Leak Lounge | Upcoming iPhone 16 and 16 Pro - New design, better cameras, unprecedented AI prowess, and more?
Prepare your pockets and ready your palates, for the iPhone 16 series is poised to be unveiled on the 9th of this month, succeeding the iPhone 15 series as Apple's flagship smartphone lineup. The expected lineup will most likely include the standard iPhone 16, and iPhone 16 Plus, as well as the iPhone 16 Pro and the iPhone 16 Pro Max.
Apple Intelligence: AI for the rest of us?
Having witnessed the AI hype, the pièce de résistance of the upcoming iPhone 16 series is undoubtedly going to be the long-awaited 'Apple Intelligence' features - Apple’s foray into smartphone-AI dominance. Apple previewed many of its AI capabilities at the WWDC event earlier this year, and if the demos are anything to go by, Apple Intelligence might turn out to be the best implementation of smartphone AI yet.
Unfortunately, Apple Intelligence will be available on the iPhone 15 Pro variant only, leaving the standard iPhone 15 in the dust. With the next generation, however, the entire iPhone 16 lineup is expected to gain Apple Intelligence capabilities, with some features even being exclusive to the iPhone 16 lineup.
Apple Intelligence encompasses a plethora of advanced AI and machine learning abilities baked seamlessly into Apple's ecosystem. It includes personalized suggestions in Photos, Music, and News, an overhauled Siri experience, intelligent Spotlight search, predictive text and contextual nudges in messages and emails, and a whole lot more. Analysts have even predicted that these promised features may lead to an iPhone 'supercycle', but the crystal ball remains murky in that regard.
Design: Back to the future
Rumor has it, that the standard iPhone 16 models will feature the most significant re-design since the iPhone 13, reverting to a vertical alignment for the rear camera in a pill-shaped housing, reminiscent of the iPhone X from 2017. The standard iPhone 16 will inherit the 15 Pro's 'Action Button' perched above the volume controls, while both the iPhone 16 and 16 Pro are expected to sport a new 'Capture Button' on the right side of the device, allowing for a better photography experience, especially in landscape mode. Moreover, this button is expected to be capacitive in nature, allowing for user-customizable gestures and varying pressue-sensitive clicks.
However, there are no major expected changes to the front of the device - there is very little to be done in that regard anyway since it's all just screen and bezel now. There were whispers of an under-display FaceID system for the iPhone 16 Pro, but those rumors were shot down and appear to have no chance of happening at least until next year.
The iPhone 16 will retain the familiar silhouette of its predecessor, the iPhone 15, while the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max are both expected to grow in dimensions, thanks to their larger displays as rumored.
- iPhone 16 Pro: 6.3" up from 6.1"
- iPhone 16 Pro Max: 6.9" up from 6.7"
Both versions are also expected to feature significantly skinnier screen bezels, with the iPhone 16 Pro getting a 30% reduction, and the 16 Pro Max getting a 26% reduction.
The exact dimensions of the upcoming iPhone 16 Pro lineup are as follows.
- iPhone 16 Pro: 8.25 mm thick, 149.6 mm height, 71.45 mm width, 1.2 mm bezel, 194 grams weight.
- iPhone 16 Pro Max: 8.26 mm thick, 163.6 mm height, 77.58 mm width, 1.15 mm bezel, 225 grams weight.
iPhone 16 blue unboxing will be like this? pic.twitter.com/8ezvBuph51
— Majin Bu (@MajinBuOfficial) August 14, 2024
Camera: Finally, a solution to lens flare?
In recent years, a smartphone's camera has become its defining feature, consistently growing in importance with each new release. Unsurprisingly, Apple has been hard at work making sure its smartphone lineup remains competitive with the onslaught of Androids and has arguably dominated the smartphone videography segment. For the next generation of its flagships, rumors have pointed at several improvements set to embrace the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro lineup.
For starters, both the iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max are expected to feature a 5x telephoto lens, which was previously limited to only the Pro Max version, with a 12 MP sensor with an aperture of f/2.8. The ultra-wide camera is also poised to witness a jump to 48 MP with support for 48 MP ProRaw photos, up from the current 12 MP.
