iPhone 16: Top 7 crucial rumors you should know about
Renders depicting the upcoming iPhone 16 range (Credit––PhoneArena)
All rumored iPhone 16 features
Larger size, larger displays
One of the major rumors about the iPhone 16 Pro and the iPhone 16 Pro Max revolves around the potentially larger displays they'll be getting. The iPhone 16 Pro will grow from 6.1 inches to 6.3 inches, whereas the iPhone 16 Pro Max will ditch its 6.7-inch screen for a 6.9-inch one.
Apple will achieve this display enlargement thanks to a combination of important changes. Both the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max will be slightly taller and wider than their predecessors, but will also employ much thinner bezels. These cohesive upgrades will potentially allow for the rumored increase in the display size.
iPhone 15 Pro Max vs iPhone 16 Pro Max expected display size differences (Image Credit––9To5Mac)
The iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus won't be getting larger screens, though, and their size isn't changing either.
Of course, larger displays in pretty much the same form factor is always a welcome scenario for users. Rarely do iPhones score screen size bumps, so every instance is rather significant.
After opening Pandora's box with the Action Button on the iPhone 15 series, Apple seems to have a new-found gusto for adding extra buttons to its iPhones. That's likely one of the reasons why all iPhone 16 models will receive a capacitive new Capture button, positioned on the right side of the phone, below the power button.
New Capture button
After opening Pandora's box with the Action Button on the iPhone 15 series, Apple seems to have a new-found gusto for adding extra buttons to its iPhones. That's likely one of the reasons why all iPhone 16 models will receive a capacitive new Capture button, positioned on the right side of the phone, below the power button.
This one would allow you to quickly access the camera from anywhere, as well as zoom in with a swipe and capture a photo or a video with a single tap.
Having a dedicated Capture button on the iPhone 16 series probably sits very low on most users' wish lists, as there are already a good few ways to quickly access an iPhone's camera. Still, knowing Apple, this dedicated button might have other uses aside from the obvious, so we'll reserve our judgement for the official release.
The iPhone 16 Capture button will be positioned a bit below the power button (Image Credit––Sonny Dickson
Camera upgrades and changes
Speaking of cameras, all iPhone 16 models are currently rumored to score upgrades.
Both the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Maxwill be getting new 48MP ultra-wide cameras. This one will boast smaller pixel size but have a larger sensor size, so technically, we should see an improvement in low-light camera performance and overall image quality.
The iPhone 16 Pro, on the other hand, could be getting the telephoto camera of the iPhone 15 Pro Max. This one delivers 5X optical zoom, a serious jump from the 3X telephoto used by the all previous Pro models.
When it comes to the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus, we aren't getting any major hardware upgrades. The most crucial change could be a new vertical camera alignment, which will allow the two devices to take spatial videos intended for the Apple Vision Pro headset.
Of course, camera changes and upgrades are always welcome. Judging from all the rumors, 2024 could very well be the year of the iPhone 16 Pro, as it's about to score some serious camera upgrades!
Here's what the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus camera island will look like (Image––PhoneArena)
Larger batteries and better battery life
As per the latest rumors, the iPhone 16 Pro Max might score a 4,676mAh battery (versus 4,422mAh on the iPhone 15 Pro Max. Meanwhile, the smaller iPhone 16 Pro is also set to score a battery upgrade to 3,355mAh, up from 3,274mAh on the iPhone 15 Pro. Finally, the regular iPhone 16 is likely getting treated to a 3,561mAh battery, up from 3,349mAh on the iPhone 15.
However, not everything is good: the iPhone 16 Plus is reportedly getting its battery capacity downgraded. The large affordable model will boast a 4,006mAh battery, a nearly 10% decrease in comparison with the 4,383mAh battery inside the iPhone 15 Plus.
Batteries are crucial elements of the modern smartphone package, thus almost all iPhone 16 models scoring battery upgrades will hopefully lead to much better battery life. Batteries are just part of the equation: energy efficiency thanks to the faster chip that's coming to all iPhone 16 models will play an equal––if not bigger––part in the potential battery life upgrade.
Which leads us to…
Which leads us to…
A single 3nm chip across the range
Yep, the current rumor mill consensus is that the whole iPhone 16 range could be powered by one and the same chip, the upcoming Apple A18 Pro. This will be Apple's second-generation 3nm chip, built on TSMC's 3NE manufacturing process. As usual with new chips, better performance and energy efficiency are to be expected.
Now, what's the deal here? Apple has always put the same chip in all its iPhones of the same generation, except for the iPhone 14 and iPhone 15 models. With those two, Apple differentiated the regular iPhone and iPhone Plus from the Pro models by putting a faster chip in the more premium devices.
On-device AI + iOS 18
iOS 18 will come with tons of AI features on board
The iPhone 16 range is reportedly betting heavy on AI. Being late to the party and trailing Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, and most of its competitors, the company will have to quickly catch up and showcase a massive effort in artificial intelligence.
There's no certainty as to what features will make AI on the iPhone 16 intriguing, but we have an expansive list of potential AI improvements. A much better Siri, AI-powered image and video enhancements, as well as contextually aware smart suggestions and image recognition are likely coming to an iPhone 16 near you later this year.
There are currently a ton of rumored AI features that might arrive on the iPhone 16, but we should see a large portion of Apple's potential AI innovations much earlier. This June, Apple will unveil iOS 18, which is also rumored to be heavily focused on AI.
It's logical to assume that most of the potential cloud-processed AI features of iOS 18 will arrive on all eligible iPhones (iPhones Xs and newer), but probably only the iPhone 16 range will be able to benefit from more powerful on-device AI tasks.
Much faster Wi-Fi on board
The whole iPhone 16 lineup is reportedly getting support for Wi-Fi 7. The new wireless standard will allow for significantly faster data throughput, potentially offering data transfer speeds of more than 40 Gbps, which would be a 4x increase over the Wi-Fi 6E of the current iPhone 15 generation.
Of course, much faster Wi-Fi will be an excellent upgrade for the iPhone 16 lineup. However, a compatible Wi-Fi 7 router is required to benefit from the potential upgrade.
Conclusion
Although the iPhone 16 is still a few months away, we seem to know a lot about the upcoming Apple devices. The days of minor intergenerational iPhone upgrades are possibly behind us, as the iPhone 16 is so far shaping up to be another major and exciting release.
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