- Apple’s new iPhone 16e has full Apple Intelligence functionality
- Unlike the rest of the iPhone 16 lineup, the iPhone 16e has no Camera Control functionality, but it can still access Visual Intelligence
- Visual Intelligence can be assigned to the Action Button or via Control Center
The iPhone 16e might not have Camera Control, the quick-open camera toggle found on the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro, but it can still access one of Apple Intelligence’s best features.
Visual Intelligence lets you point your iPhone’s camera at an object and get information on what you’re looking at, whether that’s through ChatGPT or via Google Search. The feature is one of the best use cases for Apple Intelligence and, until now, has been tied to Camera Control on the best iPhones (it’s launched with a long press of the Camera Control toggle).
On the newly announced iPhone 16e, however, Visual Intelligence is activated differently due to the lack of Camera Control functionality. Instead, you can assign the feature to the Action Button or access it via Control Center.
While it’s excellent that the 16e has full Apple Intelligence functionality thanks to the A18 chip and 8GB of RAM, missing a dedicated way to launch Visual Intelligence without assigning the feature to the customizable Action Button does slightly limit the user. The Action Button can be used to launch or perform many different shortcuts, and having Visual Intelligence assigned to a different input like Camera Control allows iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro users to get the most from their devices.
On the 16e, users will have to choose between Visual Intelligence via the Action Button or one of the other endless shortcuts you can assign to the quick toggle.
If you don’t want to assign Visual Intelligence to the Action Button on iPhone 16e, you can access the AI tool from Control Center, although that requires extra input such as dragging down from the top of your display.
The iPhone 16e is available for preorder starting February 21 and will be available from February 28. Prices start from $599 / £599 / AU$999.
What about the iPhone 15 Pro?
While the iPhone 16e has Visual Intelligence functionality without the Camera Control, the iPhone 15 Pro does not, despite having everything else Apple Intelligence offers. Up until the iPhone 16e reveal, it was presumed that Visual Intelligence was not possible on the 15 Pro due to the lack of Camera Control, which was introduced with the iPhone 16 lineup.
Instead, it appears that the iPhone 15 Pro, just like iPhone 16e, could access Visual Intelligence in other ways, though Apple, for some reason, has decided against expanding the feature to this particular model – at least for now.
As someone who upgraded from the iPhone 15 Pro to the iPhone 16 Pro to try out Visual Intelligence, I’m disappointed that Apple could’ve in fact added the Google Lens competitor to the older device immediately (or so it seems).
Of course, now that the latest member of the iPhone family, the 16e, has Visual Intelligence without a Camera Control toggle, iPhone 15 Pro owners might see the feature come to their devices in the future. I’m not holding my breath, though.
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