The iPhone 16 Is Here! CNET Editors React to Apple's 'Glowtime' Event

Intro [Music] welcome back to CET live coverage of the Apple iPhone 16 event the glow time event or now I guess we're in the Afterglow um I am here with my co-host Scott Stein and abar alii and we have a lot to dive into so we're just going to go around the room and you know what let's sh our feeling because a lot of it was kind of on par with like some of the rumors but there were some surprises as well um uh for me uh my because I always have to go first because you know how can I expect you guys to um you know say what you think without being on the spot too man uh this is the this is the time for the airpods um perhaps they might have had uh the biggest splash but uh they the and and that and the iPhone 6 uh a camera button uh the capture button CNET's Initial Reaction to the Apple Event those were the two big highlights for me how about you Scott yeah I just I just watched the event on the Vision Pro so I I I threw my threw screens all around me um yeah I think the camera button is the is the you know big splashy new thing here um how useful that is or not you know depends on on who you are and I thought it was interesting that some of those Health features uh the most notable ones hearing Aid um capabilities uh like FDA capable ones for airpods Pro 2 and sleep apneia detection uh both are coming to older models of products the airpods Pro 2 and the Apple watch uh from last year as well as this year uh that's because that stuff needs to be tested you know in order before it's released so that doesn't surprise me but I think it's it's it's just interesting to see those big prominent new features really being for existing products how about you ABR yeah I agree with that I think what was so interesting is that a lot of today was highlighting products that have come out before with new features um highlighting Apple intelligence features that we already heard about during WWDC um but then uh I do think those AirPods Pro 2 Health features especially the the hearing aid feature on the uh airpods Pro two and the hearing test it's so fascinating because you know we think a lot about head like you know earbuds and headphones leading to hearing loss and it's interesting to see apple acknowledge that but then say hey you should still buy our products and we'll just find a way to you know minimize the damage if we can and I feel like that's such an interesting way to Market um these headphones I'm really curious to see how people respond to that and how people use these features but that that definitely caught my attention and then yay USBC charging how exciting uh across the uh those headphones and earbuds yeah Will Will these earbuds uh uh be something that people ended up buying for the family members and their life who have hearing loss we saw that example of of an older motherly figure who finally could you know like I'm like did no one buy her um an actual uh like hearing aid but I but my great-grandmother uh did not like putting her hearing aids in and perhaps in you know it's something that like oh I just have my my airpods you know so it'll be interesting to see if it becomes something that people use to kind of like oh you know just throw your airpods in instead of getting out the whole uh earpiece and and and and how that goes but that'll be something that's what come not is is that coming out right away or is that something that's gonna be coming out a little later abar did you catch that I know that it'll be they awaiting FDA clearance and I think it'll hopefully be coming out soon uh in in the near future but I think you bring up a really interesting point where there is a lot of stigma around things like hearing aids and devices that look very clinical uh and so I think you know making this something that's embedded in something that so mainstream is potentially a really good step and and maybe it'll allow more people to have access to this kind of Technology not that airpods are cheap of course um but you know if you were already going to get airpods anyway and then you have this additional functionality it could be really helpful I want to also talk about the Apple Watch Series 10 Apple watch I I was really thinking hey is this the big 10th year anniversary of the announcement of the Apple watch and it didn't wow me as much but I found a few things interesting like how okay we're talking about sleep apnea detection we're talking about how it's a new design as you're seeing here play out how you'll be able to do more on the screen where it's slightly uh changed in design but as Sumer with a series N9 I saw that you could still get some features on your series 9 so I'm going okay the motivation to upgrade is a little bit weaker than other times but um Scott I kind of wanted to get your take Mr I reviewed the very first Apple watch you know like here we are 10 years later big focus on series 10 also having some water uh sport things uh if you go canoeing you'll have a few cool things too but what was your take after watching that whole presentation with the watch I mean very much the same proposition you know I think that they're going for exactly for the sportier people a bit sportier uh a bit Slimmer a bit bit bigger screen and and these are updates that we've seen before on Apple watches you know like they've they've gradually increased the screen several times um they've they've focused on trying to make it uh a little more little less weighty um yeah it didn't really like wow me I you know all these things that we were talking about like you know Apple intelligence that that did not show up in the way that I expected they mentioned some machine learning and intelligence features I think that's almost like a like a hint that at some point Apple intelligence will find a way on but you know yeah again the big the big feature that we were expecting apnea to Apple's credit is also available on the previous generation