iPhone 16 & AI-Powered Photo Editing: What to Expect

Generative AI has become a mainstay of the photography world, whether we like it or not. Tools like Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop have a suite of AI-powered photo editing tools, and we’ve seen smartphones debuting with similar in-engine programs too. And now, with the iPhone 16 range on the horizon, what can we expect from Apple’s native photo app?

With the launch of iOS 18, Apple has implemented a new Clean Up tool for images. Long-time photo retouchers will be familiar with the concept: a simple tool for removing unwanted artefacts, people or objects from a frame with the power of generative AI. As one of Apple Intelligence’s latest features, it highlights the company’s commitment to AI as a medium. It is a computationally demanding tool, however, so only the latest phones are capable of using it. It’s also not as impressive as we’d like, according to initial tests.

That shouldn’t prove a problem for the iPhone 16, which is set to implement an A18 chip with 8GB of memory. This makes the latest Apple smartphones promisingly powerful - though this is yet to be confirmed. Coupled with the powerful camera reported to be attached to the Pro variants of the new iPhone, the new range should be a great option for all-in-one photography and photo editing.

We also speculated that AI-upscaling could help the new iPhones create higher-resolution imagery - though again, nothing to that effect has been confirmed. As full-fledged camera manufacturers like Fujifilm and Nikon are reportedly experimenting with similar technology in their sensors, it will be interesting to see if Apple beats them to it. Given that Apple’s Clean Up feature has launched well behind the equivalent of Google’s Pixel range, it will be interesting to see where Apple’s research has focused between generations.

Apple Intelligence is still in its infancy, and we don’t expect to see huge announcements in the foreseeable future. But with the approaching release date of the iPhone 16, this will serve as the testing ground for improvements, tools and features going forward.