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IPhone 7: Our Complete Overview
Today during Apple's keynote event at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco, the Cupertino company announced the latest iteration on their most successful product. Despite rumors of a mostly laid back upgrade year, the iPhone 7 did not disappoint. While only minor changes have been made to the enclosure, there are significant upgrades to almost every other aspect of Apple's flagship iPhone.
DesignWhile the general dimensions of both the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus have remained the same, the camera footprint on both devices has increased. This means that most cases for the previous iPhones will likely no longer fit, unless they happened to leave a lot of extra space around the camera.
That said, the design of both phones have changed in more minor details as well. The cameras on both devices now include a slight taper leading up to the lenses, and the antennas on the devices have been redesigned so that the lines across the backs of the devices are no longer visible.
The Home button has been completely redesigned as well, although there are no visual indications of this from looking at it. The new home button is a solid-state button, meaning it is no longer mechanical. This will certainly make it much more durable than previous versions with their moving parts, and definitely helps with water resistance. It also means that the feedback felt from pressing the button is now tied to the iPhone's Taptic engine, allowing you to configure how sensitive you want your Home button to be. The general idea sounds very similar to that of Apple's Force Touch trackpads, which do not actually move, but use haptic feedback to make it feel like they've moved. We'll see when the hands-on reviews start dropping whether Apple has succeeded with this goal.
Finally, with the iPhone 7 Apple is introducing two brand new colors for iPhones: Black and Jet Black. Black is the replacement for Space Gray, which is no longer an option for the newest iPhones. It is a black matte finish with a black Apple logo in the middle. The Jet Black color is a highly polished glossy black, harkening back to the shiny black glass of the iPhone 4 and 4S models. The Apple logo in the center of the Jet Black model is a dark gray.
Besides the new colors, new camera on the Plus models, and the modest design tweaks, it will be hard to easily spot a new iPhone 7 from an older 6 or 6S. This is the first time Apple has dubbed an iPhone with a completely new number without a full redesign of its exterior, but there are certainly many other changes to this device that make the digit change seem warranted.
CamerasBoth models of iPhone 7 include a brand new 12-megapixel camera with a larger ƒ/1.8 aperture and 6-element lens. Furthermore, for the first time the smaller 4.7-inch model has received the Optical Image Stabilization capability, which has been reserved for the larger model since the iPhone 6 series. Both cameras also can capture a wider color range, allowing for more vibrant and detailed color to be captured, and both include a new Image Signal Processor, which can process over 100 billion operations on a photo within 25 milliseconds.
Besides the back camera, both new iPhones also come with an upgraded 7-megapixel FaceTime camera on the front, which includes the wide color capture that's new in the back cameras as well. The True Tone flash has been upgraded as well, now sporting four LEDs rather than the previous two, resulting in a 50% brighter flash. Apple has also added a sensor that detects the flickering of artificial lights and tries to compensate for it in photos and videos (if you're not aware of this flickering, try taking a slo-mo video of an artificial light and you'll see it).
For the iPhone 7 Plus, alongside the wide-angle camera specified above is a second camera, which has a 12-megapixel telephoto lens. Together, the wide-angle and telephoto cameras in the iPhone 7 Plus are capable of 2x optical zoom, and 10x digital zoom, while still maintaining the quality of the captured photo.
The final feature of the iPhone 7 Plus' camera is the ability to perform an effect called "bokeh", which is a photography term for images where the foreground is sharply in focus while the background is greatly blurred. The Bokeh effect is extremely difficult to achieve for smartphone-sized cameras, but Apple has managed it, sort of, with their new dual-lens system.
I say sort of because the feature will be fairly limited when it is rolled out, and it is only achieved via a combination of hardware and software working together. At its introduction, this feature will only be available via a special "portrait mode" in the iOS Camera app on iPhone 7 Plus. In portrait mode, a combination of hardware and software will use facial recognition to determine a person, or people, to focus on in the foreground. It will then defocus the background based on its knowledge of the subjects of the picture. The biggest limitation here is that the feature only works on human subjects (at least based on the information we have about it from the keynote). That means you can't get the bokeh effect on subjects such as flowers or other inanimate objects, only on literal portraits you're taking of people. Furthermore, in portrait mode, Live Photos are disabled, and you can't take video using the effect.