Further, reports have also suggested that Apple has been testing out newer camera lens coating technologies, which may turn out to be fruitful in reducing lens flare and improving image quality in certain challenging conditions.
Reports have also indicated that Apple may adopt Sony's 1/1.14 inch IMX903 sensor for the larger iPhone 16 Pro Max variant, armed with a 14-bit ADC (Analog to Digital Converter) as well as a DCG (Digital Gain Control).
Moreover, recent sources have claimed that Apple may introduce a new image format for the iPhone 16-series, dubbed JPEG-XL which will likely improve photo quality and compression. Further, both the iPhone 16 and 16 Pro are rumored to offer support fpr 3K video recording at 120 FPS with Dolby Vision.
Apple Silicon: A18 with enhanced AI prowess
Predictably, the upcoming iPhone 16 lineup will rock Apple's A18 SoC. Not much is known about the A18 at this point, apart from the fact that it will likely be manufactured on TSMC's N3E node. There is no concrete data on efficiency or performance, but considering Apple's previous trends, we can expect substantial gains in both departments.
Interestingly, this time around, the entire brood will rock the A18 SoC, unlike the previous two generations where the non-Pro version of the iPhone received previous-generation SoCs. However, it is highly probable that Apple will still somehow differentiate between the Pro and non-Pro variants, perhaps by gracing the iPhone 16 Pro's SoC with a higher number of GPU cores, as well as the vaunted Pro moniker. Further, the A18 Pro SoC is also expected to boast a significantly improved Neural Engine, which will greatly benefit the upcoming Apple Intelligence features.
The SoC is also likely to be paired with 8 GB of RAM across the lineup, giving the standard iPhone 16 models a nice bump up from the 6 GB of RAM found in the current generation.
While the A17 Pro is undoubtedly a power chip, reports of iPhone 15 Pros overheating have been far from scarce on the Internet. Rumors have pointed towards a graphene-based thermal system for the iPhone 16, allowing for much-improved heat dissipation.
Display: Brighter, more efficient
Perhaps the most noticeable change to the next-generation iPhones' display, will likely be the slimmed-down bezels of the iPhone 16 Pro lineup. The exact details of the expected reduction have been listed in this article's design section, with the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max obtaining 30% and 26% slimmer bezels respectively.
Further, all four models of the iPhone 16 series might benefit from micro-lens technology for their OLED panels, as indicated by earlier rumors. This would allow sizeable efficiency improvements, allowing for brighter panels while simultaneously lowering power consumption. According to more recent leaks, the iPhone 16 Pro lineup will sport a maximum brightness of 1200 nits for SDR content, a 20% increase from that of the iPhone 15 Pro. However, this might come at a cost of worse viewing angles, along with an increased manufacturing complexity. It remains to be seen how Apple navigates these potential challenges.
Battery, Connectivity, and more
According to reports, Apple has planned battery upgrades for the entire iPhone 16 lineup, save for the iPhone 16 Plus, which, surprisingly, is expected to feature a slightly smaller battery. The speculated capacities of the batteries for the various iPhone 16 models are listed below:
- iPhone 16: 3,561 mAh, up from 3,349 mAh
- iPhone 16 Plus: 4,006 mAh, down from 4,383 mAh
- iPhone 16 Pro: 3,355 mAh, up from 3,274 mAh
- iPhone 16 Pro Max: 4,676 mAh, up from 4,422 mAh
As for charging speeds, reports indicate that the iPhone 16 Pro will likely feature up to 40 W of wired charging and 20 W wireless charging speeds, a notable improvement from the current generation's 27 W and 15 W respectively.
Wireless connectivity-wise, the iPhone 16 Pro models might get upgraded to WiFi 7, allowing higher speeds and lower latencies. In contrast, the standard models are expected to be upgraded to WiFi 6E, which is currently exclusive to the iPhone 15 Pro lineup.
Pricing and Availability
The iPhone 16 lineup is most likely set for launch at Apple's September 9th 'Glowtime' event, which is when Apple usually likes to unveil next-generation iPhones. There is no concrete information on pricing, but a surge in prices, especially for the Pro variants, might not seem that far-fetched, considering the ever-escalating cost of iPhone components.