watches which um that's nicer than not I don't like the idea of gatekeeping at all it just means that it's you know it it makes this new watch feel like it doesn't have a particularly new thing going on with it other than being a little a little bit larger screened and so it didn't address battery life either which we were talking about with Lexi before if you're going to be wearing this for apnea detection you're wearing it to sleep and they haven't explained how that's going to be more useful for people the answer for apple is always been about changing your charging habits this is 30% not 30% like 30 minutes to 80% charging so it's faster charging but you're still gonna have to juggle that and it's not multi-day like a Fitbit from the past or or something like that a br give me your watch takes okay I have a very superficial watch take which is about how you can play music out loud from your Apple watch without putting in headphones um that's so annoying because it could be really helpful but imagine you're on the train and somebody's just like blasting their music on their Apple watch hopefully that's not going to happen but it's it's more possible now um that's my very superficial takeaway from the Apple watch reveal today oh humans are always annoying you can always guarantee a human being annoying but for me actually I use a lot of different um products in the house that have uh the assistant Siri I'm like it's gonna go off in my house all of a sudden but but when I'm asking for a song through my watch I'm expecting it to play in speakers now will it know which what device it wants to play it on am I gonna play that little game of like no phone I didn't mean you no speakers I met you no watch I didn't mean and I've always struggled with that a little bit as a user so I like to see how Apple um and and its machine learning kind of that's what we intend um but yeah and then with ultra Apple Watch Ultra 2 Refresh we have to mention uh it comes in black there you go that's it for for for a glow Time Event uh black it's the color yeah but we do another color on the series nine it's also black you can choose gold it's spooky the one thing about yeah about the speaker too like occurred to me we were all chatting and going what is this going to be used for I can see one practical thing which is uh workouts and meditations when you don't have headphones so I could see that being something where you go okay you know I need I want guidance on this or listen to music and okay that's helpful because I don't know where my headphones are right now and or I just don't want to take them out but like abbr said like you know anytime you put the ability to play something loudly on something somebody's gonna use it for that so that's going to be annoying well we got to go into the iPhone 16 and the iPhone 16 Action Button camera control uh uh and and how there's so many things that we heard about today that were still from WWDC it was almost like a little bit of a handholding to get you through what Apple intelligence is but yeah we were seeing that all the phones are getting this action button so it wasn't something that was a big thing for me H living with the action button in my phone last year uh but it was kind of talked about how hey hey we have more apps now that're going working with it maybe you want to like have that action button work with a third party app so I think that was the the little twist oh you remember Apple intelligence working with we suggested how to write an email maybe they'll be able to have suggestions in third-party apps but that um that that camera control button really has me thinking uh it definitely matters what case you get um Scott tell me a little bit about your first Thoughts with this button yeah so it looks like the button's working with capacitive uh touch and haptics and it reminds me of like uh virtual buttons where you get kind of a haptic feedback and fitbits had some of some of those like capacitive touch type things with with vibration uh I love the idea in theory of being able to pull out those camera settings um from that I or even some things in apps for sharing uh in practice I'm curious how weird or annoying those will be um it kind of reminded me of touch bar a little bit in a little way um uh and you know I don't think it's going to be like that I think but I think that's it's you know new interface means new learning curve and also potential for misfires I also wonder about can you use this with gloves you know like you know is this something that like you know when you quickly take a photo are you g to like take your gloves off now in the winter or whatever and do this and how's it going to work with water um because the phones are pretty water resistant and like you know sometimes you do like take a photo near the pool or whatever else not that you're always going to be thinking about that but um but if it means like you know instant response and then you feel it gets a little wonky versus using a side volume button for shutter uh so I you know I'm just curious about all of that how that plays out AB BR we also saw that this this iPhone 16 Camera Visual Intelligence button is going to have visual intelligence it's it's given Google Lens Vibes even being able to use with third party apps um uh I found that to be interesting in the examples they were using being to say oh take a photo of a dog breed and and some of us were joking on the side in the chat like what are you're not talking to people anymore to ask what dog they had but you'll be able to do a lot of different things with this it seems um when it's coming later this year what what what was on your mind when it comes to the visual intelligence side it's fascinating to me that Apple is is using a physical button or Hardware to try to lure you into some of its new software capabilities so obviously they want you use apple intelligence and they want you to use all their schmancy new camera features and