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.