For the previous couple of weeks, I’ve been carrying one of many new iPhone 14 fashions with me as my day by day driver. When I’ve met up with buddies — blissfully unaware of shopper tech goings-on — they’ll ask how work goes, as a matter of etiquette. At that time, my eyes gleam, and I pull the telephone out of my tote bag.

“Well,” I say, “I’m testing the new iPhones.” I pause for dramatic impact, and my pal nods politely as I proceed.

“It has this new feature called Dynamic Island. Here, let me start a timer and show you…” nodding continues however eyes glaze over at this level.

“And because the sub-pixel array…” At this level within the presentation, my pal is glancing desperately across the room for a handy out as I clarify the way it’s meant to really feel like a {hardware} characteristic.

The response once I discuss iOS 16 may be very completely different. My husband bought the identical iPhone 14 Pro demo — he displayed gentle curiosity — after which I confirmed him how one can copy and paste a photograph of our cat simply by long-pressing the picture. His response: “How do I get that?”

My husband and most of my buddies aren’t what I’d name consumer-tech-savvy, however I feel even individuals with a gentle curiosity in cellular know-how would agree: this 12 months’s iPhones are boring, however iOS 16 guidelines.

That’s the bluntest method to put it. The extra nuanced model is that the common iPhone 14 is boring — the 14 Pro and Pro Max are fascinating however extra as a result of they’re a form of blueprint for the way forward for the iPhone. The Dynamic Island is an fascinating answer to some {hardware} and software program issues, which is neat. But it’s not one thing that’s meant to face out and name for consideration as you utilize your telephone; its job is to seamlessly mix into your expertise so that you hardly discover it after some time.

Until foldables take off in a much bigger manner, I feel that’s simply the place we’re with telephone {hardware} recently: incremental new options that enhance the expertise of utilizing your system. It’s not speculated to impress or awe you. It’s simply speculated to work.

New software program tips, although, really feel extra tangible. A characteristic that my buddies will use daily on the following iPhone they purchase in two or three years is mildly fascinating; copying and pasting a photograph cutout of their cat with the telephone they already personal is extra thrilling. Same goes for the always-on show. In just a few years’ time, everybody’s new iPhone will in all probability have one, and it’ll simply be one thing all of us get used to. But proper now, a brand new customizable lock display to point out off a photograph of your child is rather more spectacular.

This could look like an apparent level. After all, just about each iPhone proprietor will get a brand new iOS model within the fall, whereas far fewer will get a brand new iPhone. But it feels extra pronounced this 12 months than in latest historical past. This 12 months’s iPhones characteristic minor upgrades over final 12 months’s fashions, whereas iOS 16 supplies extra dramatic, dare I say enjoyable, new options than different OS model upgrades in latest historical past. The new lock screens are enjoyable! Photo cutouts are enjoyable! Editing an iMessage after you despatched it’s… doubtlessly relationship-saving! Anyone can admire that, whether or not you’re a yearly iPhone upgrader or not.

As lengthy as most of us are carrying round slab-style telephones, it will in all probability stay the case. I used a variety of telephones this 12 months, and the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Z Flip 4 have been the one two that felt like they’d basically change my relationship with my telephone. Until then, I’ll simply be the one beginning conversations with: “So, have you downloaded iOS 16 yet? Let me show you something cool about it.”