Reviewing the iPhone 16, Apple Watch 10, and AirPods 4

You’ve spent the last couple of days tweaking the icons on your iOS 18 homescreen and luxuriating in your rest days with WatchOS 11. Now Apple’s hoping you’ll upgrade even further. The company is getting ready to start selling the new iPhone 16 lineup, the new Apple Watch Series 10, and the new AirPods 4 headphones.

We’ve been using all the devices since they were announced last week, and we’re here to answer the question that matters most: is any of this new stuff worth the money?

On this episode of The Vergecast, it’s wall-to-wall Apple reviews. First, we start with the iPhones, which The Verge’s Allison Johnson and Nilay Patel have been reviewing. We talk mostly about the camera, because, well, the camera’s most of what there is to talk about. Allison and Nilay tell us about their experiences with the Camera Control, the new photography styles, check the “what is a photo” temperature of the new devices, and try to differentiate the four phones from each other and from their predecessors.

After that, Victoria Song comes on to talk about the Apple Watch Series 10. We weren’t able to test one of the Watch’s key features — sleep apnea detection — ahead of our recording, but we did have plenty of time to talk about the new design, the new screen, and the new features. Oh, and the new speaker, about which we are all deeply conflicted.

Next, Chris Welch tells us about his time with the AirPods 4, and whether it’s worth spending $50 to get model with Active Noise Cancellation. These AirPods — with a sound quality upgrade, a competitive price, and big promises about noise management — might be hugely compelling if Apple got it all right. So… did Apple get it all right?

Finally, Allison returns, and we take a break from talking about Apple to answer a question from the Vergecast Hotline (866-VERGE11, call us!) about the case for the Pixel lineup in 2024. It’s a pretty good year for phones, and we have a lot to talk about.

If you want to know more about everything we discuss in this episode, you should read all our reviews of Apple’s new gadgets: