The New iPhone 16 Lineup: A Closer Look at its Unique Features and Accessories

One unique feature of the iPhone 16 lineup is its audio mix, which can help reduce background noise when taking videos. After finishing a video recording, users can adjust the audio formats to make it easier to focus on the person speaking on camera. However, this tool may not be magic and won't completely remove all background sound. For example, I had a lovely encounter with a harpist named Kathleen Finegan, who played something special for me, but the tools didn't help me get rid of the loud passersby behind us. The audio mix is better suited for lifting up voices than instruments, such as when recording people in crowded environments.

The Camera Button: A New Feature or a Marketing Ploy?

I've been wondering who designed the camera button for the iPhone 16, but perhaps it's not about who, but rather what. It seems that this button was created by Apple to make more money on iPhone cases. If you buy a case from the Apple App Store, you'll find cases made with special conductive material that is compatible with the touch sensitivity of the camera control. The Apple silicone case and the Beets case, which is also an Apple company, feature this technology. Other companies have sent me samples that just cut out a slot for the Touch button, but this mujo leather case has been more annoying to press due to the small cutout window.

However, I found the Mofed Vegan Case to be a better option, with a larger cutout window to make it easier to access the button and swipe across it. I also came across an Adam Studios cover that snaps on the back of the phone to expose the entire border around the Touch button. While some customers may prefer cases sold at Apple Stores for a smoother button interaction, others may prioritize other factors such as materials or durability.

A Sneak Peek into the Launch Event

I recently attended the launch event for the iPhone 16 Pro Max at the iconic Fifth Avenue Apple Store in New York City. The event was quite spectacular, with Tim Cook meeting fans and other Apple executives were on hand. The entire glass cube was transformed with borders that glowed just like the future Siri, which will glow around the edge of the iPhone when Apple Intelligence arrives next October.

Mark, who was the first in line to pick up his pre-order for the iPhone 16 Pro Max, shared his first impressions of the phone after using it for a few days. He reported no complaints with the performance, saying it runs smoothly and is fast. The 120Hz display is also a highlight, which reminds him of the 15 Pro Series from last year. However, the camera control button, which was marketed as a killer feature, has been underwhelming for Mark. It's not entirely straightforward to use, and he's not convinced it will stick around for future iPhone models.

A Call to Test the Audio Mix Further

I realized that sometimes you need to live with a feature for a while to see its benefits, but other times, simplicity is better. I'm personally not feeling too enthusiastic about the camera button yet, and I'd love to wait and see how iOS 18.1 will bring Apple Intelligence, which includes a Google Lens alternative, before making up my mind.