All in all, the new bokeh effect may be extremely impressive technology to be included in the tiny camera of a smartphone, but it is also extremely limited technology at this time. It will be very exciting to watch Apple evolve and mature it, as they most certainly will in future generations, but for now its implementation remains a bit underwhelming. I expect it will be particularly so for people who do not understand the technical hurdles that the system is overcoming.
The final note about the bokeh effect is that the ability is not yet ready for prime time. It will not be included in the software for the iPhone 7 Plus at launch, but will instead be added at some point "later this year."
Water ResistanceAnother headline feature of the iPhone 7 is that it is finally officially water resistant. Note the difference here between water proof and resistant. The actual water resistance rating is IP67 under the EIC standard 60529. In normal terms, that means the iPhone 7 is certified to not break down to a depth of about 1 meter of water, and only for 30 minutes at that depth.
Obviously, this is a far cry from being truly water proof, but it does mean that you should no longer need to worry about a glass of water being knocked onto your iPhone, dropping it into a toilet or a pool (depending on the depth of the pool), using it while walking through the rain, etc. One important thing to note though is that Apple still advises against plugging in a wet iPhone to charge. If your iPhone 7 does get wet, shake it out and give it a while to dry out before connecting it to power. That said, a wet iPhone 7 should only be wet in the port and speaker areas, not throughout the entire phone, so it should dry out significantly quicker than you may be used to from previous generations. The days of leaving your iPhone in a bowl of rice should thankfully be over.
The iPhone may still be a couple years out from being being certified for use by scuba divers, or being dropped into a deep lake, but the important thing to know right now is that you are finally clear to snap some underwater selfies without sealing your iPhone in a plastic bag.
Stereo SpeakersThe new iPhone lineup for the first time includes a set of stereo speakers, one located at the bottom and one located at the top. The speakers are not only two times louder than the old iPhone speakers, but they work together to offer higher dynamic range and higher quality sound.
There's not much else to say about the iPhone's speakers except that this is an extremely welcome change. The iPhone has been in need of a speaker upgrade for years, and the stereo system on the iPhone 7 seems to be as good as anything we could have hoped for.
iPhone, Sans Headphone JackApple spent a surprising amount of time addressing the removal of the headphone jack during the keynote. I won't go into all of it, but more or less it could all be summed up to "wireless is the future". Apple truly believes that the way forward is the removal of wires, so it's taking a bold step in this direction by removing the most ubiquitous port in technology's history. Whether or not this is the right move, I'll leave up to you.
For the iPhone 7, Apple has taken the least controversial route possible here. While they will certainly take a huge amount of heat for removing the port at all, they have tried to compromise at least a little bit by including a Lightning to 3.5mm headphone jack adapter in the box for all new iPhones 7. This means that any peripherals you currently use that plug in through the headphone port will still work, you just have to connect them via the adapter and through the Lightning port. The obvious downside here: you won't be able to charge your iPhone while using the port (at least not without some other kind of adapter that allows both, but Apple is not currently offering one of these).
Another piece of the puzzle: for the headphones that ship with your iPhone, Apple is including a set of new Lightning connected EarPods in the place of their previous analog EarPods. These too will prevent you from charging while you listen to audio from your device, a seemingly important use case which Apple didn't mention in its discussion of technology's future. Probably because they're hoping everyone will purchase the last new product which was announced this morning.
AirPodsYes, as the rumors (sort of) predicted, Apple is also releasing a new line of entirely wireless headphones. Dubbed "AirPods", these new devices consist of a charging case and two completely independent headphones, one for each ear. The AirPod exterior design is almost exactly what would happen if you sliced the ends off of your current Apple EarPod headphones. On the interior, however, the devices are really quite impressive.
Apple's AirPods are Bluetooth connected headphones, but on the interior they include a brand new Apple-designed "W1" chip. The W1 is used to facilitate the interaction between the AirPods and a variety of connected devices, providing high quality sound, long battery life, and automatic setup of connections.
