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I genuinely can’t believe that iPhone season is nearly upon us, but here we are, heading relentlessly towards Apple’s biggest event of the year in the wake of a raft of releases from its biggest competitors.
It has been suggested by more than one tech news outlet that the 9th of September is the likely candidate for the iPhone 16 launch event. Alongside the latest selection of Apple’s smartphone range, we’re also expecting to see a new Apple Watch and new AirPods.
I want to focus solely on the iPhone 16 today, though, because I’ve remained rather quiet about the rumours that have been circulating about the new devices over the last few months.
Today, I’ll break that silence by busting out the tried-and-tested Mark Ellis Reviews Rumour Excitement-ometer. It feels close enough to the iPhone 16 launch now for most of these whispers to be all but concrete, after all.
Rumour 1: the biggest iPhones EVER
This year’s iPhone 16 lineup is expected to feature Pro and Pro Max models housing the largest display sizes ever for Apple’s smartphone. People are suggesting they’ll measure 6.27- and 6.86-inches, respectively.
This would also be the first time the Pro and Pro Max models have received any form of size increase since they were introduced in the iPhone 11 series back in 2019. My guess is that this will be achieved via a slightly bigger device chassis and smaller bezels.
I’m not convinced they need to get any bigger, to be honest.
We’re not off to the best of starts, are we?
Mark Ellis Reviews Rumour Excitement-ometer: 1/10
Rumour 2: vertical camera layout
The iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus (yep, it’s still highly unlikely we’re going to see another iPhone mini, I’m afraid) may be getting a vertical camera layout this time around, rather than the diagonal one to which we’ve become accustomed.
I’ve seen a few renders of what this could look like and, I must say, I’m a big fan. If anything, it would make the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus look a bit smarter than the Pro and Pro Max models. And it has that retro iPhone X thing going on.
Mark Ellis Reviews Rumour Excitement-ometer: 7/10
Rumour 3: Battery improvements
Now we’re talking. If the rumour mill is to be believed, the entire iPhone 16 lineup could receive some rather tasty stamina updates in the form of larger batteries.
A huge caveat here could be the fact that the aforementioned larger displays in the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max demand a larger battery, but I’d rather be optimistic and suggest that this could result in better battery life overall. Rumours of a more efficient OLED panel for the iPhone 16 lineup add weight to that expectation.
It’s needed, too – it currently feels like peak iPhone battery life was achieved with the iPhone 13 Pro Max.
Mark Ellis Reviews Rumour Excitement-ometer: 8/10
Rumour 4: another new button!
If you thought Apple was done with adding additional buttons to its iPhone (whoever thought we’d be saying that?!), think again. There are increasingly credible suggestions poking through the rumour noise which say we’ll get a ‘Capture’ button this time around.
Apparently coming to all iPhone 16 models, the ‘Capture’ button will be located on the opposite side of the phone to the rest of the buttons and placed further down so that it sits perfectly for shutter release duties.
My score here is based on the fact that I hope this rumoured new button includes a half-press focus grab, too.
Mark Ellis Reviews Rumour Excitement-ometer: 8/10
Rumour 5: several camera updates
I’ll plonk all of these here in one great big iPhone 16 camera rumour sandwich.
At the time of writing, the most consistent iPhone 16 camera rumours look like this:
- A 48-megapixel ultra-wide camera upgrade on the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max
- A ‘super-telephoto’ camera on the iPhone 16 Pro Max which could offer a focal length of up to 300mm (most of which will, surely, be digital)
- 5x optical zoom on the iPhone 16 Pro
- Anti-lens flare coating on lenses
Now that I’ve switched to the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 as my daily phone, the iPhone has become my main smartphone photo and video capture device (the Z Fold6 doesn’t cut it in that regard, unfortunately), so any camera upgrades this year get a big thumbs-up from me.
Mark Ellis Reviews Rumour Excitement-ometer: 9/10
Rumour 6: New chips and more memory
Well, obviously. And the likelihood is the new chips will be the A18 series, which will still be more powerful than anything we mere mortals can access, but which will also probably feature lots of support for Apple Intelligence, hence the score below.
It also sounds like the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus will get 8GB of RAM (up from 6GB in the current models), which, again, some are suggesting hints at Apple Intelligence system requirements.
Mark Ellis Reviews Rumour Excitement-ometer: 8/10
Rumour 7: fast(er) charging
Want fast charging on your iPhone? This might be the year because we’re expecting 40W wired and 20W MagSafe charging on the iPhone in 2024. Finally.
Worryingly, this rumour seems to centre on just the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max models. Given the wide availability of fast charging in the Android world, Apple does get knocked down a few points if they’re reserving it for the more expensive devices.
Mark Ellis Reviews Rumour Excitement-ometer: 7/10
Rumour 8: New colours and a polish
I’m a big fan of the titanium finish on the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max. It wasn’t worthy of such a huge marketing campaign, but I understand why Apple wanted to shout about it.
This year, it sounds like the brushed sides of the expensive models will be swapped for a polished finish. That’s interesting, given that most other manufacturers are heading in the opposite direction.
As you’d expect, there’s going to be new colours, too. Rose sounds like it’s going to be the special colour of the day, but there’s also the usual raft of – no doubt muted – primary colours potentially on the horizon, too.
Wrapping up
As always, I’ll turn it over to you now, folks. What iPhone 16 rumours are you most excited about? Get involved in the comments!
Before you go
