Apple iPhone 16 & 16 Pro: Peak Hardware, Borrowed Brains — And an AI Bait-and-Switch?

Apple launched the iPhone 16, 16 Plus, 16 Pro in 2024, and the brand-new 16e — and true to form, they look incredible. Shiny titanium, buttery-smooth ProMotion displays, and camera upgrades that practically demand their own IMDB pages. But Apple didn’t sell us these phones on hardware alone.

No, the real star of Apple’s marketing push was Apple Intelligence — a brand-new suite of AI features so futuristic, it made Siri sound like she finally graduated kindergarten. The pitch was clear: Buy these phones, and you’ll step into the age of smart, private, Apple-style AI.

Except… that’s not what happened. Not even close.

Apple Intelligence Was the Headliner — But Didn’t Show Up

When Apple unveiled the iPhone 16 lineup, it plastered “Apple Intelligence” across every keynote slide, promo video, and landing page. They made it sound like buying one of these new phones was buying into the future. Siri would be smarter. Your phone would summarize articles, rewrite emails, clean up photos, and even take action across apps — magically and effortlessly.

People bought in. Literally. Many upgraded just for those features, expecting them to arrive “soon.”

And then came the fine print: Most of Apple Intelligence isn’t launching until sometime next year(2026). Some of it won’t even be in iOS 18 at launch. And when it does finally arrive? It’ll only be available in English. In the U.S. At first.

That’s not a roadmap — that’s a footnote. And it sure feels like a bait-and-switch.

You Bought the AI iPhone… Now Wait a Year?

Let’s put this in perspective. Imagine if Apple sold you a phone with a “ProMotion” display, and then said, “Oh, the 120Hz refresh rate? That’ll turn on in a future update. Maybe.” Or if the telephoto lens was just… locked until next spring.

That’s what’s happening here — but with the main selling point of the iPhone 16 lineup.

It’s like ordering a Tesla because it can drive itself, only to find out the self-driving mode is coming in a future patch. Oh wait — that already happened too.

By centering the marketing campaign around Apple Intelligence, Apple didn’t just hint at new features — it created expectations. Clear ones. And now, users are staring at beautiful, expensive phones wondering why Siri still sounds like she needs a nap.

Apple Could Have Built Its Own Brain. Instead, It Borrowed ChatGPT’s

To make matters weirder, Apple did deliver one form of “intelligence” — by handing off complex queries to ChatGPT. This is like buying a high-end espresso machine only to find out it’s just forwarding your order to Starbucks down the street.

It works, sure. But it’s not yours — and every time Siri taps ChatGPT, Apple feeds OpenAI more training data. Instead of building its own competitive model, Apple is essentially boosting someone else’s. It’s outsourcing innovation in the most Apple way possible: quietly, elegantly, and with a polished UI.

In the long run, this move could backfire. Hard. Apple’s supposed to be the company that owns the whole stack. The silicon. The OS. The ecosystem. So why is the brain of its flagship feature… rented?

The iPhone 16 Is an Incredible Phone. But It’s Not What They Sold You.

Let’s be clear: the iPhone 16 and 16 Pro are technological masterpieces. But Apple didn’t sell you a camera. It didn’t sell you titanium. It sold you the future of intelligence — and then stuck a “delayed until further notice” sticker on it.

This isn’t just a software delay. This is a fundamental pivot after launch. And whether you call it cautious rollout or clever PR, it feels a lot like the rug just got pulled out from under early adopters.

What Do You Think?

Did Apple out-Apple itself? Are you still excited for Apple Intelligence next year — or do you feel like you bought into a promise that’s stuck in beta? Drop a comment and let me know — unless you’re asking Siri to open them, in which case… good luck.