The "long battery life" is absolutely a relative term here. AirPods have long battery life relative to other objects small enough to fit in your ear which also need to facilitate a constant Bluetooth connection and stream audio without latency. In real-world terms, Apple sets the battery life for their AirPods at 5 hours per full charge. The battery charging case that comes with them holds a charge as well, and is capable of giving the AirPods a full 24 hours of playback time. However, this means that each time the AirPods run out of power they need to be recharged via the battery case before they'll be ready to keep going.
I was hoping for the same quick-charging capabilities that we've seen from the likes of the Apple Pencil or the Magic Keyboard and Trackpads, where mere seconds of charging results in an appreciable amount of use. We didn't quite get that, but for devices that charge inductively rather than via a hardwired connection, it's not too bad at all. According to Apple, placing the AirPods in their charging case for 15 minutes will result in a 3-hour charge.
If your AirPods die in the middle of something, 15 minutes is quite a long while to wait before picking back up where you left off. (I suppose you could do a shorter time to get less than 3 hours, but anything more than 1 or 2 minutes is already extremely disruptive in such a situation, so the distinction doesn't seem particularly important.) That said, if you keep in mind that at some point between each three-hour block of usage (or five-hour after a full charge) you need to find some time to drop the AirPods back into their case for a bit, it seems like it won't be too big of a problem. Throughout everyday life I think the AirPods will work fine with these specifications, it's only in more intensive tests, such as long airplane rides, when the battery limitations of the devices might become particularly aggravating.
The charging case itself charges via a Lightning port at the bottom. While it holds enough charge to keep the AirPods going for 24 hours, Apple doesn't mention how long the charging case itself will hold that charge. It seems like the safest bet will be to charge it nightly (at least if you use your headphones regularly each day), so that's yet another device to add to the constantly increasing number of electronics that we have to charge up every day.
Battery life aside, one of the other big aspects that Apple touched upon was the idea of seamlessly transitioning between devices that you want to play audio from. There's a lot to stand up to here, as an analog headphone can switch sources by simply swapping the plug from a phone to a Mac, or other device. For the AirPods, once they're initially paired to each of your devices, you'll be able to set the source to play through them straight from Control Center on iOS 10 or watchOS 3, or from the Volume menu in macOS Sierra. Not too bad, assuming every device you want to play from is made by Apple.
Speaking of pairing, Apple has made the pairing process for AirPods extremely simple, at least for pairing them with the iPhone 7. To pair a set of AirPods, simply hold them close to the iPhone and a view will show up asking you to confirm the connection. One tap and it's done.
This looks like a fantastic workflow to facilitate the usually fiddly process of connecting Bluetooth devices. The only caveat is that it's likely something special that happens between the iPhone 7 and the AirPods. This means that connecting a set of AirPods to any other devices besides an iPhone 7 will probably fall back to the standard Bluetooth device pairing process. Once paired though, swapping input sources between different Apple devices should hopefully be as easy as Apple claims it to be.
AirPods do more than just play audio. Each pod also includes a microphone, so they can pick up audio input from your voice as well. This means you can take calls on your AirPods, as well as interact with Siri through them. Siri is activated by a double tap on one of the AirPods while it is in your ear. Once activated, the AirPods use accelerometers to tell when you are talking, and when you are it enables a pair of beam-forming microphones to focus in on your voice. This process supposedly filters out background noise so that your words come through much clearer than with previous normal headphone microphones.
The AirPods do not support a tapping interface for playback controls, but do make clever use of their ability to detect whether they are in your ears. With this, when you remove the AirPods they will pause playback, and this happens even if you only remove one AirPod. This way, if you need to have a conversation with someone, just pull one AirPod out of one ear while you're talking. When you're finished and want to listen to whatever audio was playing again, simply replacing the AirPod will automatically start playback again.
While I do wish there was some way to handle skipping forward or backward, for me I already automatically remove one headphone anytime I'm going to have a brief conversation with someone. I do this particularly frequently when ordering food somewhere, and I always pausing my audio first, then remove the headphone. Later, I replace the headphone and restart my music from the playback control. Combining these actions into one seems like a fantastic move, and I look forward to finding out how well it works in practice (this will mainly be a question of responsiveness).
