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at 1 a.m. on september 10th, beijing time, the annual spring festival gala of the technology industry officially opened. in less than 100 minutes, the first 40 minutes were the foreplay of the new apple watch and airpods 4, and then the iphone 16 series was introduced. the standard version starts at 5,999 yuan, and the pro version starts at 7,999 yuan.

iphone 16 pro series

the new generation of iphones is indeed more powerful, and with everything aligned with ai, there are also many new experiences. the larger size, newly added camera buttons and color schemes have made the "nail households" eager to move. some apple fans even told titanium media app that this year's iphone 16 is the generation with the biggest update in recent years.

however, the higher the expectations, the greater the disappointment. the amazing feeling of new products in the past is becoming more and more unfamiliar. as luo yonghao joked to the "subsidiary" in the live broadcast, apple's innovation is to change the position of the camera.

in fact, the iphone 16 series, which has lost its mystery, has been basically revealed before the launch, and fewer and fewer people are keeping watch. the current autumn launch is more like a routine launch ceremony reserved by apple for the iphone. as for the theme of "highlight moments", most people probably don't feel anything about it.

there is an improvement, but it is not enough to buy a new phone, especially for domestic users, who will have to wait until next year to experience ai. emergency communications are already standard on domestic flagship phones. although iphone16 has it, it does not support the chinese market. nabila popal, senior director of idc's global data and analysis team, told titanium media app that since (apple intelligence) does not have complete language support, it is difficult for new products to bring much growth, and it is more about preventing apple's decline.

in addition, compared with the dull new products, tencent's appearance during the press conference surprised many people and was a surprise to domestic users. when introducing the iphone 16, apple promoted tencent's new work "honor of kings: world" and announced that it will be launched on iphone 16 next year. some time ago, apple and tencent also caused heated discussions because of the "choose one of two" issue and became a hot search.

watches and headphones may be more interesting than iphones

without the "one more thing", apple's autumn conference always feels less anticipated. this time, apple brought updates to a total of four products. among them, although apple watch and airpods are just appetizers, the overall upgrade is also a highlight, especially in the health function experience.

compared with the iphone 16 series' squeezing toothpaste, many netizens said after watching the press conference that the new products of apple watch and airpods are more conscientious and more interesting. although this is a joke, it is more of a satire on the iphone's lack of innovation.

this year marks the 10th anniversary of apple watch. we thought apple would have some big moves, but in the end, it was just a regular update as expected, with a starting price of 2,999 yuan. in short, bigger, lighter and thinner are the core upgrades of apple watch series 10. on the new product promotion page on the official website, apple also used "extremely thin" to describe apple watch series 10.

Apple Watch Series 10

according to official information, the apple watch series 10 is equipped with the largest screen in the series, equipped with a wider-angle oled display than the apple watch ultra, and the screen area has increased by 30%. the thickness is 9.7 mm, which is nearly 10% thinner than the series 9. the new grade 5 titanium material is 20% lighter than the previous generation of stainless steel. at the same time, the new aluminum case is also 10% lighter than the previous generation.

in terms of function, the newly designed speaker allows apple watch series 10 to play music and podcasts. in order to further enhance the user's health experience, apple watch series 10 can remind users of sleep apnea, and this new feature will also be available in apple watch ultra 2. as a watch released in 2022, apple watch ultra 2 also launched a black version and a titanium milanese loop strap this time. there is no major update in hardware, and the starting price is 6499 yuan.

Apple Watch Ultra 2

in terms of new earphones, airpods 4 brings active noise reduction to earbud-free designs for the first time with the launch of optional models. thanks to the h2 chip and upgraded microphone, airpods 4's active noise reduction feature can reduce low-frequency ambient noise caused by factors such as aircraft engines, hvac systems, and urban traffic.

although airpods pro has not been iterated, the newly added "clinical-grade" hearing aid function can be said to be good news for the hearing-impaired, which is also one of the few highlights of this conference. it is understood that users can use airpods and iphone to do hearing tests, and the results can be viewed in the health application.

if hearing loss is detected, hearing aid mode can be used. when listening to audio such as music or podcasts, a custom hearing profile is automatically applied. the hearing aid feature is currently undergoing approval by the fda and other regulatory agencies. apple said at the launch event that the feature will be available in more than 100 countries.

still squeezing the toothpaste, the iphone 16 standard version is more cost-effective

as the highlight of this conference, ai occupied most of the nearly one-hour introduction of the iphone 16 series, and many configuration updates and designs were also to better serve ai. putting aside the ai ​​factor, the iphone 16 series is still the same as last year's 15, with a toothpaste-like upgrade, saving as much as possible, and there is no "highlight moment" for the time being.

in the current era of mobile phone performance oversupply, many consumers buy new iphones just to let others know that they are using the latest model. if we look at it from this point of view alone, this year's iphone16 series should be able to trigger a wave of phone replacement, especially the standard version. moreover, the standard version also supports apple intelligence, and the performance is sufficient. the price in the secondary market will be more appropriate in the later stage. if there is no high demand, the overall cost performance is higher than the pro version.

iPhone16

specifically, the sizes of iphone 16 and iphone plus are still 6.1 inches and 6.7 inches respectively, and they are available in five colors: ultramarine, dark cyan, pink, white and black. the design has changed a lot. the mute button has been upgraded to an operation button, and a camera button has been added on the right. click it to start the camera application, and click it again to take a photo. press and hold to record a video. slide your finger to adjust camera functions such as exposure and depth of field, and you can also switch between lenses or use digital zoom to compose the picture.

