The iPhone 16 officially goes on sale Friday. But for its earliest adopters, it arrives with a fundamental compromise baked into the deal. Put simply,

Apple's latest smartphone, the iPhone 16, will be available in stores starting today, following disappointing Wall Street feedback from pre-order data.

As the iPhones went on sale, however, Apple released the first public beta of iOS 18.1, an early version of the software that will bring Apple Intelligence. New customers can get access to those features in an early version by joining Apple’s beta programme and choosing to download that update.