It’s safe to assume that there will be a new line of iPhones coming later this year. The annual upgrade cycle has held firm since 2011, and we’re not expecting it to change for 2024.
The iPhone 15 and 15 Pro line are undoubtedly the best iPhones you can buy right now. The regular iPhone 15 replaces the notch of the iPhone 14 with a Dynamic Island that can show notifications and change shape depending on the app. With the 15 Pro line, the A17 Pro chip allows users to take advantage of Apple Intelligence, the company’s set of AI features expected to arrive for U.S. users later this year with iOS 18. In addition, the 15 Pro Max gained an exclusive upgrade in the form of a 5x 120mm telephoto lens.
It’s a solid baseline right across the range then for the iPhone 16 line-up to build on. With the iPhone 16 line expected to arrive in just a matter of weeks, we’re turning our attention to the regular iPhone 16, looking to highlight what to expect from this year’s entry-level model compared to last year’s standard iPhone 15 handset. Aside from screen size, you can broadly expect the same differences here for an iPhone 16 Plus vs iPhone 15 Plus match-up, too.
Chip
With the iPhone 15 line using the A16 chip from the iPhone 14 Pro, and the iPhone 15 Pro using the newest A17 Pro chip, iPhone 16 looks set to use a new A18 chip. Code discovered in Apple’s backend has seemingly leaked this new chip for the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus. This makes sense, as Apple would logically want to have all of its newest iPhones support Apple Intelligence — something that, for now, only works with the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max.
For Apple to have its entire iPhone 16 line support its AI features would be a justifiable upgrade for anyone wanting to move on from their older iPhones. However, it’s not just Apple Intelligence that could make these phones an attractive upgrade. The A18 chip is also rumored to have huge performance gains that blow past what came before, including the A17 Pro, which supports games like Resident Evil 4. This improvement is apparently due to an advanced N3E manufacturing process that allows for faster clock speeds and better heat dissipation on the A18.
Design
You could argue that the design of the iPhone has mostly stayed the same since iPhone 12’s debut in 2020. The angular design with a shiny frame surrounding these phones has been a staple. iPhone 16 looks to carry on these design tropes but with slight differences.
This year, White, Black, Blue, Green, and Pink are the rumored iPhone 16 colors. The blue is reminiscent of a similar color that was offered in iPhone 12, while the pink seems to be more vibrant than what’s been previously available in this shade.
Another rumored feature is a thinner bezel of the display, which may apply to the entire iPhone 16 line. The iPhone 15 Pro line introduced a thinner bezel, so if the iPhone 16 is confirmed to have something even thinner, it could mean a slightly bigger display on both models.
Camera
The camera module for the iPhone 16 may have more changes in its appearance on the device itself, as well as a dedicated capture button being added to the phone. Some iPhone 16 and 16 Pro dummy models reportedly leaked in March, showing an extra button below the Power button. This is alleged to be a ‘Capture’ button, which is similar to what the Battery Case offered for iPhone 11 models back in 2019. If you had an iPhone 11 at the time, you could press this button and it would launch Apple’s Camera app. Once you were in the app, pressing the button again would capture a photo or video, depending on what function the app was set to. This addition makes sense, as many users upgrade for the camera capabilities of an iPhone. Although the Action button, available in iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, can be configured to open the Camera app, a capture button would allow the user to set the Action button to something else, such as a Shazam shortcut.
When examining the image that leaked the colors for iPhone 16 and 16 Plus, another noticeable difference is the vertical orientation of the two camera lenses. These hark back to how the cameras looked on the iPhone X and iPhone XS models. This may be to take advantage of the Spatial Video feature, available in the iPhone 15 Pro models. For anyone unfamiliar, this lets you record a 3D video that you can view in Apple Vision Pro, the company’s spatial computing headset. When you play a Spatial Video, it’s akin to looking through a window, as if the people in the video are there with you.
Battery
We can’t talk about an upcoming iPhone without mentioning the potential capabilities of the battery! However, rumors have been light this year on what the iPhone 16 could be packing.
Back in February, we spotted a tweet that highlighted what the battery capacity may be. The iPhone 16 will reportedly have an increased capacity of 3561mAh. This is significantly more than the 3349mAh battery of the iPhone 15, although the iPhone 16 Plus may have a 4006mAh battery, which is less when compared to the iPhone 15 Plus’ 4383mAh battery.
If confirmed, we’re not sure why there’s a lesser amount for the 16 Plus, but we suspect it may be due to space reasons in the iPhone’s body, or that the new A18 chip could feature improved battery consumption, which is why there’s less capacity.
A potentially great upgrade if you have an iPhone 13 or lower
Although the above information is not yet confirmed, it suggests an iPhone 16 feature set that could be tantalizing to those who have an iPhone 14 and below. If you watched WWDC in June this year, Apple’s yearly developer conference, the company made sure to mention that Apple Intelligence currently supports iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, closing off these AI features to anyone who has an older iPhone.
It’s safe to assume that the entire iPhone 16 line will support Apple Intelligence, so if you want tools to help with your writing, summarize emails, and a better Siri, the next iPhone could be the one for you.
Other than that, a thinner bezel and a dedicated Capture button could also appeal, especially if you use your iPhone to take many photos and videos to share with friends and on social media.
Whatever the case, 2024 looks to be a significant year for the next iPhone. Are you tempted to upgrade? Let us know in the iMore forums.
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