in addition to the new shortcut buttons, the rear lens module of the standard version of the iphone 16 has changed from the previous diagonal design to a vertical design, similar to the iphone x. this is done to shoot spatial videos to match the apple vision pro. in terms of imaging capabilities, a simple improvement has also been made. the main camera has been upgraded to 48 million pixels and can shoot 4k 60 frames of dolby vision hdr video. the ultra-wide angle is 12 million pixels, and the aperture has been increased to f/2.2.

in order to support apple intelligence, the running content of the iphone 16 standard version has been increased to 8gb, which is the same as the pro version. it is equipped with a new a18 processor, built on the second-generation 3nm process technology, which can support aaa games and run machine learning models up to 2 times faster than the a16 bionic chip. however, one thing to complain about is that even with the powerful a18 processor, the iphone 16 standard version still does not support high refresh rate.

compared with the standard version, the design of iphone 16 pro is basically the same as the previous generation, except that a photo button is added. in terms of size, it has been upgraded from 6.1 inches and 6.7 inches to 6.3 inches and 6.9 inches respectively, and the black borders are narrower, which brings a better visual experience. however, a larger screen also means an increase in weight. according to the official parameters, the weight of iphone 16 pro is 199g, which is 12g heavier than the previous generation. the weight of iphone 16 pro max is 227 grams, which is 6g heavier than the previous generation.

iPhone16 Pro

in terms of color matching, the iphone 16 pro series has four colors: black titanium, white titanium, primary titanium, and desert titanium. from the blogger's first-hand experience, due to the upgrade of the material, the primary titanium is lighter than the previous generation, while the desert color is a bit more golden.

the pro series has also been upgraded in terms of processor, using a higher-performance a18 pro chip, with a built-in 6-core processor and a 16-core neural network engine, which will be better in gaming performance and multi-tasking. in terms of imaging, the iphone, which has always been far ahead, also supports shooting 4k 120 frames dolby vision video, which can be used in slow motion or regular video mode, and the playback options include 120, 60, 30 or 24fps, with intelligent audio processing.

however, one thing i have to complain about is that even though it supports 4k 120 frame shooting, the starting memory of the iphone 16 pro series is still 128gb. this capacity is not pro at all. it feels like they just want to lower the starting price. no wonder netizens insinuated that "apple's memory is made of gold."

apple's ai is still a "pie", and domestic users will wait and see

judging from the updates of the iphone 16 series, whether it is the addition of a camera button or the improvement of processor performance, all upgrades are designed for ai. as apple ceo cook said during the press conference, "the new generation of iphone is built from the ground up for apple intelligence."

apple has five evaluation criteria for the apple intelligence personalized intelligent system: powerful enough to help you with all kinds of important things; intuitive and easy to use; deeply integrated into the product experience; must understand you and be based on your personal situation, such as daily schedules, interpersonal relationships, communication, etc.; and focus on privacy protection from the beginning of design.

judging from the on-site demonstration, the functions and experience of apple intelligence this time are no different from those shown at the previous wwdc. features such as ai elimination, smart reply, and text-based images are already popular in domestic mobile phones. the only difference is that with the newly added camera button, images can be recognized and searched with one click.

it is worth mentioning that the functions currently displayed are still in testing, and apple intelligence currently only supports english. in december, english dialects in australia, canada, new zealand, south africa and the united kingdom will be supported, while users in the chinese market will have to wait until next year to experience apple intelligence.

in cook's view, he is very much looking forward to and excited about apple intelligence and the series of impacts it will bring, and believes that it will become one of the key reasons why users choose to change their phones.

but at present, apple's ai is still a "big pie", and it is unknown when it will be available. according to information obtained by titanium media app, apple is still selecting and negotiating with cloud service providers, and its own local model also needs to be registered in china before it can go online.

previously, there was news that apple would launch a subscription service after providing three years of free apple intelligence service, with a monthly fee of $20. it is unknown whether users will accept this fee and pricing standard, especially for domestic users. in this regard, tang fangxin, head of government business of wondershare technology, told titanium media app that the development of ai is backed by huge r&d and manpower costs. charging for ai is a natural choice for technology companies to explore the path of ai commercialization. however, whether users will pay for it depends on whether the ai ​​function can meet their needs. users can decide whether to buy it based on their actual needs.

titanium media app believes that since apple intelligence cannot be experienced in a short period of time and there is no revolutionary upgrade this time, users who need to change their phones can wait a little longer. perhaps the discounts during double 11 will be bigger than in previous years, and the price of iphone will drop faster.

according to apple analyst ming-chi kuo, the upgrade of the iphone 17 series next year will be even greater. the standard version supports high refresh rate, and the whole series is equipped with graphite sheet heat dissipation. the memory will also be upgraded to 12gb, so that apple intelligence can run more smoothly. judging from the current configuration of the iphone 16 series, after having ai, the battery life, heat generation, and whether the 8gb memory can continue to run smoothly are all questions. waiting for it will be more fragrant. perhaps the iphone 17 series is a better choice for apple ai.

in addition, based on the current uncertainties in many aspects, the market is also conservative about the performance of the iphone 16 series. nabila popal, senior director of idc's global data and analysis team, pointed out that idc's forecast for the entire smartphone market this year is a 6% increase, but most of the growth will be 7% android and about 1% apple. there was a lot of negative sentiment about apple in the market in the first half of this year. in june, apple wwdc announced apple intelligence, but even so, it could not change the rules of the game, but to some extent prevented apple's decline and stabilized apple's position.

mark gurman also believes that an iphone super cycle is unlikely this year, partly due to macroeconomic factors: demand in china's smartphone market remains weak, and many other consumers around the world are budget-conscious. the bigger problem may be attributed to the phone itself. consumers need to wait for a while to experience the best features of apple intelligence, so it is impossible to create a "super cycle" to drive the hot sales of iphone 16 upgrades. in contrast, next year's iphone 17 is more optimistic.(author: du zhiqiang, editor: zhong yi)