Sadly, I'll be looking forward to that for quite a bit longer than the release date of the iPhone 7. AirPods, which will be sold separately from the iPhone for $159, are not going to be released until late October of this year. That means we've got a few months to wait until we can see firsthand how well Apple's newest foray into headphones will work in our everyday lives.
Performance and Battery LifeThe final aspect of the iPhone 7 is, of course, the performance and battery life section. Surprisingly, there is more news this year for battery life than "it matches the battery life of last year's iPhone." In fact, the 4.7-inch iPhone 7 is going to be packed with a full 2 hours of extra battery life, on average. Besides the leap in battery life of the iPhone 6 Plus two years ago (not surprising given its larger enclosure), this is the first real jump forward in iPhone battery life since its introduction. According to the comparisons on Apple's website, this change now places the iPhone 7 at approximately the same battery life expectations that Apple makes for last year's iPhone 6S Plus model.
For this year's iPhone 7 Plus, there has also been a battery boost, although only of 1 hour, on average. Every hour counts, so that's great news too. Overall, the smaller model has now closed the gap on the larger model to only 1 hour of battery life between them. Great news for those still holding out from joining the Plus Club.
On the performance front, it's no surprise that the iPhone 7 makes huge leaps once again. Within it lies Apple's brand new A10 Fusion chip, which is faster and more efficient than any previous iPhone to date. The A10 Fusion chip is designed with four cores, two used for high performance and two used for high efficiency. This allows the chip to dynamically change between high performance when it's needed, and energy efficiency when it's not. That in turn contributes to the extra hours of battery life on the iPhone 7, but does lead me to wonder whether those battery life claims hold up under heavy usage, or if keeping the high performance cores running more than "average" will negate any supposed gains. Once again we'll need to wait for some reviewers to get their hands on the devices to know this for sure. Regardless, under standard everyday use, it sounds like the new A10 Fusion's intelligence could be a big boon for battery.
On the graphics front, the A10 Fusion chip has made significant improvements as well. It runs up to 3 times faster Graphics than the iPhone 6, and significantly faster than the iPhone 6S as well.
Finally, capacity. And here we can all let out a collective sigh of release, because with this year's iPhone lineup Apple has finally said goodbye to the 16 GB base configuration. Apple's iPhones now start at 32 GB for the base model, then jumping to 128 GB for the mid range model, and topping out at a huge 256 GB on the high end. Each jump is, as usual, separated by $100 each.
Also of significant note here, is that Apple has even increased the low end of capacity on last year's iPhone models. Both the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus start at a baseline of 32 GB, along with the option for a single price bump to a max of 128 GB. The only iPhone left out of the capacity bumps is the iPhone SE, which remains available at the capacities of either 16 GB or 64 GB.
Wrap UpAll things considered, the iPhone 7 surprised me with its impressive repertoire of improvements. For a year that wasn't expected to blow anyone away, the sheer number of changes have revealed an overall extremely appealing product. Maybe Apple has been saving the low hanging fruit upgrades like increased battery life and stereo speakers for a year like this with neither breakthrough new tech like Touch ID or 3D Touch, nor a brand new design like previous full digit turnovers. Regardless, looking at the phone as a whole, I find myself very impressed and excited. New colors always help, too.
The iPhone 7 will be available for preorder starting at 12:01 AM PDT on September 9, and will ship the next week on September 16. The 4.7-inch model will start at $649 (or $32.41/month) for the 32 GB model, and increase by $100 increments (or about $4.16/month) for the 128 GB and 256 GB models. The 5.5-inch iPhone 7 Plus will start at $769 (or $37.41/month) and increase by $100 increments (still about $4.16/month) for the 128 GB and 256 GB models. The Jet Black color for both iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus is only available at the 128 GB tier or higher.
You can also follow all of the MacStories coverage of today's Apple's keynote through our September 7 Keynote hub, or subscribe to the dedicated September 7 Keynote RSS feed.
Batterygate: IPhone Users In Canada Can Now Submit Claims For Up To $150 Payout From Apple
Apple agreed to pay up to $14.4 million (CAD) to settle a class action lawsuit in Canada that alleged the company secretly throttled the performance of some iPhone models ("batterygate"), and eligible customers can now submit a claim for payment.
