Recently, foreign media revealed that Apple will make a bold design change in the iPhone 16 series - cancel the traditional physical volume button and power button, and instead use capacitive touch button technology.
The reporter of Nandu Bay Finance Society noticed that affected by this news, on April 22, the topic of "iPhone16 or cancel the power button of the physical volume button" appeared on Weibo hot search. In this regard, some netizens complained that it was inconvenient to cancel the physical buttons, and some netizens ridiculed that "if you update it, the screen will be canceled".
Apple's 16 cancellation of the physical button has been foreseen, and many upgrades are expected to be bought by the market
According to the reporter of Nandu Bay Finance Society, in April this year, the well-known Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo had already revealed the news that Apple wanted to cancel the solid-state button. And due to the inability to overcome technical problems before mass production, the solid-state button design that was originally canceled in Apple's two high-end iPhone15 models, Pro and ProMax, was delayed to be applied to Apple 16.
As Apple announces the date of WWDC 2024 as it draws closer, the attention of Apple 16 is also rising. Recently, some foreign media have exposed the latest information about the iPhone 16 series models, among which the design highlights of the Pro version of the larger screen and the new camera button have attracted widespread attention.
According to foreign media reports, the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max are expected to introduce 30 hardware and software improvements. These updates cover multiple aspects such as cameras, battery technology, and more, with the aim of improving the overall performance and user experience of the device. Among them, the most discussed point of the new iPhone 16 series this year is that the physical volume buttons and power buttons on both sides of the fuselage have been canceled and replaced with capacitive touch buttons. To enhance the user experience, Apple will also add a second Taptic Engine motor, which allows users to vibrate when pressing keys, achieving the goal of disappearing physical buttons on the outer body of the iPhone.
With the advancement of technology, consumers have higher requirements for the portability, durability and waterproof performance of mobile phones. Industry experts believe that the reason for canceling the physical buttons may be because the gaps in the physical buttons are easy to become one of the channels for the mobile phone to enter the water. After changing to capacitive buttons, you can improve the overall airtightness of the phone, which can improve the waterproof performance. According to a report by the Financial Associated Press, Taiwanese semiconductor company Bai Yueguang Investment Control has received an exclusive order for the new design of Apple's capacitive buttons, further confirming the rumors that Apple 16 will cancel physical buttons.
The reporter of Nandu Bay Finance Society observed that in addition to the big change of physical buttons, the camera will also have big changes. The new model previously revealed on the Internet showed that the rear camera of the Apple 16 is arranged vertically, and the new model also cancels the mute paddle, uses the action button on last year's Pro model instead, and introduces a new photo button.
According to foreign media reports, this photo button can make it more convenient for users to operate when taking photos or videos. In addition, the button also supports touch function, and users can achieve advanced functions such as zoom by swiping left and right, which greatly improves the convenience and professionalism of taking photos. It is reported that this design adjustment may be to introduce the spatial video recording function to the iPhone 16 to facilitate spatial video capture and enable better linkage with the Vision Pro spatial computing device.
In terms of product colors, the iPhone 16 Pro series basically continues the design style of its predecessor. It is expected to be available in black titanium, white titanium, desert titanium, gray titanium, rose gold titanium, and other colors, with a glossy titanium frame.
At the technical level, the iPhone 16 Pro will be powered by a new generation of A18 Pro chips, which is expected to bring more processing power. Combined with a more advanced thermal design, this model is able to support higher performance output. In addition, the new devices are expected to support the latest Wi-Fi standards to improve the speed and stability of network connections.
What's more special is that the iPhone 16 Pro and Max are expected to be the largest iPhone ever, according to foreign media, these two models adopt a larger scheme, equipped with 6.3 and 6.9-inch screens respectively, but the corresponding weight will also increase. This change not only optimizes the screen ratio, but also improves the user's operating comfort in details, providing users with a broader visual experience.
The new machine or the AI model can save Apple's sales decline
According to the reporter of Nandu Bay Finance Society, according to the report released by IDC, Apple's iPhone shipments in the first quarter fell sharply by nearly 10%, a significant decrease of about 5 million units from the same period last year, which is in stark contrast to the overall growth of the global smartphone market, mainly due to poor sales in the Chinese market.
Industry insiders said that a large part of Apple's decline is due to the impact of the hot sales of domestic mobile phones such as Huawei and Xiaomi. Especially affected by the release of Huawei's Mate 60 series mobile phones, after the iPhone 15 press conference, Apple's decline in the U.S. stock market once expanded to 2.53%, and the total market value fell below $2.8 trillion.
The reporter of Nandu Bay Finance Society observed that the Apple 15 launched last year has fallen from the original price of 12999 yuan 1TB top version, and now it has fallen to about 10548 yuan, which can be described as a "diving" price reduction.
According to the reporter of Nandu Bay Finance Society, according to Counterpoint data, Huawei stood out among all mobile phone brand manufacturers in the first quarter, with a year-on-year increase of 69.7%. Huawei's growth is largely due to the booming sales of its 5G-enabled Mate 60 series, which has seen a significant increase in its market share at the premium end of more than $600, which has undoubtedly directly affected Apple's position in the premium market.
Industry insiders said, "Compared with previous years, Apple's replacement demand is also slightly weaker." "Apple, which once led the times, seems to have completely lost its ability to lead innovation in recent years, and can only continue to carry out a small number of hardware upgrades to maintain normal updates.
In the context of the rapid replacement of the mobile phone industry and the lack of motivation for users to replace their phones, the AI model will become an important weapon for mobile phone manufacturers to compete, and it will also become a key technical means to improve future sales expectations. And the advent of generative AI has prompted Chinese phone brands to integrate such features into their flagship devices, and Apple seems to be lagging behind.
However, a reporter from Nandu Bay Finance Society observed that at Apple's annual shareholders' meeting this year, Apple CEO Cook once spoiled Apple for spending a lot of time and energy on artificial intelligence. While Apple has yet to launch a product that competes with models like OpenAI's GPT or Google's Gemini, Cook hinted that a major project will be revealed this year.
"Later this year, I look forward to sharing with you how we're breaking new ground with generative AI, another technology that we believe can redefine the future," Cook said. ”
It is reported that Apple will acquire 30+ startups in the AI field in 2023, and continue to explore new trends in AI through these startups, while Google, Microsoft and Meta, which are also tech giants, have only acquired about 20 AI companies. Previously, Apple announced that it plans to use GenAI models to upgrade Siri and iOS's built-in search tool Spotlight. Apple has also released a plethora of open-source software models and tools for developing GenAI-powered software in recent months, further hinting at the big moves Apple will make in artificial intelligence.
The upcoming iPhone 16 models are rumored to feature a "substantially" upgraded Neural Engine, Apple's brand of custom device chips used to accelerate AI processing, which is also expected to be showcased at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference this year.
Written by: Nandu Bay Finance Society reporter Kong Xueshao intern Guo Jiayi