Apple CEO Tim Cook called the new iPhone 16 a “new era” after unveiling the smartphone on Monday.
But a former employee of the tech giant had a very different opinion of the device and the entire launch: “It was crap.”
Tyler Morgan, who worked as an Apple sales specialist for more than a year, said the improvements to the new iPhone lineup were disappointing. He said the only improvement was a new button on the outside.
Morgan said he left the event feeling like Apple is “stuck in a vicious cycle” of launching new devices every year, leaving consumers disappointed with devices that aren’t noticeably different from previous models.
Apple CEO Tim Cook led yesterday’s launch event, where the company unveiled the iPhone 16 lineup, AirPods 4, Apple Watch Series 10 and Apple Intelligence
“If you keep repeating the same thing, you’re going to get people who get fed up with it,” Morgan said.
Apple held its annual product launch event on Monday, where the company introduced the iPhone 16 series, the AirPods 4 and the Apple Watch Series 10.
But at the event, these new devices were largely overshadowed by Apple Intelligence, the tech giant’s own AI platform.
Overall, many viewers were unimpressed with the hardware and software Apple unveiled.
“I hated it,” Tyler Morgan, a former Apple sales specialist, told DailyMail.com. “That was probably one of the worst Apple events I’ve ever seen.”
Apple’s annual product launch event, this year called “It’s Glowtime,” took place Monday at the Apple Park campus in Cupertino, California.
Morgan, who makes educational TikTok videos about Apple products, went live during the launch event to share his reactions with his 1.6 million followers.
“My viewers and I thought, ‘God, this is so boring,’” he said.
As for the iPhone 16, “this phone just feels like a really mediocre upgrade,” he said. “They’re literally adding a button to sell another phone.”
Tyler Morgan, who worked as an Apple sales specialist for more than a year, said the improvements to the new iPhone lineup were disappointing. He noted that the only upgrade was a new button on the outside
The new features in the iPhone 16 lineup left some disappointed, including Morgan, who feels the upgrades don’t justify a new phone launch or its high price tag
With the addition of the Camera Control button, users can open their camera app, take photos, record videos, and use visual intelligence features that can locate an object after you’ve taken a photo of it.
It’s the most notable hardware change over the iPhone 16, which also got a number of additional camera upgrades, a new, faster “A18” chip to support Apple Intelligence, better battery life and three new color options.
Morgan doesn’t see the changes as big enough to justify launching a brand new iPhone, let alone the phone’s hefty price tag, which starts at $799 for the standard model and goes up to $1,199 for the 16 Pro Max.
“You don’t have anything to offer that’s worth spending your entire salary on sometimes,” he said.
Much of the keynote was spent discussing Apple Intelligence features, including Siri upgrades, ChatGPT integration, custom images, emoji generation, and more.
During the launch event, “it was all about Apple Intelligence, which is fine, but people don’t care about that right now,” Morgan said.
“Especially because there are people like me who have been testing the beta versions and we still haven’t seen half of the features promised,” he added.
The suite of new AI features includes Siri upgrades to make interacting with the digital assistant more streamlined and effective, ChatGPT integration, custom image and emoji generation, and more.
But not all of these features will be available right away on your new iPhone 16.
Apple showed off the full suite of Apple Intelligence features at their launch event, but many of them aren’t expected to be available until mid-2025
According to Apple, the full suite of Apple Intelligence features won’t be available on iPhone until mid-2025. MacRumors.
The features that haven’t even entered beta testing yet are perhaps the most compelling aspects of Apple Intelligence, such as custom image and emoji generation, Siri enhancements, ChatGPT integration, and screen awareness.
All of these features were announced at yesterday’s event, but Apple wasn’t so forthcoming about when they would actually be available.
“When people get these phones, they expect it to be set up that way,” Morgan said. “It just seems misleading.”
But there were a few aspects of the new AirPods and the Apple Watch Series 10 that impressed him.
“The best thing I thought was what the AirPods did in terms of noise cancellation,” he said.
Apple introduced three new AirPods at the launch event: a standard model of the AirPods 4 for $129, a higher-end version of the AirPods 4 with active noise cancellation (ANC) for $179, and an upgraded model of the AirPods Max for $549.
ANC allows the outward-facing microphone to reduce ambient noise, such as traffic. Until now, this feature was only available on the AirPods Pro line.
The new AirPods 4 and AirPods Max will include new health features like hearing protection, the ability to function as a hearing aid, and the ability to perform a clinical hearing test
Apple Watch Series 10 will also include new health features like sleep apnea detection, which Morgan calls “cool” but unnecessary for the average person
DailyMail.com Science and Technology editor Shivali Best attended the Apple event and got to try out the ANC feature on the new AirPods. She said she “couldn’t hear anything around me” while wearing them.
“I really like that, I think it’s a nice upgrade and it’s a fair price for what you get,” Morgan said.
The new AirPods also have a number of new health features, including the ability to function as an over-the-counter hearing aid, provide hearing protection, and perform a clinical-grade hearing test.
The Apple Watch Series 10 also gets a number of new health upgrades, including an all-new sleep apnea detection feature, though it still needs to receive clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other global health authorities.
The new Sleep Apnea Detection feature tracks breathing disturbances while you sleep, then analyzes the data every 30 days to determine if you have the condition.
“At Apple, we believe technology can help you live healthier lives,” said Dr. Sumbul Desai, MD, Apple’s VP Health.
“We are proud to be able to deliver incredible new health possibilities for serious conditions affecting billions of people around the world, while also ensuring the privacy of user data.”
The moves suggest Apple is venturing further into the $518 billion medical device market. Morgan calls it a “cool” move, but he sees it as largely unnecessary.
The average person probably doesn’t need to have all of this health data on hand, he said. Moreover, most people can — and should — rely on their doctors to make decisions about their health, he added.