News

iPhone 16 Pro: Ultimate ‘creator’ phone?

Plenty of features for content creation

Published

September 10, 2024

Rodneil Quiteles

We already know that the iPhone 16 Series is getting a Camera Control button. But the iPhone 16 Pro takes things even further with the Apple Intelligence-powered features for the photos, videos, and audio.

Better Camera Control

Camera Control goes even deeper in the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max. The new camera preview helps users frame the shot and adjust other control options. These include zoom, exposure, or depth of field. These helps immensely with composing your shots.

Later this fall, Camera Control will be updated with a two-stage shutter to automatically lock focus and exposure on a subject with a light press. This lets users reframe the shot without losing focus. Additionally, developers will be able to bring Camera Control to third-party apps.

Visual Intelligence

In an update coming in late 2024, Camera Control will also have the Visual Intelligence feature. If you’re familiar with Google Lens and Samsung’s Circle to Search, it kind of works like that.

You simply point at a subject, press Camera Control, and it’ll pull up relevant information on that subject.

Camera Control will also serve as a gateway into third-party tools with specific domain expertise, like when users want to search on Google to find where they can buy an item, or to benefit from ChatGPT’s problem-solving skills. Users are in control of when third-party tools are used and what information is shared.

Photo, Video, and Audio improvements

Those who use their Pro iPhones for content creation should get a kick with all the new features coming.

Powered by A18 Pro, the upgraded camera system introduces a new 48MP Fusion camera with a faster, more efficient quad-pixel sensor and Apple Camera Interface. This unlocks 4K120 fps video recording in Dolby Vision

A new 48MP Ultra Wide camera also features a quad-pixel sensor with autofocus, so users can take higher-resolution 48MP ProRAW and HEIF images when capturing uniquely framed, wider-angle shots or getting close to their subjects with macro photography.

Let’s take it slow

Users can capture 4K120 fps in Slo-mo or Video mode, and adjust the playback speed after capture in the Photos app. You can do a quarter-speed playback, a new half-speed option for a dreamy effect, and a fifth-speed option that corresponds to 24 fps.

When coupled with the new image signal processor (ISP) of A18 Pro, users can do frame-by-frame cinema-quality color grading for 4K120 fps in Dolby Vision. Users can also capture 4K120 fps ProRes and Log directly to an external storage device for efficient pro workflows.

Do you hear what I hear?

Both the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max feature four new studio-quality mics. These preserve true-to-life recorded sounds, and video can now be captured in Spatial Audio for immersive listening with AirPods, Apple Vision Pro, or a surround sound system.

Both pro models also introduce creative new ways to edit video sound with Audio Mix. This lets users adjust their sound after capture to focus on the voice of the person on camera. You can make it sound like the video was recorded inside a professional studio, or position vocal tracks in the front and environmental noises in surround sound. With wind noise reduction, powerful machine learning (ML) algorithms reduce unwanted noise for better audio quality.

Still on audio, you can now record multiple layers on a single track with Live Memos. A boon for those who dabble in the art of making sounds.

Photographic Styles

Photographic Styles help users express their creativity and customize their photos by locally adjusting color, highlights, and shadows in real time.

Styles also have a deeper understanding of skin undertones, so users can personalize how they appear in photos. Unlike filters, which often use a one-size-fits-all approach by adding a color to an entire scene, adjustments are applied to specific colors of a selected style.

A wider set of styles offers more creative options for editing a photo’s aesthetic, and styles can be further personalized with an easy-to-use new control pad and intensity slider for simultaneous adjustments across tone and color.

These adjustments can be rendered during live preview, applied after a photo is taken, or even reversed later.

Apple Intelligence

Apple Intelligence is baked into the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max. It maintains the privacy and security of user data with Private Cloud Compute. Apple Intelligence will be available as a free software update, with the first set of features rolling out next month in U.S. English for most regions around the world.

Apple Intelligence helps users prioritize with summarized notifications, along with Priority Messages in Mail, a feature that understands the content of emails and surfaces time-sensitive messages. Across a user’s inbox, summaries convey the most important information of each email instead of previewing the first few lines.

Siri becomes more deeply integrated into the system experience and gets a brand-new design with an elegant glowing light that wraps around the edge of the screen when active.

Siri follows along when users stumble over their words and maintains context from one request to the next. Users can type to Siri at any time, and switch fluidly between text and voice as they accelerate everyday tasks. Siri also now has extensive product knowledge to answer thousands of questions about features on iPhone and other Apple devices.

