iPhone 16 and 16 Pro: everything we know about the next Apple smartphones

While artificial intelligence arrived with fanfare at Samsung with the Galaxy AI suite of tools present on the Galaxy S24, Apple was, until its WWDC 2024 conference, lagging behind with its iPhone 15. Good news, iOS 18 will change the game this fall thanks to the integration of Apple Intelligence, its own vision of mobile AI. If the new features it covers are reserved for the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max under the A17 Pro chip, they will arrive in force at the start of the 2024 school year on all new models: the iPhone 16, 16 Plus, 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max . The rumors are already legion and predict a host of new features for this generation. We take stock!

Le design

The iPhone 16 and 16 Plus would benefit from three notable developments compared to the design of the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus: a photo module with vertically aligned sensors, to record spatial videos intended for the Vision Pro headset, which we recall that it will be marketed in France from July 12, a little over five months after its debut in the United States; replacing the silent/ringer switch with the Action button on the iPhone 15 Pro; and finally a new Capture button dedicated to photos and videos.

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This third element, also planned for the iPhone 16 Pro, should be integrated on the right edge of the smartphones, just below the lock button. According to various informants, the latter allows you to interact with the camera: focus, zoom, start a recording, take a photo, etc.

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The Pro models would also offer another new design feature: larger screens. Apple would in fact consider moving to a 6.3-inch panel on the 16 Pro and 6.9 inches on the 16 Pro Max, compared to 6.1 inches and 6.7 inches on the current generation. The iPhone 16 and 16 Plus would retain these two emblematic diagonals.

As a bonus, the screens used by Apple would benefit from ultra-thin borders, for an ever more immersive display and in order to limit the increase in size of their case, despite their large screen. This new template would also allow the x5 periscopic telephoto lens of the iPhone 15 Pro Max to be introduced on the iPhone 16 Pro.

Color wise, the latest information comes from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. In mid-May, it announced black, white or silver, gray (potentially natural titanium), and pink for the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max as well as black, green, pink, blue and white for the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus.

Performances

The iPhone 16 should all feature a 3nm A18 chip, with a Pro version for the 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max terminals designed for AI. Rumors also mention a new engraving method (N3E), making it possible to gain performance and benefit from better energy efficiency.

The A18 of the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus would also offer the power necessary to run the Apple Intelligence features brought by iOS 18.

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The connectivity part would evolve only for the Pro models, with support for wifi 7 and the appearance of a more efficient 5G modem, the Qualcomm X75. The latter would provide better coverage, lower latency and more energy efficiency and speed than its predecessor, the Qualcomm X70.

In terms of RAM, the standard models would be entitled to an additional 2 GB compared to the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus. This would include 8 GB of RAM, as Apple has been offering since last year on the iPhone 15 Pro.

The screens

As we noted above, the next generation of Apple smartphones should be available in four different screen sizes:

• 6.9 inches on iPhone 16 Pro Max;
• 6.7 inches on iPhone 16 Plus;
• 6.3 inches on iPhone 16 Pro;
• 6.1 inches on the iPhone 16.

In terms of display, the Pro models would still be the only ones to benefit from ProMotion, with its adaptive refresh rate 1-120 Hz. The others would remain limited to 60 Hz.

According to The Elec, Apple would use a new Oled screen from Samsung on the iPhone 16 Pro to offer a panel 20% brighter than on the iPhone 15 Pro. The media speaks in particular of a brightness peak at 1200 nits in SDR.

The photo part

In the photography department, the iPhone 16/16 Plus would adopt the sensors of the iPhone 15/15 Plus. That is to say, on the back, a 48 Mpx wide-angle main sensor with x2 optical zoom and a 12 Mpx ultra-wide-angle, and on the front, a 12 Mpx selfie camera.

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It is towards the iPhone 16 Pro that we should turn to observe change. According to Ming-Chi Kuo, the two models would be entitled to a new 48 Mpx ultra wide-angle to replace the traditional 12 Mpx on board previous generations.

Thanks to this development, Apple would bring the pixel-binning technology of the main sensor of the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 15 to an ultra-wide angle. The opportunity to gain brightness and detail thanks to the combination of four pixels in one. This would allow you to take photos in ProRAW format.

The iPhone 16 Pro would benefit from the sensor exclusive to the iPhone 15 Pro Max: the periscopic lens with tetraprism lens. As a reminder, the latter has the advantage of offering iPhone users a x5 optical zoom.

The batteries

Information regarding upcoming iPhone batteries is still a little light. We can notably cite the leaker Baby Baby Sauce on Weibo, who is counting on a battery of 3561 mAh for the iPhone 16 (+6% compared to the iPhone 15), 4006 mAh for the iPhone 16 Plus (-9 %), 3355 mAh for the iPhone 16 Pro (+2%) and 4676 mAh (+5%) for the iPhone 16 Pro Max.

For his part, @lipilipsi, on Twitter/X, speaks of a battery of 3577 mAh on the iPhone 16 Pro and 4747 mAh on the iPhone 16 Pro Max, an increase in capacity compared to current models.

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As for Ming-Chi Kuo, he announces greater energy density of battery cells for the iPhone 16 Pro Max. That evolution “has the advantage of longer battery life with the same battery size or a smaller battery size with the same battery life“, according to him. He also emphasizes that this would either improve the endurance of this future premium Apple model, or save space to introduce other components.

In addition to this, rumors indicate that the battery protective case will change from an aluminum coating to stainless steel. The objective of this change would be to improve the heat dissipation system of the iPhone 15 Pro, which was singled out when the smartphones were released due to overheating problems.

AI and software tracking

The iPhone 16 marks the arrival with great fanfare of artificial intelligence, and more precisely of Apple Intelligence. This is a set of AI-based features available with iOS 18. It includes a redesigned Siri and boosted by ChatGPT and even summary and rewriting capabilities. New microphones would also be planned to improve voice understanding by Apple’s assistant.

Installed at the launch of new Apple smartphones, iOS 18 also adds greater customization of the OS (application icon, control center or even lock screen), support for RCS in Messages, a redesign of the app Photos, a password manager… To find all the new features of the update, go to our dedicated article.

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On the software monitoring side, we can wonder about Apple’s intentions, particularly in the face of the efforts made by Samsung and Google, the two manufacturers offering seven years of Android and security updates on their latest models (Galaxy S24 and Pixel 8). For its part, Apple recently clarified that its iPhone 15 Pro Max would benefit from a minimum of five years of security updates, and we can hope that its next devices will benefit from additional software support.

Release date and price

Apple has a habit of announcing its new smartphones during a keynote in September, usually on a Tuesday. After this presentation event, the Apple firm should launch pre-orders the following Friday, and marketing should follow a week later.

Just like the launch date, the price of the iPhone 16 is still unknown to the rumor mill. We could therefore expect a price scale similar to that of the iPhone 15: from €969 for the standard model, €1119 for the Plus version, €1229 for the Pro and €1479 for the Pro Max. Knowing that the components are more and more expensive, the bill could rise.

For comparison, Samsung marketed its Galaxy S24 Ultra 256 GB at a price €50 higher than the Galaxy S23 Ultra. The Pixel 8 Pro is €200 more expensive than the Pixel 7 Pro in its 128 GB version.

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