The iPhone 16 series has me convinced Apple needs a foldable

What you need to know

• Apple announced the iPhone 16 series this week, which brings a minor redesign, a new Camera Control button, and a chip upgrade. 
• Once again, the iPhone 16 series represents a minor year-over-year upgrade that is unlikely to convince current users to upgrade.
• To revitalize the iPhone lineup and shake things up, Apple needs a foldable. 

Is Apple's current iPhone strategy to add one minor feature, plus a spec bump, to its smartphones each year and call it a day? That's certainly what it looks like. With the iPhone 14 Pro, it was the Dynamic Island. Then, the iPhone 15 Pro brought the Action button. Now, the entire iPhone 16 series gets a Camera Control button. 

Add in a design tweak here and there, and a camera upgrade every few years, and you've summed up the iPhone refresh schedule. There are some things to like — Apple's silicon is still the top performer compared to Qualcomm and Google, for example — but recent iPhone launches, including the iPhone 16 series, appear to be massively underwhelming. Especially when you consider what's happening in the Android world, like the release of tri-fold phones.

Post by @relatablevijay

View on Threads

Vijay on Threads perfectly summed up the problem with recent iPhone launches in the graphic above. In five years and six iPhone generations, it's hard to tell what's really different. To be clear, Android phones aren't immune from this issue, which is a consequence of market maturity. Samsung's Galaxy S24 lineup barely looks any different from the past few generations of Galaxy phones. 

In fact, Google is one of the few phone manufacturers that really tries to shake things up every single year. The Pixel 9 looks different than the Pixel 8, which appears unique compared to the Pixel 7, and so on. Despite some of Google's shortcomings, I have to give it credit for continually trying to innovate with each Pixel generation. 

You could argue that Apple tries to do the same with the iPhone, adding things like the Dynamic Island, Action button, and Camera Control button. However, as a user of the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, I've found that these flagship features fall short. They're cool every now and then, but I don't feel like the way I use my phone has fundamentally changed because of them. I certainly don't miss the Dynamic Island or Action button when I switch back to one of the best Android phones on a regular basis. 

So, will the shiny new Camera Control button be any different? We'll have to wait and see, but the Android Central team loves the concept, and even hopes it'll come to Android phones in the future. As someone who fumbles with one-handed smartphone photography often, I certainly see the potential. I also might use it for the first week that I get my hands on the iPhone 16 Pro, only to forget about it and never use it again.

Again, it's worth noting that there are other things to like about the iPhone 16 series. The A18 and A18 Pro systems-on-a-chip look like great performers, Apple Intelligence could be a real game-changer when it arrives, and both models of iPhone 16 Pro share the same great camera system. It's just not enough to get me truly excited about the new iPhones. 

I think Apple needs to shake things up to get tech enthusiasts interested in the iPhone again. It needs a foldable iPhone. 

What would it take to pull me away from the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold?

The best way to enjoy technology is to chase the most cutting-edge tech rather than stick to a single brand. I was an iPhone user exclusively until I tried the Galaxy Z Flip 3; I was a Mac user exclusively until I tried the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i. Now, after using modern foldables like the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, only an Apple foldable can really pull me back in. 

There are only so many ways to change a traditional, slab-style foldable each year. They're matured to what is nearly their final form, and only iterative updates are likely to come. Meanwhile, foldables are a budding form factor. Devices like the Pixel 9 Pro Fold are almost as thin as a regular Pixel 9 Pro, and their build quality is better than ever. 

I've been using the Pixel 9 Pro Fold for more than a week, and it's hard to imagine myself getting excited about a non-foldable phone again. They're bland compared to the foldable (and now tri-fold) phones out there. 

Even Apple fans seem to be getting disinterested in the iPhone. If you spend a bit of time on Threads or X (formerly Twitter), you'll find many Apple users making comments like "Steve Jobs would never" in relation to the company's recent announcements. While I generally disagree with this sentiment and don't see it as constructive, it's just another way of saying that iPhone progress has stalled and could use a jump-start. 

As an Apple convert who moved to Android at least part-time years ago, I think a foldable could be that jump-start. When Android Central editor-in-chief Shruti Shekar interviewed former iPhone users about whether a foldable would lure them back into the Apple ecosystem, the results were mixed. Some were adamantly against a so-called "iPhone Fold," and one person was ready to jump right back in. 

Either way, a foldable would put Apple back in the cutting-edge tech conversation, and that could be a win in itself.