Price and availability

The iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max will be available in black titanium, natural titanium, white titanium, and desert titanium, in 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB storage capacities.

iPhone 16 Pro starts at USD 999/ SGD 1599, and iPhone 16 Pro Max starts at USD 1,199/ SGD 1899.

Like usual, there are many ways to upgrade to the latest iPhones by way of Trade In. Visit apple.com/store for more details.

Related Topics:Apple iPhone iPhone 16 iPhone 16 Pro iPhone 16 Pro Max

News

Samsung is teasing smart glasses again

The brand is experimenting with more form factors.

Published

January 30, 2026

Luigi Leonardo

What comes next after the smartphone? For years, brands hunted for an answer. Apple, for example, placed its bet on the Vision Pro, a wager that hasn’t paid off yet. Samsung, on the other hand, is betting on a different horse: augmented reality.

In a new earnings call (via Seeking Alpha), Samsung’s Seong H. Cho, the brand’s head for mobile marketing, confirmed that they will experiment more with “diverse form factors such as next-generation AR glasses.”

Samsung has been teasing a pair of glasses for a while now. However, with an impressive lineup already in the works (including the brand’s first trifold smartphone), it’s understandable that hype for the teased glasses took a bit of a backseat.

But, with an official word now about the wearable, the game is once again on to create an impressive pair of smart glasses.

The only question here is the “next-generation” part. Since Samsung doesn’t really have a pair out in the market right now, it’s a bit difficult to determine what the next generation might mean.

Of course, it could simply be a marketing term that implies smart glasses are the next generation of technology. If it pertains to what’s already out in the market, it could mean a pair that comes with a camera or even a display. Of note, most smart glasses today (or, at least, those accessible to most users) use only audio for its smart functionalities.

News

Nothing will not release a Phone (4) this year

But the Phone (4a) is still scheduled.

Published

January 30, 2026

Luigi Leonardo

Last year, Nothing offered a worthy alternative to the usual flagship brands. Though the Phone (3) edged closer and closer to flagship-level prices, the smartphone is still a decent performer through and through. This year, however, a Phone (4) is not in the works.

Through a new YouTube video, Nothing’s Carl Pei has confirmed that the brand will not release a Phone (4) this year. The Phone (3) will still be the brand’s flagship option throughout 2026.

Pei did not reveal any explicit reason why they couldn’t make a new flagship this year. However, he does say that he wants every upgrade to be meaningful.

Despite the lack of a flagship, Nothing’s work will continue through the (a) series. The brand will release the new Phone (4a), for which Pei is promising a revolution. He says that there will be significant upgrades which will push the series closer to a flagship-like experience. It will also have new designs.

Unfortunately, the new phone might not come cheap. Along with the phone’s announcement, Pei confirmed that prices might increase this year, as a response to spiking RAM prices. It’s unclear how much it’s changing, though.

At the very least, the (a) series is usually priced competitively. However, if the increases affect the entire lineup, the flagship’s prices might go up to even more concerning levels.

Computers

3D printing made accessible: Bambu Lab moves closer to everyday consumers

Empowering consumers to create tangible objects

Published

January 29, 2026

GadgetMatch

Photos from Rodneil Quiteles

China-based brand Bambu Lab makes an effort to move closer to everyday consumers in the Philippines with a new retail partner by holding a media and creators roundtable in the Philippines. This was a bid to reshape how consumers perceive and use 3D printing technology.

Established in Shenzhen, China in 2020, Bambu Lab aims to make 3D printing more accessible, practical, and relevant to daily life through printers and other supplies.

The goal is to support practical home use, creative hobbies, product design, and even specialized tools, while putting emphasis on ease of use.

With such optics, Bambu Lab is trying to make consumers feel that there is less deep technical knowledge required and that they can actually create physical objects with 3D printing.

One of their products is the entry-level Bambu Lab A1 mini, which is compact enough to fit on a small desk.

The brand also has more advanced models which are capable of printing multiple colors and materials on a single run.

To complement the hardware ecosystem, Bambu Lab’s open platform MakerWorld lets users browse, select, and print from an extensive library of shared 3D designs directly from their own desktops.

The platform features a wide variety of objects across multiple categories. There’s household items, DIY tools, children’s toys, props, and educational materials.

In the Philippines, Bambu Lab will open its first concept store at One Ayala, Makati City. The concept corner will give mallgoers the opportunity to see the range of 3D printers and consumables firsthand.