We are eagerly awaiting the release of the iPhone 16 lineup, which should be unveiled at the upcoming “GlowTime” event on September 9th. In the meantime, we’ve gathered a list of the 16 biggest changes expected to come to the new iPhone 16s. From larger screens to camera-focused hardware, let’s dive into what you can expect from the iPhone 16.
Be sure to check out our video below to get an even more in-depth view of some of these changes!
1. Capture button
The iPhone 16 and 16 Pro are set to introduce a new dedicated capture button, making it easier to snap photos and record videos quickly. The idea here is that iPhones are becoming if they have not already, people’s main camera. So, having a dedicated shutter that gives haptic feedback and allows for a half-press makes sense to add to these iPhones. We have received already some cases with a cutout on the bottom third of the case for a new button.
2. Thinner bezels
In addition to the larger screens, Apple will significantly reduced the bezel size on the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max. This means more screen and less frame, offering a sleek, modern look while maximizing the display area.
- 15 Pro bezel: 1.71mm
- 15 Pro Max bezel: 1.55mm
- 16 Pro bezel: 1.2mm
- 16 Pro Max: 1.15mm
3. New colors for pro models
The Pro models will also see new color options. You might have seen some images floating around about a possible brownish color. Let’s see what Apple gives us for the new Pro model color.
4. 5X optical zoom on 16 Pro
With the 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max models, Apple decided to give us two different camera systems. Only the 15 Pro Max model had the new 5x optical zoom, whereas the Pro version only had a 3x telephoto lens. With the new 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max, both iPhones should have the 5x Optical Zoom lens
5. Apple Intelligence
Apple Intelligence will be an interesting one. I want to remind people that these new iPhone 16 phones will have iOS 18.0 pre-installed on them. Apple intelligence will not be available until the iOS 18.1 release. But, rest assured that every iPhone 16 phone will be able to support the new Apple Intelligence. Very excited to see what people end up thinking about it all.
6. Brighter display
Every year, Apple seems to give us even brighter displays on these iPhones. The current 15 Pro and Pro Max models have 2000 nits. The new iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max are rumored to get brighter MLA OLED displays. So if you thought your iPhone was not bright enough in direct sunlight, then this one should be able to fix that.
7. WiFi 7 support
With Wifi 7 already beginning to be the norm on modern routers, the new iPhones will bring support for Wifi 7. This will allow for faster Wifi speeds as well as give even longer range than before.
8. Faster charging
Right now, the best charging that iPhones can support is relatively slow, compared to the Android counterpart. The iPhone 15 phones can charge at 27W when wired in and 15W when using a Magsafe Certified or Qi2 wireless charger. The new iPhone should support up to 40W of wired charging and 20W MagSafe charging.
9. New ultra-wide pro camera
Apple introduced the new 48-megapixel camera in the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max. The other two cameras remained at the standard 12 megapixels Apple has used for nearly a decade. The new iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max will now get a 48-megapixel ultrawide camera to match the quality of the wide lens.
10. Bigger battery
The entire iPhone 16 lineup will reportedly have bigger batteries. As a refresher, here are the battery capacities of the iPhone 15 lineup:
- iPhone 15: 3,349 mAh
- iPhone 15 Plus: 4,383 mAh
- iPhone 15 Pro: 3,274 mAh
- iPhone 15 Pro Max: 4,422 mAh
And here are the rumored capacities for the iPhone 16:
- iPhone 16 Pro Max: 4,676 mAh (up 5.7%)
- iPhone 16: 3,561 mAh (up 6.3%)
- iPhone 16 Plus: 4,006 mAh (down 8.6%)
- iPhone 16 Pro: 3,355 mAh (up 2.5%)
This should be accomplished using a new stacked battery method as opposed to the traditional single-layer design.
11. A18 Pro Chip
Powering the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max will be the new A18 Pro chip. This should give us faster performance, improved efficiency, and better overall peak graphics. The biggest aspect here is that there will be a huge emphasis on RAM giving these iPhones the ability to run Apple Intelligence features with no issues, hopefully.
12. New iPhone 16 and 16 Plus colors
The iPhone 16 and 16 Plus phones have always given us more color options. Most the of time these colors are very subtle. This time around, Apple seems to be really saturating these colors and allowing them to pop.
Here are the expected colors:
- Blue
- Pink
- White
- Black
- Green
13. 3K Slow-Mo video
Apple is giving us a new Slow-Mo feature for the first time since we got Slow-Mo video recording. The new mode will give us the ability to shoot 120fps at 3k resolutions. Right now, the current iPhones only support 120FPS at 1080P and 240FPS at 720P. I personally don’t take much slow-mo video, but maybe now I will.
14. Larger screens
Apple will be increasing the screen size of the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max phones for the first time in years.
For the iPhone 16 lineup this year, here’s what we’re expecting:
- iPhone 16: 6.1 inches
- iPhone 16 Plus: 6.7 inches
- iPhone 16 Pro: 6.3 inches
- iPhone 16 Pro Max: 6.9 inches
15. New camera layout
The iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus will be going with the vertical camera orientation once again. The iPhone 12 and 12 mini had their cameras in the vertical orientation and then Apple decided to switch it. No one really knows why. But they will go back to vertical with the new models so it can record spatial video. That Spatial Video will be able to be watched back on the Vision Pro.
16. JPEG XL support
The final rumors say that the iPhone 16 will support JPEG XL. JPEG XL is an image format that offers better compression ratios and image quality than JPEG. It’s designed to be computationally efficient and can be used on mobile devices without additional hardware acceleration. The idea here would be to compress video file sizes but up to 3X, allowing us to fit more on our local and external storage.
Final thoughts
As we approach the “Glow Time” event, the excitement for the iPhone 16 continues to build. I know that year over year, these changes tend to be less and less prevalent. But, as an iPhone 15 Pro Max user, I am excited to see what Apple gives us. I am more excited to see what new marketing terms they think up as well!
Let me know what you think. Are you getting a new iPhone? If yes, which are you upgrading from? Would love to have a discussion below!
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