to say here's a designated button where you can tap into all of that is a really fascinating approach um and potentially it could lead people to say okay let me play around okay it's right there it's on the side of my phone why don't I just utilize it and see how it works yes Google lens has been around forever but how often do you actually go into that and use that and how often do you take a picture of you know a restaurant to find out what the menu is at that place it's so I think it could potentially increase um the use of some of its new AI features I did use uh uh the Apple camera itself to take a picture of a plant the other day and be like what is this and you know that's that that is one of those things that's kind of hidden inside of the iPhone you got to know to take the picture swipe up and you got it's the kind of thing you tell your friends about did you know you could do and here I feel like uh by having it on this button maybe they're kind of being a little show off uh uh Scott um you know what do you think about being ble to do this whole like identifying something with visual intelligence oh man my future devices uh Spidey things are tingling all over the place on this one like that's like you know just wor the Vision Pro to watch this thing I wear meta glasses a lot and um I was thinking oh that camera button would be interesting on glasses wouldn't it because you know when you have a phone you have a screen when you have glasses or ones with future displays and you press on that and it can give you you a menu that you can adjust or instantly bring up AI that's really intriguing on meta's glasses you have to say hey meta and Trigger them and there is not an AI button on the glasses there's a there's a general button I guess you could kind of press and hold things but that's more that's for camera recording and that's for snapping photos so yeah I'm already leaping there because I think that this is easing people into instant use of this Vision system and we're like oh when Apple makes glasses Apple has mixed reality now the cat's out of the bag I mean they're in this space I don't think it will be very long in the future before they start thinking or showing classes um it seems like part of the road map and visual intelligence is such a big part of AR and it is a big missing part of Vision Pro that I just go okay there we go I don't know but Apple sometimes takes like three or four years to introduce that on something else in the meantime I think I think it's just interesting to see how it how it evolves here I guess they're going to test how people use it yeah it's kind of like uh now you get to see it in action and then like after a few years with it you know they get to like may maybe perfect it a little more we we're we're showing the pro on screen iPhone 16 Pro Models we got to go talk about the pro a little bit and how I guess we're all just going to be um uh amazing photographers now and making music videos in super slow motion you know I I always like the pro line I I we're we're in the business of video I mean particularly I want to make sure like oh yeah I want I want the best of the best but now I'm going okay super slow motion 4K uh yeah but wait I can adjust things after the fact and now I'm really curious these were these were small little talks about adjusting colors and different things after the fact now I'm going okay maybe maybe that that is something that um could be fun to play with but um ABR like are you are you going all the way in Pro on this one uh or or to be able to have all these cool AUD right now we're even seeing a demo of the audio you you could you could change up because how many times have you done something where you wish the audio was better yeah I I'm also with you in that I believe like you're already chalking up you know minimum $800 for an iPhone if you have the capacity to pay 200 more and actually get like Top ofthe Line video and and and Hardware then then go for it but um the audio aspect is really interesting because it reminds me of pixels um audio Magic Eraser which can also kind of you can tweak the audio if there's some background sounds that are ruining your your shot um I I love that they had a demo of somebody in San Francisco and the wind was ruining their video because that was just the perfect example of really being in San Francisco and dealing with that but um but such incremental upgrades so honestly I have an iPhone 14 pro and I don't think this event was enough to convince me that I need to upgrade I think I'm probably just going to wait until next year and see if there's anything that's a bit more revolutionary which there should be after this event which was kind of you know a bit a bit modest well come on largest iPhone ever though Scott you don't want the largest iPhone ever we love that lingo our best product yet yeah of course I hope even even bigger um yeah I mean a lot of those increments yeah it is they they feel incremental where it's like you know yes technically it is bigger how much bigger bigger feel um you know some people don't have a Max and that could already be their bigger but this is bigger compared to bigger um I felt the same way as a br did where I didn't feel any particularly large pull to say oh this is the upgrade moment I think the camera button is interesting that definitely is intriguing to me but again like I'd say intriguing you know because I don't know how it'll feel when I start using it all the time and um or if I start using it all the time and then um and then the the the spatial audio recording stuff I mean again that's the Vision Pro mention one of the couple in there uh yeah I understand that for future capture on things but I think if you're doing that for uh Vision Pro that's such a small subset obviously such a very small subset and I think that by the time uh Apple evolves its headsets and other things you'll have something that does that even better um I thought it was