The new iPhone 16 release has been the topic of various debates due to the immense changes Apple is making. Changes in the technology and charging ports have led people to wonder if this new upgrade is even worth it or if it is just another way for Apple to make some extra money. Many changes seen in the Iphones throughout the years have all had benefits but customers have argued that the benefits of this one do not outweigh the issues surrounding it.
One of the largest iPhone 16-specific updates is the camera which has both a new look and button on the side for it. This button is located underneath the power button on the right side and can be used to open the camera or to take videos and pictures. This feature as a whole has not been used on any other Apple products and is said to add convenience for the user. This has been a large marketing point and is the “only thing memorable about the new phone…[but] the change as a whole feels unnecessary,” said Kyla Campos, a current iPhone 13 user. While this isn’t the first major change recently made to the cameras, it is a new formatting, and with it comes new AI enhancement features.
The previously mentioned AI features are another large marketing point that comes with the new model. Unfortunately, these new features were not released at the same time as the phone and are expected to come out with a later IOS update. Many critics have argued that the addition of this adds too much reliance on artificial intelligence which has become a rising issue in today’s society. This is a probable contributing factor to the low sales numbers, which are down around 12% from the launch of the iPhone 15 last year.
One last major change that has been made on the iPhone 16 wasn’t 16 specific but came out with the 15 instead; the shift from the lightning charging cable to the new USB-C charging cord. By changing the charger all users who made the upgrade have to go out to purchase new chargers, having to scrap the many they have accumulated from past iPhones. This adds the additional struggle of finding a charger that works for their phone, what was once just the task of finding an iPhone user turns into having to look for one of the few people with the same phone as you. Both the loss of money and convenience add to the lack of appeal to getting a new iPhone upgrade.
A largely believed conspiracy is that Apple is slowing down the processing of current phones to force users to buy the new model, though there is no evidence of this. Considering criticism is unavoidable, it appears as if Apple will continue to expand upon these current updates in future years.
