Onto the iPhone 16 collection! That is the fruits of the equalization of smartphones. A decade or so in the past, big screens paved the best way for smartphones to start out trying very comparable. Then innovation steadily slowed down in favor of ever-so-minor tweaks right here and there. And now, the variations between iPhone and Android units, the final bastion of variety, are being worn out.
The (large) elephant within the room
Now you’ll be able to prepare your house display screen icons and alter their look
I even grew accustomed to the interface and completely understood the hype once I was switching between iPhones for word-related functions. Now Apple needs us to have the ability to change the look of the UI. Why?
The identical applies to the Management Heart customization, lock display screen shortcut customization, and even RCS. Then we’ve got a devoted Recreation Mode (after years and years of boasting how iPhones do not want one). I ponder what the true motive is for doing this stuff. Lack of creativeness and inspiration for actual innovation, or market-research-driven sales-oriented elements.
The {hardware} elephant within the room
It isn’t your fault, Apple
To be trustworthy, I did not dislike the Lightning connector once I had to make use of iPhones. It gave me a way of exclusivity, and the male connector on the cable makes extra sense to me even as we speak. The flexibility to plug it in whatever the aspect it is going through was additionally cool, and it got here sooner than USB-C.
I am not singing Lightning Port praises right here; I am simply saying that Apple misplaced that cool issue because of the EU. And in the long run, it is for one of the best. In the long term, it means fewer cables operating round, and probably sooner charging and information switch, however it’s what it’s.
The Synthetic (intelligence) elephant within the room
Apple, being Apple, determined that if the corporate could not invent a big language mannequin of its personal, it could simply hijack the identify. Enter Apple Intelligence. Many of the AI options that I used to be in a position to tinker with, do the identical factor all of those LLMs are doing. Apple simply makes use of completely different names. Picture Playground mainly does what Pixel and Galaxy units have been doing for 2 generations: producing photographs from visible or textual content prompts.
Magic Eraser anybody?
Clear Up is simply Magic Eraser, and we have had this for years, and transcribing and translating AI-infused providers have additionally been round for fairly some time.
AI powered Siri is simply Gemini or Galaxy AI for poor iOS individuals, and lengthy story brief, Apple Intelligence makes the iPhone 16 look much more Android, as a result of most Android customers are already acquainted with these options, rebranded or not.
The ecosystem elephant
The Galaxy Ring is a Galaxy-exclusive machine
Take the Galaxy Ring, for instance. It is locked inside Samsung Well being, and you’ll’t use it with different Android telephones. Different manufacturers are beginning to pull these tips off as nicely, and although we’re speaking about Huawei, Xiaomi, Honor, and the like, the development is unsettling.
So, on this case, it isn’t like Apple intentionally tried to make the iPhone 16 collection Android like, it is the opposite manner round. The Android model closed the hole on their aspect.
The value issue
Guess which telephone is dearer!
iPhones was a standing image for lots of causes, however the price ticket was one of many main ones. Possibly it is an growing older stereotype, however earlier iPhone units had been dearer than the choice Android flagships.
Now it appears that evidently this value issue has been misplaced fully. Samsung has not solely mimicked the iPhone costs for the previous couple of generations, however typically even outdid Apple within the value division.
Different manufacturers ( you, Sony) are taking issues even additional, charging for a flagship telephone the identical cash as a foldable. And talking of foldables, the longer Apple delays its first foldable, the extra probability there’s that will probably be tremendous Android-like, and other people will simply bash Apple for copying flip-and-fold telephones that’ve been round for generations.
Conclusion
This text wasn’t meant to evoke adverse emotions, and wasn’t meant to turn into a herd of elephants, though it would’ve felt like I used to be triggered in a single or two elements. The one factor I am triggered about is the unification of the smartphone as a tool. And typically I even assume that we’re in charge. In any case, that is what we appear to need, in keeping with gross sales figures. We could lament the great previous days of telephone variety, however we find yourself upgrading our iPhone 14 or Galaxy S22 to the most recent mannequin, although the variations are nearly non-existent.
What do you consider it? Is the iPhone 16 collection probably the most Android Apple collection ever, and what does it imply for you?
