How does the new iPhone 16 compare to its AI-powered rivals?

The new iPhone 16 will launch later this month loaded with Apple’s new artificial intelligence-powered tools, in a move aimed at taking on rivals Samsung and Google.

Both firms have already released flagship phones that feature a wide range of AI tools.

But how does the iPhone 16 compare? Here is a closer look at the best phones from each firm.

– iPhone 16 Pro Max

The top-tier device of Apple’s latest line-up the iPhone 16 Pro Max has a 6.9-inch display, the largest ever on an iPhone, and is powered by Apple’s latest own-made chip, the A18 Pro.

Its triple rear camera system includes a 48-megapixel fusion camera, a 48-megapixel ultra-wide and a 12-megapixel telephoto lens, while it can now capture video in ultra high quality 4K at 120 frames per second for the first time.

The most notable physical change on this year’s device is the introduction of the Camera Control button on the side of the phone, which acts as a shortcut to launch the camera and take photos or videos, but also as a touchpad for gestures to change audio and video settings.

Apple is also promising better battery life.

The biggest update though is the introduction of Apple Intelligence, what the firm calls its personal intelligence system, which uses generative AI to create language and images, take action across apps and draw from a user’s personal context to simplify everyday tasks.

It includes new writing tools, which can help adjust notes or emails to make them more concise, professional or friendly, the ability to transcribe and summarise audio, and Apple Intelligence can also prioritise and summarise notifications through its understanding of context and time-sensitivity, Apple says.

Virtual assistant Siri has also been given a big boost by Apple Intelligence, and will now be able to understand references to queries on-screen, and will have better general understanding and more natural responses.

At the heart of Apple’s selling point for this technology is privacy, with the tech giant noting how much of the compute runs securely on the device, but can also access private, secure servers for larger tasks through a feature Apple calls Private Cloud Compute.

This tech will start rolling out in a software update in October, but a stand off with the EU means the tools are not yet confirmed yet for those inside the bloc.

In addition, the new Camera Control button will house something Apple calls Visual Intelligence, which will enable AI-powered, image-based searches on objects, buildings and anything else users capture an image of, and will also be linked to Google Search and ChatGPT to help with further searches or query response.

The iPhone 16 Pro Max, as the top-of-the-line device, starts at £1,199 – although it should be noted that many of the Apple Intelligence features will be available on the rest of iPhone 16 range.

– Google Pixel 9 Pro XL

Google’s flagship Pixel device comes with a 6.8-inch screen and also houses a triple-rear camera system, which includes two 48-megapixel sensors and a 50-megapixel main camera.

For video, it can support up to 8K resolution video, while its AI-powered photo-editing tools include features such as Add Me, which creates full group photos by merging together two images – one taken of the group, then a second with the photographer swapped in.

Google’s AI photo editing tools also enable users to get suggestions for better cropping and reframing of images, as well as a Reimagine tool that can change backgrounds and scenery to completely revamp a photo.

On broader AI, the Pixel 9 range Google’s Gemini AI assistant built in, which can be accessed anywhere on the device and answer queries in text or speech, backed up by the knowledge of Google Search.

The Pixel Screenshots tool can also pull up screenshots of key information – WiFi passwords, gift ideas or receipts – with a quick prompt, while the Circle to Search tool does a Google search based on anything a user draws a circle around in a photo.

Google also promises long battery life in the 9 Pro XL – it can last over 24 hours it says – and it’s running Google’s latest chip, Tensor G4.

The Pixel 9 Pro XL starts at £999.

– Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra

The first major smartphone to launch with a large suite of AI tools, the S24 Ultra was first announced back in January, but still matches or betters the iPhone 16 in most areas.

It too has a 6.8-inch display, but also boasts a quadruple rear-camera system comprised of a 200-megapixel main camera, alongside 50, 12, and 10-megapixel sensors for high-quality photo-taking.

In AI terms, the S24 Ultra also supports Google’s Circle to Search feature, and this sits alongside Samsung’s own suite of AI tools, known as Galaxy AI, at the heart of the phone.

Galaxy AI includes photo-editing tools such as Sketch to Image, which can turn any sketch into a realistic photo, as well as Portrait Studio, which turns self-portrait photos into artistic portraits.

In addition, Galaxy AI supports a Live Translate tool, which can translate messages so users can have a back-and-forth even when they don’t speak the same language as the recipient, while the Interpreter app acts as an interpreter in real-time, displaying both sides of the conversation on-screen and translating them.

It supports writing editing tools to rewrite, rephrase and summarise text as needed by the user.

As the flagship Galaxy S Series device, the Ultra also comes with Samsung’s S Pen stylus built into the phone for note-taking, sketching and editing quickly.

The S24 Ultra starts at £1,189, but many of the AI tools are also available on the other models in the range, at a lower price.

In addition, many of these tools have now been added to the newest generation of Samsung’s foldable phones, the Fold6 and Flip6, which were launched in the summer.