Until Next Time

As I conclude this article, I want to hear from you – your experiences with the iPhone 16 lineup, especially the audio mix feature and camera control button. How do you think these features will impact your daily life? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enI can't quite put my finger on it but something isn't clicking with me and this new iPhone button it's been one week since the iPhone landed in stores and I spent a few days using the new iPhone 16 Pro Max camera features including this new touch sensitive camera control button it opens up a shortcut menu to different photo settings now to properly test the future of iPhone controls I traveled to the past I went with the family to the New York renaissance fair and I took amazing footage there was so much cool slowmo and I zoomed into jousting battles and I changed depth of field and I switched audio mixes of minstrels playing yeah I went a little crazy with the camera test I took nearly a th000 photos and videos and I killed my battery I didn't bring ye old mag safe battery pack so after all of that I have some strong opinions of this camera button and I did not find it very useful and at times it felt like a worse way to take a photo than what we have been doing all long per chance I am not alone in these thoughts you see this guy here he's Mark gulli he's an apple Super Fan I met at the Fifth Avenue Apple Store last week he was first in line to pick up his iPhone pre-order we have chatted since that day and he told me he was also disappointed in the button design but more on that later I like pushing buttons every week on this show so let's have some honest talk about the new iPhone 16 Pro Camera and the controls I'm brid Cary and T one more thing let's explain this camera control it's on the side of all the new iPhone 16 models it clicks and compresses down so it is like a true shutter button but it also is touch sensitive to scroll through camera settings and it has some haptic feedback and you feel it when you make selections if you give it this half Force press but it does take a whole lot of luck and concentration to get that level of pressure correct you might end up with a lot of junk photos of the ground from pressing it too hard and taking the photo too early and perhaps the biggest problem is that it is not intuitive to use I had to find an Apple support YouTube video to really understand how it works which to me is already a design flaw but in researching I learned that if you want to take a video you have to keep holding the button down with constant pressure which I never got it to work the way I wanted and regardless of the learning curve it also is just not as smooth I have much more precision and control over the normal zoom using my touchscreen using a finger to zoom on the side button just comes out choppy and it just takes longer to change a setting this way with these half presses than by just doing it yourself by touching the screen in the app now here's a good thing about the button it is a fast way to pull up the camera as you're pulling out your phone you just click it and Bam the camera is on click it again bam you got a shot but adjusting modes and settings does not feel natural when I was with my kids it was slowing me down from just getting these cute moments captured quickly for example one setting allows you to change the depth of focus in a shot like what you get in portrait mode but I think you're better off just taking a portrait mode shot normally and then going back after the photo's taken to adjust the depth effects now this all left me wondering what did Apple really want out of this button who is it for you can make the argument that is for the professional photographer who likes adjusting settings manually before snapping the picture but let's think about that for a moment if you find joy in the connection you make with something more manual and you enjoy the feeling of turning Wheels to dial in the right shot can you really get that same level of control and connection with a touch bar swipe if you love driving a car where you can manually switch gears with a stick shift would it be the same if you switch gears with a touchcreen let's take another step back from that analogy this button is not just on the pro iPhone model it's on all iPhone 16 models it's for the average user and for years Apple has told us the consumers that the iPhone is so great because you can take amazing shots without knowing a thing about photography and now here's a new button where Apple wants me to learn a thing or two about photography okay cool Apple I guess I did learn something I learned photography is not easy when you're in a rush and I still want to do it the old way forget about the side button for a second there are other positive things about the iPhone 16 cameras I really enjoy the 5x zoom on here which I also enjoyed on the iPhone 15 Pro Max but if you have not had it yet it's now on both sizes of Pro Models and it's fantastic if you're far away in a crowd but you want to get those close-up shots of a performance on a stage or say see details of a royal joust and catch all the details in Her Majesty's gown this Zoom will make anyone feel Victorious also new this year in the Pro Models is the ability to do a 4K resolution slow motion capture in 120 frames per second so your video is buttery smooth it eats up a lot of story but it's worth it when you're capturing things that look hardcore yeah my battery died from taking all the 4K slow-mo footage before the fair was even over but I have no regrets that brings me to another unique feature of the iPhone 16 lineup it is called audio mix now after you finish taking a video you can Tinker with the audio formats it might help you reduce background noise to focus on a person speaking on camera but this isn't totally magic it won't just remove all the background sound I had a lovely encounter with a harpist her name is Kathleen finegan and she played something special for us but the tools did not help me get rid of the Loud passers by behind us these tools are better for lifting up voices than instruments when she was talking with my daughter I could use it to make their conversation more clear you know what you're playing very good you want to keep going so that is a bit helpful if you're recording people in crowded environments I'll have to test them more to better understand it all because now you might just say I'm playing it by ear I have been asking myself who did Apple make this camera button for on the iPhone 16 but perhaps that's the wrong question maybe it's not a who it's a what because right now it seems like this button is for apple to make more money on iPhone