It’s a very strange season for iPhone upgrades. Pre-orders open today for the iPhone 16 line, a phone that Apple says is “built for Apple Intelligence,” but it doesn’t appear that Apple’s AI tricks will be available when the phones hit store shelves on September 20.

Apple’s website states that certain Apple Intelligence features “will be available in beta next month as part of iOS 18.1.” Will consumers rush to pre-order a phone for a feature that isn’t ready yet, or will they wait and see this time around regarding the upgrade?

In this week’s episode of One More Thing, which you can watch above, I discuss the odd things to look out for in this product upgrade cycle and why I don’t think the iPhone 16 was the star of the iPhone event. Apple’s updates to the AirPods 4, AirPods Pro 2, and Apple Watch Series 10 may be the bigger product hits this fall, with all their health-focused upgrades.

The other twist to this iPhone 16 launch is the addition of a touch-sensitive camera capture button. I wonder how people will get used to the new button, and how easy (or hard) it is to accidentally activate it when picking up the phone.

A button could be just the thing Apple is leaning on to sell phones to people who don’t care about AI. A recent CNET survey found that most consumers are motivated to upgrade their phones for better batteries and new camera features –https://www.cnet.com/videos/the-iphone-wasnt-the-star-of-the-iphone-16-event/https://www.cnet.com/videos/the-iphone-wasnt-the-star-of-the-iphone-16-event/ — and few are motivated by artificial intelligence.

Only time will tell whether Apple Intelligence is the big draw for the iPhone 16 and whether this will be a popular year for upgrades, or if consumers will need more convincing to trade in their current devices.