iPhone 16: Everything we know so far

We are getting closer to the launch of the iPhone 16 series. The new handsets will be announced during Apple’s “It’s Glowtime” event on September 9, 2024, and they will succeed the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro models.

The iPhone 16 is expected to have more significant changes than the iPhone 15 and should be an exciting release indeed. We’ve gathered all the biggest news, leaks, and reports for you here. Let’s dive in.

iPhone 16: release date

Apple has officially announced its next event, “It’s Glowtime,” for September 9, 2024. This is when we expect the iPhone 16 line, the Apple Watch Series 10, and more to be announced.

Historically, preorders for the new phones will open up early Friday morning, with the phones released the following Friday. The September 9 announcement date potentially means September 13 for preorders and September 20 for general availability.

Apple is expecting big things from the iPhone 16. After seeing iPhone sales slide 10% earlier this year, it’s hoping to see a rebound for the rest of 2024. The reason? Each new phone will likely ship with some of the announced Apple Intelligence features in iOS 18.

iPhone 16: possible price

Though it was expected that the iPhone 15 lineup would have a price increase, that didn’t happen aside from the iPhone 15 Pro Max model, which now starts at $1,200 for the 256GB version (there is no longer a 128GB variant). That was the only one in the iPhone 15 lineup that saw a “price increase,” if you want to call it that.

Apple’s iPhone 15 component prices were the highest, though it absorbed those increased production costs. However, that may not happen in 2024, so we may see a slight increase for all iPhone 16 models.

How much of a possible increase has yet to be seen.

iPhone 16: design

There will be some big changes coming for the iPhone 16 lineup, most notably the standard iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus.

Earlier reports from MacRumors suggested three different prototype designs for the iPhone 16, but the most recent leak seems to confirm which one we are getting.

For the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus, Apple is departing from the diagonal camera layout that it has been using for the past few years. Instead, it’s going with the vertical pill-shaped camera island, similar to what we first saw on the iPhone X, except a bit bigger due to the lenses and sensors.

Any design changes for the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max may be less drastic, as Apple seems to be pretty content with the changes it introduced with the iPhone 15 Pro. However, a more recent leak from reliable tipster Ice Universe suggests that the iPhone 16 Pro will reduce the bezel even more drastically, making it an even narrower bezel phone than the Samsung Galaxy S24. This may translate to 1.2mm bezels on the iPhone 16 Pro and 1.15mm bezels on the iPhone 16 Pro Max.

Reports have suggested that the new Capture button will be capacitive rather than physical, and it will sit flush with the phone’s frame. Since it is rumored to be a Capture button, it will most likely be able to act as a camera shutter button, though it could also be customizable, like the Action button. Since it is likely to be touch-based, it could perform different actions through gestures like swiping. The Capture button could also be utilized by third-party developers for their own camera apps.

This rumor may have just been confirmed by leaker Majin Bu, who uploaded two photos of the iPhone 16 Pro case, showing larger camera cutouts. The larger camera sensor would correspond with the rumor that the 12MP ultrawide camera is set to be replaced with a larger 48MP Sony IMX903 sensor (more on that below).

The wireless antenna will be relocated to the other side of the iPhone to accommodate this new capacitive button. The Action button may also be larger on the iPhone 16 Pro models than on the current iPhone 15 Pro.

Although iPhone design changes are never confirmed until Apple shows off the phone itself, it looks like these rumors have some weight to them. In early April, well-known Apple leaker Sonny Dickson shared photos of iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro dummy models — reiterating all of the design changes mentioned above.

A YouTube channel called EFTM received some metal dummy units of what appears to be the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max. Dummy units are important for case and accessory manufacturers because they make their accessories based on these units so that they are available in time for the actual product launch. The dummy units that EFTM has received appear to confirm the vertical camera modules for the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus.

EXCLUSIVE - iPhone 16 - New Camera button across the range!

However, there is a notable detail on all of the dummy units: the Action and Capture buttons. Both of these buttons could show up across the entire iPhone 16 lineup. Previous rumors hinted at the Action button coming to the standard iPhone 16 models, but the Capture button was previously reported to be only on the Pro models. Assuming these models are accurate, that appears to be changing.

