Apple will release 8 very different iPhone 16 models

They will be powered by an Apple A18 or Apple 18 Pro chipsets, and finally have at least eight gigabytes of RAM, which seems to be the bare minimum for running Apple Intelligence. So far so good, and seemingly a positive development in the iPhone fragmentation trend that Apple has embarked on. 

Not so fast, though, as, instead of four handsets in the iPhone 16 series, Apple will actually be releasing eight very different models that will this time be fragmented both in terms of hardware, and by their software and features.

Oh, that one will only be available in the EU, sorry, US iPhone owners and the rest of the world! 

With the upcoming iOS 18 update, tens of millions of iPhone and iPad users in the European Union (EU) region will be able to customize their iOS software like never before, confirmed Apple:

By the end of the year, an iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and the iPhone 16 Pro Max user in the EU will get way more control over Apple's system or default apps than users in the US can even dream about. 

An iPhone 16 without an App Store? No problem, that one can be gone and replaced by one of the third-party application stores that popped up after Europe enforced its Digital Market Act's antitrust legislation against Apple's walled iOS garden.

The iPhones in Europe will have a Default Apps Section where they can simply uninstall a stock browser, mail, application store, and even payment apps, and replace them with a third party alternative. Not only that, but "in future software updates, users will get new default settings for dialing phone numbers, sending messages, translating text, navigation, managing passwords, keyboards, and call spam filters," promises Apple, though the navigation swap that will, say, replace Apple with Google Maps, is coming next year.

Thus, an iPhone 16 with Chrome instead of Safari, with AltStore instead of App Store, with Google Wallet for contactless payments, and an alternative dialer and messaging apps, will be a completely different beast than the same handset bought in the US on September 20 when the iPhone 16 will launch in stores.

Oh, sorry, European buyers, US users will have an AI-powered iPhone 16, and you won't!

This year, the European Commission morphed its General Data Protection Regulation software initiative into an even more formidable personal privacy, security, and consumer choice legislation. The Digital Markets Act deals with antitrust legislation, forcing Apple to allow alternatives to the Safari browser, for instance. Then there is the Digital Services Act that demand communication platforms like X, Facebook, or Telegram to watch for and take down illicit or misleading content. 

The last part of the three pillars of European tech regulations, however, is the AI Act that does the same but for content generated with the help of artificial intelligence, requiring utmost transparency and placing restrictions on AI models that target general use scenarios like the OpenAI, Google Gemini, and, yes, Apple's nascent AI platform.

Needless to say, the Silicon Valley giants were not very happy that they have to make extra efforts to comply. Meta, Apple, Google, and OpenAI are all threatening to withhold their AI-powered services from European users. When Apple Intelligence was announced at the WWDC event in June, the iPhone maker said that it won't roll out the suite of services in Europe due to unspecified "security compromises" if it complies with local legislation.

After blowing the AI craze out of proportion, however, as the Silicon Valley usually does, the initial excitement and overinvestment had subsided. Moreover, the tech company stocks nosedived on the realization that people don't find what they are peddling exciting enough to, say, buy a new iPhone 16 solely on the AI-powered features.

Still, an iPhone 16 bought in the US on September 20 will support all the Apple Intelligence goodies such as typing to Siri, assisted writing, smart messaging replies, mail summaries, a Clean Up photo editing tool similar to Google's Magic Eraser, and many more.

An iPhone 16 bought in Europe won't have even a whiff of Apple Intelligence, but all major stock apps on it could be stripped away and replaced with the user's preferred alternative, like swapping the Safari browser with a fully functional Chrome.

At first glance, it will be the same iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max everywhere. Once picked up, however, an iPhone 16 for the American market, and an iPhone 16 for Europe will be two different iPhones in iOS look, feel, and features. 

To wit, Apple will basically be announcing not four but eight different iPhones this year, some segregated by hardware, some by software, but all collectively making the iPhone franchise fragmentation trend worse, not better.