Apple's settlement received court approval on March 4, and the claims period began today, according to law firm Rochon Genova LLP. To submit a claim, visit the settlement website, select "Submit a Claim" in the top menu, and follow the steps. A serial number for an eligible iPhone is required. The deadline to submit a claim is September 2.
Each affected customer will receive a payment of between $17.50 (CAD) and $150 (CAD) from Apple per valid claim submitted, with the exact payout amount to be dependent on the total number of claims submitted.
To be eligible, you must be a current or former resident of Canada (excluding Québec) who owns or owned an iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, and/or iPhone SE with iOS 10.2.1 or later installed or downloaded, and/or an iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus with iOS 11.2 or later installed or downloaded, before December 21, 2017.
Apple has denied all of the allegations as described in the lawsuit, and the settlement does not represent an admission of fault. The settlement allows for Apple to avoid the additional time and costs involved with continued litigation.
Apple was sued in multiple Canadian provinces over iPhone battery throttling in 2018, including Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario, and Saskatchewan. The cases were filed shortly after Apple revealed that it had started throttling the maximum performance of some iPhone models with "chemically aged" batteries, when necessary, to prevent the devices from unexpectedly shutting down. Apple introduced this power management system in iOS 10.2.1, but it initially failed to mention the change in that update's release notes, leading to public outcry. Apple eventually apologized about its lack of transparency, and temporarily lowered the price of iPhone battery replacements to $35 (CAD) until the end of 2018.
Apple agreed to pay up to $500 million (USD) to settle a similar class action lawsuit in the U.S., and payments started going out in January there.
IPhone 16 Pro Max: Release Date Speculation, Price Prediction And All The Leaks
The iPhone 16 Pro Max isn't likely to arrive until fall 2024, which means we have a pretty lengthy wait before the new phone arrives. But that's not stopping rumors about what the next iPhone flagship might have to offer from bubbling to the surface many months in advance of the iPhone 16 Pro Max' release.
There is still a lot we don't know about the iPhone 16 Pro Max — if it's even called that. In fact, Apple could wind up calling this device the iPhone 16 Ultra. But we could see everything from an even bigger display and a new Capture button to an even better main camera sensor.
You can check out our full comparison of iPhone 16 Pro max vs Galaxy S24 Ultra for how the new iPhone could compare to Samsung's latest smartphone powerhouse, including how the iPhone's newest chip could compare to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.
Here's everything we've heard about the iPhone 16 Pro Max so far.
iPhone 16 Pro Max cheat sheet: Biggest rumors
It's too early to say how much the iPhone 16 Pro Max might cost with any certainty. But considering the iPhone 15 Pro Max endured a $100 price hike, we're hoping that Apple leaves the price tag alone for at least another year. If that's the case then we could see the iPhone 16 Pro Max price start at $1,199 / £1,199 / AU$2,199 for a 256GB model.
Apple typically announces new iPhones in early-mid September, and the only time that hasn't happened in the past several years was during the pandemic. In a lot of cases the event is on the second or third week of the month — and often on a Tuesday.
If Apple kept to a similar pattern, the Apple September event for 2024 could be Sept. 10. IPhone 16 Pro Max pre-orders would start Friday, September 13 and the iPhone 16 Pro Max release date could be September 20. But this is just speculation.
iPhone 16 Pro Max design and display
According to early rumors, the iPhone 16 Pro Max could get a size increase next year — growing from 6.7 inches to 6.9 inches. This would make the 16 Pro Max the biggest iPhone ever, and slightly larger than the 6.8-inch Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. However, the size change may not be a given yet, or could be more subtle than expected. Nevertheless, this increase in screen size is also tipped to be accompanied by a larger battery as well.
Early CAD renders list the new phone as 0.19 inches taller than the iPhone 15 Pro Max, but only 0.019 inches wider. This should mean that, despite the size increase, the 16 Pro Max is still comfortable and familiar to use, though it isn't ideal for anyone that struggles with large phones. Meanwhile, a set of leaked images showing off dummy units of all four models show the iPhone 16 Pro Max's size difference.
