Apple CEO Tim Cook hailed the new iPhone 16 as ushering in a ‘new era’ after unveiling the smartphone on Monday.
But a former employee of the tech giant shared a completely different take on the device, and the entire launch event, saying ‘it was s***.’
Tyler Morgan, who worked as a Apple sales specialist for over a year, said that the improvements to the new iPhone lineup are underwhelming, citing the only upgrade was a new button on the exterior.
Morgan said he came away from the event feeling like Apple is ‘stuck in a loop’ of launching new devices year after year, leaving consumers disappointed by devices that are not remarkably different from previous models.
Apple CEO Tim Cook led yesterday’s launch event, during which the company unveiled the iPhone 16 lineup, the AirPods 4, Apple Watch Series 10 and Apple Intelligence
‘When you repeat the same thing, you’re going to get people that are tired of it,’ Morgan said.
Apple held its annual product launch event on Monday, where the company debuted their iPhone 16 lineup, the AirPods 4 and Apple Watch Series 10.
But during the event, these new devices were largely overshadowed by Apple Intelligence, the tech giant’s very own AI platform.
And overall, both the hardware and software that Apple unveiled left many viewers feeling unimpressed.
‘I thought it was s***,’ 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 – dubbed ‘It’s Glowtime’ this year – took place on 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.
‘Me and my viewers were like, ‘God, this is so boring,” he said.
As for iPhone 16, ‘this phone just feels like a very mediocre upgrade,’ he said. ‘They’re literally adding a button to sell another phone.’
Tyler Morgan, who worked as a Apple sales specialist for over a year, said that the improvements to the new iPhone lineup are underwhelming, citing the only upgrade was a new button on the exterior
The new features in the iPhone 16 lineup left some feeling underwhelmed, including Morgan, who feels these upgrades don’t warrant a new phone launch or its hefty price
The addition of the Camera Control button will allow users to open their camera app, take photos, record videos and access visual intelligence features that can look up an object after you snap a picture of it.
It’s the most noticeable hardware change to the iPhone 16, which otherwise received some additional camera upgrades, a new, faster ‘A18’ chip to support Apple Intelligence, a boost in battery life and three new color options.
Overall, Morgan doesn’t think these changes are significant enough to warrant a brand-new iPhone launch – let alone the phone’s hefty price, which starts at $799 for standard model and runs as high as $1,199 for the 16 Pro Max.
‘You don’t have anything to offer that’s actually worth someone spending sometimes their whole paycheck,’ he said.
A significant portion of the keynote was spent detailing the features of Apple Intelligence, which includes Siri upgrades, ChatGPT integration, custom image, emoji generation, and more.
During the launch event, ‘everything was based around Apple Intelligence, which is fine, but people don’t care about that right now,’ Morgan said.
‘Especially when there’s people like me who have tested the betas and we’ve yet to see like half the features that have been 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 immediately available on your new iPhone 16.
Apple showcased the full suite of Apple Intelligence features at their launch event, but many of them aren’t expected to become available until mid-2025
The full lineup of Apple Intelligence features isn’t expected to be available on the iPhone until mid-2025, according to MacRumors.
The features that haven’t even made it into a beta test yet are arguably the most attractive aspects of Apple Intelligence, including custom image and emoji generation, Siri enhancements, ChatGPT integration, and on-screen awareness.
All of these features were touted at yesterday’s event, but Apple was not as forthcoming about when they would actually become available.
‘When people get these phones, they’re going to be expecting it’s set up that way,’ Morgan said. ‘It just seems misleading.’
But there were some aspects of the new AirPods and the Apple Watch Series 10 that impressed him.
‘The best thing, I thought, was what the AirPods are doing for noise cancellation,’ he said.
Apple introduced three new AirPods at the launch event: a standard model of AirPods 4 for $129, a higher-end version of AirPods 4 equipped with Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) for $179, and an upgraded model of AirPods Max for $549.
ANC allows the outward-facing microphone to reduce environmental noise, like traffic for example. Until now, this feature has only been 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 perform a clinical-grade hearing test
Apple Watch Series 10 will also include new health features like sleep apnea detection. Morgan feels that these are ‘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 new AirPods’ ANC feature. She said that she ‘couldn’t hear anything around her’ while wearing them.
‘I really like that, I think it’s a nice upgrade and it’s a pretty fair price for what you’re getting,’ Morgan said.
The new AirPods also come with some new health features, including the ability to function as an over-the-counter hearing aid, provide hearing protection and perform a clinical-grade hearing health test.
Apple Watch Series 10 received some new health upgrades too, including an all-new sleep apnea detection feature – though this is still pending authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration and other global health authorities.
The new sleep apnea detection feature will tracking breathing disturbances while you sleep and then analyze that data every 30 days to determine whether you may be suffering from this condition.
‘At Apple, we believe that technology can help you live a healthier life,’ Dr Sumbul Desai, M.D., Apple’s VP of Health, said.
‘We’re excited to enable incredible new health capabilities for serious conditions that affect billions of people around the world while continuing to keep user data private.’
These changes suggest that Apple is venturing further into the $518 billion medical device market, a move that Morgan thinks is ‘cool,’ but largely unnecessary.
The average person likely doesn’t need to have all this health data at their fingertips, he said. Plus, most people can – and should – rely on their doctor to make decisions about their health, he added.