cases if you buy a case from the Apple App Store you will find cases that are made with a special conductive material to be compatible with the touch sensitivity of that camera control you can find it on the Apple silicone case it's in the beets case that's also an Apple company and this Otter Box sold at Apple Stores has it which is my go-to case right now with this pop of pink other companies have sent me samples that just cut out a slot for the Touch button this mujo leather case has a small cutout now I found it more annoying to press the button but maybe you would like it if you want something to keep you from accidental interactions with the camera control now when I pop it in the mofed vegan case you can see it has a larger cutout window to make it easier to access the button and swipe across it or check out this cover from Adam Studios it just snaps on the back to expose the whole border I mean look at those naked titanium sides I can't help but wonder if more customers are going to seek out cases sold at Apple Stores to have a smoother button interaction but there are reasons to go with another case maker maybe you care about the materials made of or you care about how tough it is a week ago I picked up my phone on launch day at the iconic Fifth Avenue Apple Store in New York City it was quite a spectacle with Tim Cook meeing fans and other Apple Executives were on the scene these events always bring an excited energy from fans and apple transformed the entire glass cube with borders that glow just like the future Siri that will glow around the edge of the iPhone when Apple intelligence arrives in October now I got to know Mark he was the first in line to pick up his pre-order for the iPhone 16 Pro Max he waited since 7:30 the night before I called up Mark a few days after he got the iPhone to ask what he thought of it now that some time has passed and I asked if he would send me a video of his thoughts to share with you hi Bridget I've been using the new iPhone 16 Pro ever since the launch date for a few days now and here are my quick First Impressions on it it's a great phone obviously it's a pro phone it's supposed to be great and it is I get no complaints to the performance it runs smoothly it's fast it's fluid 120 HZ display all of that stuff it's great in fact it reminds me a lot about the 15 Pro Series from last year because spoiler alert they're both very similar to each other but what's interesting about the 16 Series this year is that camera control button but which is supposed to be a killer feature it's a decent button if you just want to wake up your phone as fast as you want but with everything that has been marketed for it's not really that straightforward as you might think it is I'm just personally not feeling it we're just going to have to wait and see till later next month when iOS 18.1 comes out with apple intelligence getting that Google Lens alternative in it which I'm excited for personally peace out y'all I realize sometimes you have to live more with a feature to see the benefits but sometimes simpler is better now I don't mean like 16th century simple but if it is too complicated for people to like it then the camera button might be something that doesn't stick around for future iPhone models and winds up in the Apple history books let me know more about your experience in the first week of using the iPhone 16 and until next time my Lords and Ladies of the internet fa thee most well and I shall return Friday for one more thingI can't quite put my finger on it but something isn't clicking with me and this new iPhone button it's been one week since the iPhone landed in stores and I spent a few days using the new iPhone 16 Pro Max camera features including this new touch sensitive camera control button it opens up a shortcut menu to different photo settings now to properly test the future of iPhone controls I traveled to the past I went with the family to the New York renaissance fair and I took amazing footage there was so much cool slowmo and I zoomed into jousting battles and I changed depth of field and I switched audio mixes of minstrels playing yeah I went a little crazy with the camera test I took nearly a th000 photos and videos and I killed my battery I didn't bring ye old mag safe battery pack so after all of that I have some strong opinions of this camera button and I did not find it very useful and at times it felt like a worse way to take a photo than what we have been doing all long per chance I am not alone in these thoughts you see this guy here he's Mark gulli he's an apple Super Fan I met at the Fifth Avenue Apple Store last week he was first in line to pick up his iPhone pre-order we have chatted since that day and he told me he was also disappointed in the button design but more on that later I like pushing buttons every week on this show so let's have some honest talk about the new iPhone 16 Pro Camera and the controls I'm brid Cary and T one more thing let's explain this camera control it's on the side of all the new iPhone 16 models it clicks and compresses down so it is like a true shutter button but it also is touch sensitive to scroll through camera settings and it has some haptic feedback and you feel it when you make selections if you give it this half Force press but it does take a whole lot of luck and concentration to get that level of pressure correct you might end up with a lot of junk photos of the ground from pressing it too hard and taking the photo too early and perhaps the biggest problem is that it is not intuitive to use I had to find an Apple support YouTube video to really understand how it works which to me is already a design flaw but in researching I learned that if you want to take a video you have to keep holding the button down with constant pressure which I never got it to work the way I wanted and regardless of the learning curve it also is just not as smooth I have much more precision and control over the normal zoom using my touchscreen using a finger to zoom on the side button just comes out choppy and it just takes longer to change a setting this way with these half presses than by just doing it yourself by touching the screen in the app now here's a good thing about the button it is a fast way to pull up the camera as you're pulling out your phone you just click it and Bam the camera is on click it again bam you got a shot but adjusting modes and settings does not feel natural when I was with my kids it was slowing me down from just getting these cute moments captured quickly for example one setting allows you to change the depth of focus in a shot like what you get in portrait mode but I think you're better off just taking a portrait mode shot