Are The New iPhone and PS5 Pro Dead on Arrival?

Apple's big bet that consumers would splurge on artificial intelligence doesn't seem to be paying off.

Earlier this month, the world's most valuable company announced the latest iteration of its iPhone, and the reaction was largely... mixed.

Report after report on memes and reactions, and how the new iPhone was essentially just a slightly better version of what came before it. Investors weren't all that impressed either, with the company's stock barely reacting to the news.

Apple's iPhone 16 announcement was being closely watched for a number of reasons, particularly because this was the phone the company was supposed to flex its AI muscles with. Despite being built from the "ground up" for artificial intelligence, the iPhone 16 failed to blow away consumers.

Worse yet, Apple's competitors seemed to have beat the company to the punch.

Hours after the iPhone 16 lineup was revealed, China's Huawei lifted the curtain on the Mate XT, a new tri-foldable smartphone that went on sale the same day as Apple's new device.

Despite being twice the price of the iPhone 16 Pro Max, the Mate XT went on to rack up 3 million in pre-orders in China, with many walk-in customers unable to get their hands on the device on the day of the launch.

So, what went wrong?

Some in the industry view the new iPhone as a soft-launch of what will ultimately define Apple's AI push in the future.

"With lots of words like "later this year" and "early next year", the core Apple message for iPhone 16 was: Next year will be better," Needham analyst Laura Martin said in a note, according to Reuters.

Consumers really aren't ready to upgrade devices on a mere commitment that Apple will ultimately deliver on its promise of AI. As it stands, the company's Apple Intelligence is yet to launch, and there's some way to go.

Compare that to Google, which announced AI-ready phones at its annual 'Made by Google' event that took place recently.

Apple seems to have its work cut out for it, and I'll be keeping an eye out on whether the company's sales have increased following the launch of the iPhone 16 come next earnings season.

Apple ranked #22 on HackerNoon's Tech Company Rankings this week.

Switching gears, Sony announced the PlayStation 5 Pro, a beefier version of its current-gen console that comes at a whopping price of $700.

Consumers seem to have taken exception to both the price, and the fact that the better console does not include a disc drive by default.

I own a PS5 with a disc drive and personally think it's a waste of money since I don't buy games on discs. I wanted to get an all-digital version, but was unable to because it was out of stock, thus the reason why I own a version with a disc drive.

Still, there might be folks out there who game using discs, and maybe that's a functionality that's important to them.

Anyway, while the Ps5 Pro's design is not very different from the Ps5 (an extra stripe on the sides), Sony says its features include a GPU upgrade, advanced ray tracing, and AI-driven upscaling.

Cool.

All indicators point to the console being dead on arrival, specifically because of its high price. This is reminiscent of the PS3 days, when the console was panned for its high price tag, but Sony insists the new console will come with must-have bells and whistles that would greatly enhance the gaming experience.

Whether it does or not, I'll be keeping an eye out.

Sony ranked #42 on HackerNoon's Tech Company Rankings this week.

In Other News.. 📰

• Ex-Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison Sentenced to Two Years in Prison for Her Role in FTX Fraud — via CoinDesk
• AI2’s Molmo shows open source can meet, and beat, closed multimodal models — via TechCrunch
• TikTok purges accounts tied to Russian media over ‘covert influence’ efforts ahead of US election — via CNN
• Meta readies AR glasses reveal at Connect event — via Reuters
• Half of U.S. states seek to crack down on AI in elections — via Axios
• How Apple and Microsoft’s trusted brands are being used to scam you online — via CNBC

And that's a wrap! Don't forget to share this newsletter with your family and friends! See y'all next week. PEACE! ☮️

— Sheharyar Khan, Editor, Business Tech @ HackerNoon

*All rankings are current as of Monday. To see how the rankings have changed, please visit HackerNoon's Tech Company Rankings page.

Tech, What the Heck!? is a once-weekly newsletter written by HackerNoon editors that combine HackerNoon's proprietary data with news-worthy tech stories from around the internet. Humorous and insightful, the newsletter recaps trending events that are shaping the world of tech. Subscribe here.