While Apple has not made any official confirmation about the iPhone 16 event, it is widely expected it will be in line with last year’s iPhone announcement, which would probably point to a September window. A new report even narrowed down the timeframe of when the iPhone 16 (Pro) might become official.
Over the weekend, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman published his Power On newsletter. One highlight was the alleged upcoming iPhone announcement. Citing an unnamed source, Gurman tipped Apple will unveil the iPhone 16 during the same timetable as the iPhone 15 (review).
When might Apple launch the iPhone 16 (Pro)?
To that end, the journalist even specified September 10 as the most likely date the Cupertino company will break cover for the iPhone 16 series, which will be a Tuesday. Notably, this has been the usual day when Apple’s past iPhone events took place.
Although there was no mention of the exact availability after the announcement, it would not be surprising if the iPhone 16 pre-order would commence during the same week as the unveiling. At the same time, initial shipments of the new iPhones will follow a week after.
Apart from the new iPhones, Apple’s Watch Series 10 and Watch Ultra 3 should also be introduced alongside the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro at the same event.
No AI for the Apple iPhone 16 at launch
Gurman also iterated his report from last week that the iPhone 16 could boot on iOS 18.0, meaning the new iPhones will miss out on the slew of Apple Intelligence features at launch. This is supported by the fact Apple has only shipped some new generative AI tools with iOS 18.1. The latter update is believed to be released in October.
As for the hardware changes in the iPhone 16, the Pro duo is rumored to feature updated primary cameras, with the ultra-wide sensor switching to 48 MP for the first time. In addition, the Pro models could introduce slightly wider displays. Meanwhile, the standard iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus may receive a redesigned rear camera module, but they could stick with the same display sizes and archaic 60 Hz refresh rate.
Internals of the new iPhones will be headlined by a new A18 (Pro) chipset, which was touted to offer a big boost to machine learning capabilities to support generative AI features. All the iPhone 16 models may feature bigger RAM and larger battery capacities except for the Plus entry.
Do you think the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro will be worth buying with Apple Intelligence? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