Since the Capture button will be located on the phones’ bottom right edge, it’s another indication that Apple could remove the physical SIM card completely in other countries. Apple moved to eSIM-only in the U.S., starting with the iPhone 14 line, and now it looks like that change could be coming to other parts of the globe.

Speaking of dummy units, more leaked in late April when Sonny Dickson uploaded the above photo to X (formerly Twitter). These particular dummies are more complete-looking and provide an even clearer view of what this year’s iPhone lineup should look like.

More recently, some leaked molds appeared online from ShopSystem. The molds show the MagSafe charging ring being slightly smaller in the iPhone 16 models when placed side-by-side with the iPhone 15 models. If accurate, it suggests that Apple has tried to slim down the MagSafe components to reduce the magnetic material required, though the overall position of the magnets hasn’t changed. That’s a good thing because it means that older MagSafe accessories should continue to work with the new models.

As far as colors go, it looks like the base model iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 plus will be coming in five colors instead of seven as was previously rumored. The five colors appear to be white, black, blue, green, and pink. However, it’s important to note that the colors appear much more saturated than the previous iPhone 15 lineup, which can be seen as a good thing.

For the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max, it appears to have four possible colors: white titanium, black titanium, natural titanium, and an all-new bronze color that could be called “desert titanium.” This new color would replace the blue titanium option that the iPhone 15 Pro came in, but it looks like a far cry from the rose gold that was originally rumored. Another leak from Majin Bu on X seems to confirm this new dark gold color with a close-up of the camera ring.

Apple is also upgrading the microphones on the iPhone 16 lineup to have a higher signal-to-noise ratio than previous iterations. This means the device will be able to hear you more clearly, which could help with Siri requests. With reports suggesting iOS 18 will have more generative AI features, a more accurate Siri would be much needed.

iPhone 16: displays

There may be some changes coming for the display sizes of the iPhone 16 Pro models. However, the standard iPhone 16 variants will stay the same.

The iPhone 16 Pro display may be increased to 6.3 inches, up from the current 6.1 inches. The larger iPhone 16 Pro Max will be 6.9 inches rather than 6.7 inches.

With the smaller iPhone 16 Pro getting a bump in size, this will make it possible to fit a larger telephoto camera lens in it, allowing for the 5x optical zoom that debuted in the iPhone 15 Pro Max. Due to size constraints of the 6.1-inch size, the tetraprism lens wasn’t able to fit, but a 6.3-inch chassis can change that.

Apple will be shrinking bezels across the board, though the real benefits will be more obvious on the Pro models. A new report has surfaced revealing that Apple is using a new display technology called Border Reduction Structure (BRS), which lets suppliers reduce the size of those black borders around the screen.

We could also get brighter displays and more efficient power consumption, as Apple is reportedly using microlens technology in the iPhone 16 OLED panels.

A report from The Elec suggests that the iPhone 17 line will mark the first time that all models, including the base ones, will use LTPO OLED panels with ProMotion and always-on screens. Unfortunately, the base iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus should still have a 60Hz refresh rate display.

Also from The Elec, mass production of the OLED screen for the iPhone 16, 16 Plus, and 16 Pro are set to begin following Apple’s final approval. The iPhone 16 Pro Max OLED screen is still being tweaked by Apple and may not get final approval for production until the end of June. The panels should be manufactured by three OLED suppliers, including Samsung Display, which will make panels for all four iPhone 16 models; LG, which will make panels for the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max; and BOE, which will be responsible for the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus.

iPhone 16: specs

For the base model iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus, we should see an A17 chip. However, this may not be the same A17 Pro chip that is currently inside the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. Apple will likely use a lower-cost process for a standard “A17” chip that could reach the standard iPhone 16 models.

Analyst Jeff Pu thinks Apple will go a different route and simply use the A18 and A18 Pro names for the new chips. This would mean that all iPhone 16 models would have some variation of an A18 chip rather than going with an A17, which could be seen as a “last-generation” chip.

This news seemed to have been confirmed with a similar report from another source in July.