Side-by-side comparisons of iPhone 16 Pro Max and Galaxy S24 Ultra renders performed by Phone Arena suggest that Samsung's upcoming phone will be slightly wider than an iPhone 16 Pro Max with an expanded screen; Apple's flagship would be fractionally taller. The Galaxy S24 Ultra Max would outweigh the iPhone 16 Pro Max by 233 grams to 225 grams, respectively.
iPhone displays typically are supplied by Samsung, and supply chain rumors suggest the version headed to the iPhone 16 Pro Max and other models will be more power efficient. That's because the OLED materials are expected to switch from blue fluorescent technology to blue phosphorescence technology.
Another upgrade to the OLED panel could be reduced bezel sizes, making the enlarged screen look even bigger. But this looks uncertain right now as Apple's display suppliers are having issues making the new Border Reduction Structure work.
We've also heard some speculation that Apple could hide the remaining Face ID sensors under the display of the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max. That would reduce the necessary cutout to a single circle for the selfie camera, rather than the pill-shaped cutout of the Dynamic Island. However, we may have to wait until 2025 and the launch of the iPhone 17 Pro to see this actually happen.
An iPhone 16 Pro prototype shows what this design might look like, but even the tipster sharing the leaked image thinks it won't happen until the iPhone 17 at the earliest. Other analysts agree with this, claiming there are no big changes on the way for the iPhone 16 series' design, but with one small exception.
It's rumored that the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max may get at least one capacitive button, in addition to the newly-launched Action button. Allegedly called the Capture button this would likely help you capture photos and videos quickly (with a focusing function in addition). Meanwhile, the Action button might find its way to the standard iPhone, with no design changes expected.
We can see all these rumored chances reflected in these prototype-based renders from MacRumors. Things may change as Apple finalizes this design but it's unlikely to differ too much from the model we actually get to buy.
But who cares about all these changes - what colors will there be? One source claims the iPhone 16 Pro Max may come in Rose, Space Black, Silver or Gray. Rose appears to be a brand-new option, and could likely be this year's signature color, but does seem to bear resemblance to classic gold iPhones.
These colors will appear on new color-infused back glass. New to the Pro Max anyway - you'll currently find this material gracing the back of the iPhone 15 base model and iPhone 15 Plus.
Seeing as how Apple has doubled down on giving the Pro iPhones a better chipset than standard and Plus models, it's pretty likely Apple will do the same thing with the iPhone 16 series. That means we'll likely see an A18 chip on the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max models — presumably an A18 Pro. Other iPhone 16 models may be in line for different A18 variants.
One of those variants is set to have a larger die area than the A17 Pro, which should open up more space for more transistors and specialized hardware. Analyst Jeff Pu believes this will help boost on-device AI performance.
While we don't know what else this chip might involve, reports already claim that the chip will be a little different to the A17 Pro. Apparently Apple will be using chips built with TSMC's N3E process, rather than the N3B used to build A17 Pro. This process is reportedly more cost-effective and has higher yields, alongside a boost in performance and an unfortunate loss of efficiency. This will then be followed by 2nm iPhone 17 chips, says one industry report.
Even with the same underlying tech, the A18 Pro could be surprisingly powerful. One set of leaked benchmark numbers claims it could beat Apple's M-series laptop/tablet chips on single-core tests.
Some people have speculated that Apple could boost the included memory in its phones to account for more AI-powered features, but leaker @Tech_Reve claims that's unlikely to happen. Instead, it looks like the Pro Max would stick with 8GB of RAM. Support for Wi-Fi 7 seems a more likely rumor.
For memory, we're expecting storage to start at 256GB on the iPhone 16 Pro Max. It may go up to 2TB this year thanks to a new memory standard, although this may also mean slower read/write speeds.
The past few years have also seen countless rumors about the implementation of Apple's home-made 5G modem. Unfortunately, the latest word is that this modem won't debut until 2025, with Qualcomm seemingly retaining its position as modem supplier for at least one more year.
