device and being able to personalize it to even a small degree is, even in the least, a subtle bond to its owner.
Maybe it’s kind of the same thing as underwear. You (and hopefully the general public) rarely see your underwear, yet it comes in a variety of colors and designs.
& I’ll counter that there are a lot more options for cases, both more colors & multiple styles. There are probably hundreds of color/style combos for a given phone model vs. two or three rear colors on the phone itself.