interesting they mention that I don't know when other times i' use it or you know I'm not thinking tremendously much about audio with my videos maybe I maybe I would start doing that more um so yeah I kind of felt like I mean I like the idea the pro has the 5x Zoom I I think that's great because that was that was kept in that Max model and I miss not having 5x Zoom so that's how I felt well not everyone uses cinematic mode right and and that was something that's out for a while so it's more like leaning more into to that like if you want that professional moment to be able to like you know fine-tune where the audio is coming from it's a nice thing to have but it doesn't mean it's going to be for everyone um I you know there was a lot to uh digest and I want to go around one more time Conclusions and get final kind of things and questions you might be dwelling on and feelings for me I thought it was interesting how much of a stress we heard about battery boosted right off the bat with the iPhone uh 16 Pro Models didn't really get like numbers I mean that's something we can dig into later like okay but clearly Apple wanted you to know hey the battery is better um you know we we'll we'll tell you how later but it's better please what what do we hear from our CET survey that people care about battery when they're actually updating you know and and AI is a little lower on the list um I'm worried about that that camera button and how it works with what kind of cases you might have or if if I'm going to accidentally set it off because of the way I'm holding my phone we don't need another issue of us holding our phones wrong and and I also um did find it interesting how much Apple stressed on this presentation how much you can get for a trade in of just last year's model making it appear that it's a free phone and I mean what I mean by that is that if you had the iPhone 15 it was like and you can get a trade in as much as $800 wait it starts at $800 for the new one if you have a pro it's as much as a thousand wait are you are like so how is Apple trying to convince people now to do this upgrade when here we're all talking about how it's a maybe a lesser of of of um of a wow but it's a lot of little things so they definitely hit on pricing more but there's so much more I want to explore and and we're all gonna have to chew on for a while but I'll go with you Scott what is still kind of in your mind after all this what exact Apple intelligence is going to be you know I think that that's a big thing for me I think they've talked about some of the features and they say more to come and considering it's not launched yet and they're sound like they're going to be taking a step-by-step approach and visual intelligence was a big Focus here I just wonder when that will appear in other platforms like the watch um when it might show up for airpods in some way more um that was my big question because all the products here seem pretty straight forward you know I feel like these seem like continuations of what we already know and then the question is when you choose to upgrade but I think that bigger question it didn't really feel like a great arrival moment for AI you know they said built from the ground up for this but I thought the other the other phones are built for AI too so you know I don't know I don't know what that means exactly um and I I think that uh it's always a moving point and uh so you know they haven't changed the forms on anything yet the the everything functions as we are used to it functioning and we didn't get whole new gesture language we didn't get um you know other new surprising things other than the camera button um and so that's how I feel about it right now it's kind of like okay you know I think it was a re-emphasizing of Apple intelligence like you said a lot of it was recap for that as well yeah no no new double tappens no new motions to learn but I but but perhaps there are other things we haven't even figured out yet with that button ABR what are you kind of sitting with after all this yeah I'm right there with Scott in that even just the the format of this event was really interesting compara to events from Samsung or Google where AI was right off the bat what was discussed right because those are companies that really hit the ground running when it comes to Ai and Apple has had a much more cautious approach as we know and it's being a bit more measured about when it rolls this out so um I think the fact that we really didn't get that definitive idea of like oh when you get your iPhone 16 like apple a you know Apple intelligence will be ready to go no like you know we still don't know exactly what that'll look like when it'll really be available um and so I'm sure we'll learn more uh but I think there is a lot of unknown in that way and I think this this event is really reflective of that idea of hey here's the hardware it's really cool some cool you know software and AI features will be coming to I am curious on what we're going to get out of that demo room uh those of you watching um be sure to stay to our channels because we're going to be having videos from the demo room with Hands-On time you know if AI is not coming out right now will our team be getting some demos of all of these different AI uh features in the showroom in the observatory uh this new room that apparently might be utilized today and also we did not hear about a change in the Apple watch bands uh with this new design that was not something Apple talked about at all so that's another thing I'm looking forward to with Hands-On time so it'll be very interesting to see if uh you know being Hands-On with these products reveals any little nuggets that we didn't get from the presentation but thank you Scott and thank you ABR it's always fun kind of digesting this in real time with you guys and for those of you watching thanks again and we will keep having more content coming out for you all week long we'll see you next time