Battery rumors are pretty thin at this point in the iPhone 15 Pro Max development cycle, but we have heard that Apple is looking at ways to reduce heat dispersion, including the use of a frosted metal shell and new connector on the iPhone 16 Pro Max's battery. Apple is also looking to diversify where its batteries are assembled, which could address supply shortages at launch, like the kind that led to shipping delays for iPhone 15 Pro Max orders this past fall.
iPhone 16 Pro Max: batteryA recent leak indicates that the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro Max could see an increased battery size. This apparent increase would, if true, lead to a 6% increase in the capacity of the battery. However, the iPhone 16 Plus could see a decrease in its battery size.
iPhone 16 Pro Max: cameras
There's only a couple of iPhone 16 Pro Max camera rumors so far. The iPhone 16 Pro Max's telephoto lens could have a 300mm focal length — more than double the 120mm lens in the iPhone 15 Pro Max. It's also been claimed that the 16 Pro Max will have a 1/1.4-inch sensor, which is slightly larger than the 1/1.28 sensor in the iPhone 15 Pro Max. That should allow the camera to capture more light and improve overall performance — which is especially key given the rumor the iPhone 16 Pro will adopt the iPhone 15 Pro Max's tetraprism-designed telephoto lens for parity with the iPhone 16 Pro Max's camera capabilities. This rumor is further substantiated by a report released by research firm TrendForce.
Another change could come to the type of telephoto lens Apple uses on its iPhone 16 Pro models. A rumor tips Apple to adopt a lens that's thinner with improved magnification.
It's also been reported that both iPhone 16 Pro models could come with a 48MP ultrawide camera, which is a major boost over the current 12MP lens. The selfie camera may not get upgraded from the iPhone 15's 12MP sensor though, as that could be an iPhone 17 upgrade.
And finally, it looks like spatial video won't be exclusive to the pro models, as a rumor hints to a vertical camera arrangement design for the standard iPhone 16 models. Subsequent leaked mockups and molds of the iPhone 16 seem to indicate this as well.
iPhone 16 Pro Max: softwareLike the rest of the iPhone 16 lineup, we think the iPhone 16 Pro Max would run iOS 18, which is under development at Apple. Details are sparse, but the early word is that artificial intelligence is a big part of the updated software, and that the OS update could be Apple's biggest yet. In fact, generative AI features could be a centerpiece of the iOS 18 update.
We'll find out for certain at WWDC 2024, where Apple will preview its new iPhone software. This year's WWDC gets underway on June 10.
Because the AI capabilities targeted for the iOS 18 release may require a lot of processing power, the iPhone 16 models may have unique features for on-device AI while older iPhones will need to turn to the cloud. To help with all the AI features, the iPhone 16 models could sport an improved microphone.
A report from Mark Gurman stated that iOS 18 will have more customization options for iPhone home screens as well as potential new AI features. While we do not know the full details, it will likely include better widget placement options and new options for layout at least.
iPhone 16 Pro Max or iPhone 16 Ultra?
The biggest question we have about the iPhone 16 Pro Max is whether there will even be a Pro Max iPhone in 2024 — or if it will be replaced by the long-awaited iPhone Ultra.
There were a lot of rumors claiming that an iPhone Ultra could launch alongside the iPhone 15. It was also suggested that the Ultra may not be the "fifth iPhone", but rather a rebranded version of the Pro Max. And, in fairness, iPhone 16 Ultra does roll off the tongue a little better than iPhone 15 Pro Max.
According to Mark Gurman, who is a well known source of Apple insider information, we could see an iPhone Ultra launch in 2024. It's unclear whether this will be a brand new kind of iPhone 16, or if Apple will finally ditch the Pro Max moniker. Given the sheer number of rumors claiming the latter ahead of the iPhone 15 launch, we'd expect it to be that.
Maybe an even higher-specced iPhone's the wrong way to go. As Phones Editor John Velasco argues, Apple would be better off doing a foldable iPhone than an Ultra.
iPhone 16 Pro Max: outlookWe are still very early in the iPhone 16 Pro Max development cycle to know much about what to really expect. But the few rumors we've heard suggest the iPhone 16 Pro Max could be an absolute beast.
The iPhone 16 Pro Max is tipped for a bigger display, an even more powerful camera system, a long-awaited RAM boost and yet another dedicated button. Stay tuned for more iPhone 16 Pro Max rumors and leaks.
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