The iPhone 16 and iPhone16 Pro had a flashy launch in September, as Tim Cook and company showed off Apple's latest and greatest smartphones. These upgraded models bring some eyebrow-raising improvements over last year's iPhone 15 series, including beefy new chips, forthcoming AI features, and a camera shutter button called Camera Control . But as everyone knows, the best artists take plenty of inspiration from others, and so, too, does the iPhone.
As someone who's been documenting Android's big changes over its lifespan , it's clear to me that several features new to the iPhone lineup this year will feel rather familiar to long-time Android users. Though it might be tempting for Android fans to score some points against iPhone fans in Reddit debates by pointing this out, it's more useful to look at how Apple has implemented the features pioneered by Android phones. Apple may have a habit of copying features, but it tends to do so with a considered, thoughtful approach.
In fact, both the iPhone and various Android phones have always taken some degree of inspiration from one another. To name but a single example of this symbiotic relationship, Apple got rid of the home button on the iPhone X a few years after Android introduced on-screen navigation with Ice Cream Sandwich. Android then added gesture controls in Android 10 to iterate on Apple's buttonless navigation.
The iPhone 16 continues in this tradition of cyclical innovation, taking inspiration from more than a few feature.