normally and then going back after the photo's taken to adjust the depth effects now this all left me wondering what did Apple really want out of this button who is it for you can make the argument that is for the professional photographer who likes adjusting settings manually before snapping the picture but let's think about that for a moment if you find joy in the connection you make with something more manual and you enjoy the feeling of turning Wheels to dial in the right shot can you really get that same level of control and connection with a touch bar swipe if you love driving a car where you can manually switch gears with a stick shift would it be the same if you switch gears with a touchcreen let's take another step back from that analogy this button is not just on the pro iPhone model it's on all iPhone 16 models it's for the average user and for years Apple has told us the consumers that the iPhone is so great because you can take amazing shots without knowing a thing about photography and now here's a new button where Apple wants me to learn a thing or two about photography okay cool Apple I guess I did learn something I learned photography is not easy when you're in a rush and I still want to do it the old way forget about the side button for a second there are other positive things about the iPhone 16 cameras I really enjoy the 5x zoom on here which I also enjoyed on the iPhone 15 Pro Max but if you have not had it yet it's now on both sizes of Pro Models and it's fantastic if you're far away in a crowd but you want to get those close-up shots of a performance on a stage or say see details of a royal joust and catch all the details in Her Majesty's gown this Zoom will make anyone feel Victorious also new this year in the Pro Models is the ability to do a 4K resolution slow motion capture in 120 frames per second so your video is buttery smooth it eats up a lot of story but it's worth it when you're capturing things that look hardcore yeah my battery died from taking all the 4K slow-mo footage before the fair was even over but I have no regrets that brings me to another unique feature of the iPhone 16 lineup it is called audio mix now after you finish taking a video you can Tinker with the audio formats it might help you reduce background noise to focus on a person speaking on camera but this isn't totally magic it won't just remove all the background sound I had a lovely encounter with a harpist her name is Kathleen finegan and she played something special for us but the tools did not help me get rid of the Loud passers by behind us these tools are better for lifting up voices than instruments when she was talking with my daughter I could use it to make their conversation more clear you know what you're playing very good you want to keep going so that is a bit helpful if you're recording people in crowded environments I'll have to test them more to better understand it all because now you might just say I'm playing it by ear I have been asking myself who did Apple make this camera button for on the iPhone 16 but perhaps that's the wrong question maybe it's not a who it's a what because right now it seems like this button is for apple to make more money on iPhone cases if you buy a case from the Apple App Store you will find cases that are made with a special conductive material to be compatible with the touch sensitivity of that camera control you can find it on the Apple silicone case it's in the beets case that's also an Apple company and this Otter Box sold at Apple Stores has it which is my go-to case right now with this pop of pink other companies have sent me samples that just cut out a slot for the Touch button this mujo leather case has a small cutout now I found it more annoying to press the button but maybe you would like it if you want something to keep you from accidental interactions with the camera control now when I pop it in the mofed vegan case you can see it has a larger cutout window to make it easier to access the button and swipe across it or check out this cover from Adam Studios it just snaps on the back to expose the whole border I mean look at those naked titanium sides I can't help but wonder if more customers are going to seek out cases sold at Apple Stores to have a smoother button interaction but there are reasons to go with another case maker maybe you care about the materials made of or you care about how tough it is a week ago I picked up my phone on launch day at the iconic Fifth Avenue Apple Store in New York City it was quite a spectacle with Tim Cook meeing fans and other Apple Executives were on the scene these events always bring an excited energy from fans and apple transformed the entire glass cube with borders that glow just like the future Siri that will glow around the edge of the iPhone when Apple intelligence arrives in October now I got to know Mark he was the first in line to pick up his pre-order for the iPhone 16 Pro Max he waited since 7:30 the night before I called up Mark a few days after he got the iPhone to ask what he thought of it now that some time has passed and I asked if he would send me a video of his thoughts to share with you hi Bridget I've been using the new iPhone 16 Pro ever since the launch date for a few days now and here are my quick First Impressions on it it's a great phone obviously it's a pro phone it's supposed to be great and it is I get no complaints to the performance it runs smoothly it's fast it's fluid 120 HZ display all of that stuff it's great in fact it reminds me a lot about the 15 Pro Series from last year because spoiler alert they're both very similar to each other but what's interesting about the 16 Series this year is that camera control button but which is supposed to be a killer feature it's a decent button if you just want to wake up your phone as fast as you want but with everything that has been marketed for it's not really that straightforward as you might think it is I'm just personally not feeling it we're just going to have to wait and see till later next month when iOS 18.1 comes out with apple intelligence getting that Google Lens alternative in it which I'm excited for personally peace out y'all I realize sometimes you have to live more with a feature to see the benefits but sometimes simpler is better now I don't mean like 16th century simple but if it is too complicated for people to like it then the camera button might be something that doesn't stick around for future iPhone models and winds up in the Apple history books let me know more about your experience in the first week of using the iPhone 16 and until next time my Lords and Ladies of the internet fa thee most well and I shall return Friday for one more thing\n"