While overheating was an issue with launch-day iPhone 15 models, it is said that Apple has worked on a new thermal design to help with heat dissipation. This could be in the form of a graphene thermal system for the base iPhone 16 models, while the iPhone 16 Pro might have a metal battery casing. Right now, the iPhone uses copper for the heat sinks, but graphene has higher thermal conductivity.

There have been rumors that Apple has been working on its own in-house 5G modem chips, but that won’t happen in 2024. Instead, the iPhone 16 Pro may use Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X75 modem for faster and more efficient 5G connectivity. However, the base-model iPhone 16 will continue to use the Qualcomm X70 chip that is currently in the iPhone 15. The iPhone 16 could also have Wi-Fi 7 technology that could get at least 30 gigabits per second, up to 40Gb/s.

iPhone 16: cameras

As mentioned earlier, the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus will have a dual-camera layout presented in a vertical pill-shaped camera island. The iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max appear to have the same triple-lens camera layout as has been used in the past few years.

A recent leak has given us all the details on the camera specs for both the standard iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro models.

For the iPhone 16’s dual-camera system, we have a 48MP primary wide camera with f/1.6 aperture and optical quality 2x zoom. The ultrawide lens will still have 0.5x zoom, but the aperture will be improved to f/2.2 from f/2.4. This would mean better lowlight images with the ultrawide camera. And Apple appears to be adding in a macro photography mode for the regular iPhone 16 models for the first time.

With the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max, the triple-lens camera system will consist of a 48MP primary wide camera with f/1.78 aperture, a 12MP telephoto lens with f/2.8 aperture and 5x optical zoom (including the smaller Pro), and a new 48MP ultrawide camera with f/2.2 aperture (up from f/2.4) for better lowlight performance.

iPhone 16: battery life

We may finally see better battery life with the iPhone 16 Pro series, as it’s rumored to use stacked battery technology. With stacked batteries, it can result in higher capacity and longer lifespans. This may also bring faster 40W wired and 20W MagSafe charging speeds.

Apple has long lacked in charging speed. If the iPhone 16 really addresses this, we could be in for a proper treat.

According to @MajinBuOfficial, we also have a good idea of what to expect from the batteries in the entire iPhone 16 lineup, with changes across the board. The leaker claims that the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro Max will have larger batteries than their predecessors. However, the iPhone 16 Plus will get the short end of the stick and actually have less battery capacity than before. The Pro Max model will also no longer use the L-shaped battery design and will go back to a rectangular shape like on the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus.

According to an earlier leak by @MajinBuOfficial, who has a mixed record with Apple leaks, the standard iPhone 16 will have 3,561mAh (up from the iPhone 15’s 3,349mAh), the iPhone 16 Plus battery will come in at 4,006mAh (down from the iPhone 15 Plus’ 4,383mAh), and the iPhone 16 Pro Max will be 4,747mAh (up from the iPhone 15 Pro Max’s 4,422mAh). It also appears that the iPhone 16 Pro will have 3,577mAh (up from iPhone 15 Pro’s 3,274mAh), according to a report on MacRumors.

In July, we heard news iPhone Pro users have been waiting for. This year’s Pro models could get a charging upgrade, with both the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max supporting 40-watt wired charging and 20W MagSafe charging. This would be the first significant battery charging change in many years.

iPhone 16: software and updates

At the highly anticipated Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June, Apple unveiled the groundbreaking iOS 18. One of the most eagerly awaited features of iOS 18 is the introduction of Apple Intelligence, an innovative AI update to revolutionize how we interact with our devices. From transforming how we compose messages and emails to enhancing how we manage our photo libraries and communicate with Siri, Apple Intelligence promises to elevate the user experience to unparalleled heights.

Beyond the integration of Apple Intelligence, iOS 18 is set to deliver many new and enhanced features. These include an array of fresh customization tools to personalize the user experience, an overhauled Control Center designed to provide even greater convenience, and a revitalized Photos app that promises to make organizing and reliving memories more captivating than ever before. With iOS 18, Apple is not just introducing an update — it’s shaping the future of user interaction with technology.

The first official version of iOS 18 is expected to be released for older compatible iPhones a few days before the official launch of the iPhone 16 models.