Well, in the last couple of hours, Apple has unveiled its latest smartphone, the iPhone 16, alongside an updated Apple Watch. In tech terms, this is always the blue ribbon event in the United States. Apple remains one of the biggest companies in the world, of course, and the latest generation of tech, very much key to its fortunes. At this time, there is a healthy dose of AI. And on the iPhone, a new camera button which auto focuses and shutter releases the phone the camera. It makes it feel a little bit more like your traditional camera experience. With us to discuss in Washington is the PostTech Correspondent, Taylor Lawrence. Hello, Taylor. Nice to see you again. So, well, artificial intelligence It used to be called, but now we have Apple intelligence. How quickly will we see it?

Well, the beta is rolling out in about a month. So it will roll out initially in beta testing and then likely to the full user base, potentially later this year or early next.

Will we get it in Europe?

That is a good question. I would imagine you would be able to receive the beta test, but I don't know exactly which features will be rolled out in which European countries. But I imagine that pretty much it will be available.

All right. From what you know from the presentation you've just seen, would you suggest that the iPhone 16 is a very different experience for those of us who are on Apple?

Well, it's interesting. I just saw a report this morning saying that the time between people getting new iPhones has risen. Back in 2018, it was only three years. It was every three years people would purchase an iPhone. Now it's every five years. So I think you're asking the question that a lot of consumers are asking of, is it worth it to upgrade. Of course, also, some of these software updates will be available to anyone with an iPhone. So I don't know. I think for people that are creative, that really want that extra, those camera features, the AI features, some of the other exciting stuff. As a journalist, I'm excited for the The voice note feature that allows you to have separate audio tracks. There's some interesting new features here, but I think it remains to be seen whether people are willing to shell out the money. It's over $1,000.

You'd have to say that the Siri experience, at the risk of my phone going off behind set. It's not been particularly good, has it?

Yeah, Apple's definitely playing catch up here. I mean, compared to other AI initiatives and especially things, Google, some of their competitors, they're a little behind. But Apple has come from behind before. I mean, on streaming on the Apple Watch, right? They're not the first smartwatch on the market. So they could also come behind from AI, but really bring it to consumers and make it a mass market, see that mass market adoption, right? That their competitors aren't able to.

Yeah. When it comes to the watch, and I know there is a new updated watch coming out as well, that's very much attached to health and well-being. Is there anything in the new Apple Watch that you might not get with Samsung watches or with Garmin or the plethora of other watches there are now on the market?

Yeah, well, the new watch does come with a lower profile, a little bit easier to read, like larger screen. So that's exciting. I think when you're thinking of the Apple Watch compared to all these other smart watches, it really depends on your ecosystem of products, right? Are you an Apple head and you want your Apple Watch to be able to sync very easily with all of these other Apple products that you have? That's great. Maybe you've got a Google Chromebook, maybe you're not so loyal to Apple. In that case, maybe the benefits of the Apple your watch don't make such a difference. You don't need to iMessage on your watch. It really depends on how you want to use it.

Do I really need new Airpods?

Well, you won't be able to charge them with the USB-C, which is going to be nice now. They have some interesting... They're doing the noise cancelation. They're able to act as hearing aids now, potentially. Again, it just goes back to how often do you use them? Are you just popping them in for a run now and then? Maybe it's not worth the upgrade. Or is this assistive listening technology going to be beneficial to you?

Well, I've got lots of options there. Very good. Taylor, nice to see you. Thank you very much for coming on. You might have thoughts on that. Do get in touch.