iPhone 16 goes on sale as Apple looks ahead to launch of new AI features

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Louise Thomas

Editor

Apple’s iPhone 16 and 16 Pro are now on sale – with the company looking ahead to the launch of its AI features.

The new tools, named Apple Intelligence, are being marketed as one of the main reasons to buy the new phone line-up. At Apple’s flagship New York City store, for instance, the famous cube that serves as the door was lit in the glowing colours of the new animation for Siri.

At that store and others, Apple customers lined up to buy the new line-up, which actually includes four different phones. Apple has discouraged the queues that were once the highlight of iPhone launches in recent years – instead encouraging customers to order their phones ahead of time – but customers continue to arrive at stores for its big launches.

Executives including CEO Tim Cook also visited that New York City store to celebrate the launch.

But despite the glowing colours, those buying the new phones will not actually get Apple Intelligence out of the box. The new AI features are not yet ready and will start arriving next month, with more regions and tools coming into the new year.

As the iPhones went on sale, however, Apple released the first public beta of iOS 18.1, an early version of the software that will bring Apple Intelligence. New customers can get access to those features in an early version by joining Apple’s beta programme and choosing to download that update.

All of the new iPhone 16s can get those AI features, as well as last year’s iPhone 15 Pro. The new tools include an improved Siri that understands its users’ personal context, the ability to edit people and objects out of images, and writing tools that can be used to manipulate text.

In addition to those AI features, the iPhone 16 and 16 Pro bring new camera features including a special button on the side, as well as bigger batteries and better processors.