The iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus are good smartphones in their own right, but if you are planning to upgrade, it would be wise to wait until September 9 for the iPhone 16 series. The iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus are expected to offer significant upgrades over the current generation models. For context, the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus are powered by the A16 Bionic chip, which debuted on the iPhone 14 Pro line. Additionally, both models missed out on the new Action Button that Apple introduced on the Pro models to replace the Mute Switch. That said, the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus are nowhere close to their counterparts in the Pro line. However, things are set to change this year, with Apple planning to bring the base iPhone 16 models closer to the Pro models.
iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus: What to expect
Performance
The base iPhone 16 models are expected to see a significant boost in performance, with Apple likely powering them with the same A18 chip as the Pro models. Although Apple might use different configurations of the chip for different models, the iPhone 16 and Plus models may feature lesser cores for the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) compared to the Pro models. Nevertheless, this would represent a considerable upgrade for the base iPhone 16 models over their predecessors, which featured chips from the previous generation.
To further enhance performance, Apple might offer 8GB RAM on the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus, as this is the minimum requirement to run Apple Intelligence features. Compared to previous generation models, which featured 6GB RAM, this would be a significant improvement.
Functionality
Apple might bring more “Pro” features to the base iPhone 16 models. The capacitive Action Button, which replaced the Mute Switch on the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, is expected to be included in the base models with the iPhone 16 series. Unlike the Mute Switch, which only allows users to switch between sound profiles, the Action Button offers more functions and customisation options based on user preference.
Additionally, the new dedicated camera button that Apple is reportedly planning to add to the iPhone 16 series will be available across the lineup, including the base models. This new button, likely called the “Capture Button,” will be capacitive and will allow users to perform various camera actions using touch gestures.
Apple Intelligence
While Apple generally reserves its headline features for the Pro models, Apple’s suite of artificial intelligence features is coming to the entire iPhone 16 series. The upcoming Apple Intelligence features include text generation and summarisation tools across the board, the Image Playground app for generating images from prompts, Genmoji for generating emojis using artificial intelligence, OpenAI’s ChatGPT integration into the operating system, and an improved artificial intelligence-powered Siri with better natural language processing capabilities.
Design
The base iPhone 16 models are also expected to receive a few notable cosmetic changes. Unlike previous generation models, the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus are expected to have their rear camera modules aligned vertically instead of diagonally. Additionally, Apple might introduce new colour options for the base variants.
