Apple has unveiled its synthetic intelligence-powered iPhone 16, displaying off the long-awaited telephone hours after Chinese language rival Huawei’s triple-selling telephone started racking up orders.
“The subsequent era of iPhone is designed from the bottom up for Apple Intelligence. It marks the start of an thrilling new period,” CEO Tim Prepare dinner stated in the course of the product launch on Monday.
The iPhone 16 will use the brand new A18 chip and have an aluminum again, plus a brand new customizable button that can be utilized for digital camera controls.
Huawei’s web site confirmed on Monday that it had secured greater than three million pre-orders for its Z-shaped foldable telephone. This underscores Huawei’s skill to avoid U.S. sanctions and cements its place in opposition to Apple in China, the place customers crave extra synthetic intelligence options and are prepared to pay for them.
Apple shares fell lower than 1 p.c in afternoon buying and selling.
The corporate additionally launched new Apple Watches and AirPods.
The brand new Watch Sequence 10 begins at $399, is thinner than its predecessor and has a show that is as much as 30 p.c bigger than earlier generations. Apple highlighted the watch’s skill to assist with sports activities and well being points, together with detecting long-term situations like sleep apnea, in addition to detecting and responding to emergencies like a fall.
Apple additionally launched a brand new, extra rugged model of the Watch Extremely 2, beginning at $799. The brand new AirPods 4 have been redesigned to be extra comfy to put on and have higher acoustics. Apple additionally unveiled listening to assist options it has submitted for regulatory evaluation in the USA.
Apple Intelligence
Apple followers around the globe have been ready to see new telephones powered by synthetic intelligence, one thing Prepare dinner hinted at as he kicked off the occasion. “We’re thrilled to introduce the primary iPhones designed from the bottom up for Apple Intelligence and its groundbreaking capabilities,” Prepare dinner stated in his opening remarks.
“The Chinese language market is extra hungry for AI options than the U.S. market,” stated Ben Bajarin, chief government and principal analyst at Artistic Methods. For Apple, he predicted, “it will likely be very troublesome to deliver it to China straight away, so they may depend on the deserves of the {hardware}.”
At its June developer convention, Apple launched Apple Intelligence, its model of generative synthetic intelligence that may create textual content, pictures and different content material on command.
However these updates will take time to succeed in customers.
Apple Intelligence options are anticipated to be launched in a software program replace to the iPhone and iPad working system, probably in October. In the meantime, a full replace to Apple’s voice assistant Siri is prone to arrive solely early subsequent yr, based on media studies.
To be able to launch Apple Intelligence within the Chinese language market, Beijing should approve it. In July, OpenAI blocked entry to its ChatGPT in China, a transfer that would have an effect on the chatbot’s integration into Siri. Apple has not introduced an AI accomplice for China.
iPhones accounted for greater than half of Apple’s $383 billion in gross sales final yr, and the brand new gadgets are a serious improve for the Cupertino, California-based firm, which is betting that synthetic intelligence options will immediate customers to improve amid a slowdown in iPhone gross sales.
In China, Apple aggressively lower costs earlier this yr, pushed by authorities restrictions and rising home competitors.
The iPhone 16 line is Apple’s first smartphone providing designed round these AI options, although they’re additionally anticipated to be obtainable on the iPhone 15 Professional and Professional Max, the high-end variations of the previous-generation gadgets.
“The software program facet and the way Apple frames it’s the massive query,” Bajarin stated. “Buyers will likely be trying to see whether it is enticing sufficient to have an extended than regular replace cycle.”
Rivals
Rivals corresponding to Alphabet’s Google are additionally displaying off synthetic intelligence options in a bid to interrupt Apple’s dominance within the high-end smartphone market.
Google, developer of the Android working system that competes with Apple’s iOS, historically introduced its Pixel smartphones within the final quarter of the yr. However in 2024, it postponed the occasion till August, earlier than Apple’s announcement.
Google centered on AI options, corresponding to Gemini Stay, which permits customers to have reside voice conversations with a digital assistant. Lots of the AI options Google introduced have additionally been rolled out to Android-based gadgets made by producers corresponding to Samsung and Motorola.
“The query is who would be the first to mix a very private AI assistant with correct, customized information and insights,” stated Bob O’Donnell, chief analyst at TECHnalysis Analysis.
To this point, Apple has shared a timeline for the launch of Apple Intelligence solely within the US, the place it’s deliberate to launch on supported gadgets after September 2024.
In June, every week after its developer convention, Apple stated it might delay the European launch due to European Union know-how guidelines.
Apple’s occasion on the tech big’s Apple Park headquarters kicked off at 10 a.m. PDT (17:00 GMT). Huawei has scheduled an official announcement of its Mate XT telephone for Tuesday in China.
