Apple has revealed the all-new iPhone 16 range, composed of four models that come in varying prices and sizes.
There’s the standard iPhone 16, its larger sibling, the iPhone 16 Plus; along with the souped-up iPhone 16 Pro, and the top-of-the range iPhone 16 Pro Max.
Here’s everything we know about the new phones, including when you can pre-order them and their official release dates.
iPhone 16 release date
Apple unveiled the iPhone 16 at a gala event on Monday (September 9) in Cupertino, California.
However, you’ll have to wait a few days before you can purchase the phone, and a bit longer after that before it ships.
When can you pre-order the iPhone 16?
All four models that make up the iPhone 16 range will be available to pre-order on Friday, September 13, and go on sale in stores on September 20. Get your wallet ready!
If you’re looking for a stress-free way to grab the iPhone 16, check out the Apple Store app on iPhone.
Here, you can save your chosen model and then snag it as soon as pre-orders go live.
Savvy Apple fans use the official Apple Store app to purchase the company’s coveted gadgets, thereby bypassing any potential outages on the Apple Store website on launch day.
iPhone 16 price
Apple is sticking to the same prices as last year for its latest crop of iPhones.
One of the key differences between the base and pro models is the amount of storage you get, with the latter offering extra room (from 256GB-1TB) for your photos and apps if you’re willing to fork out more.
Here’s how much you can expect to pay for all four models at launch:
iPhone 16: £799 (128GB) / £899 (256GB) / £1,099 (512GB)
iPhone 16 Plus: £899 (128GB) / £999 (256GB) / £1,199 (512GB)
iPhone 16 Pro: £1,099 (256GB) / £1,299 (512GB) / £1,499 (1TB)
iPhone 16 Pro Max: £1,199 (256GB) / £1,399 (512GB) / £1,599 (1TB).
For those looking to save some cash on the new devices, Apple is offering between £415-£645 for iPhone 15 trade-ins.
iPhone 16 specs
Before we drill into the biggest upgrades, here’s an overview of the key hardware specs for each model, along with their colours.
iPhone 16/16 Plus:
Display:
iPhone 16: 6.1‑inch OLED display
iPhone 16 Plus: 6.7-inch OLED display
A18 Bionic chip
Dual 48MP rear cameras (main and ultra wide)
12MP front camera
Battery:
iPhone 16: Up to 22 hours video playback
iPhone 16 Plus: Up to 27 hours video playback
Action button and camera control button
Colours: white, black, pink, teal, ultramarine
iPhone 16 Pro / Pro Max:
Display:
iPhone 16 Pro: 6.3‑inch OLED display
iPhone 16 Pro Max: 6.9-inch OLED display
A18 Pro chip
Triple rear cameras (48MP main, 48MP ultra-wide and 12MP telephoto (5x optical zoom)
12MP front camera
Battery:
iPhone 16 Pro: Up to 27 hrs video playback
iPhone 16 Pro Max: Up to 33 hrs video playback
Action button, capture button
Colours: Black titanium, white titanium, natural titanium, desert titanium.
iPhone 16 features in detail
Between the enhanced camera and larger sizes, Apple is again saving the best upgrades for the premium Pro models.
More broadly, the key improvement across all four devices is in the software. Apple’s iOS 18 operating system is due on September 16, with Apple Intelligence set to introduce AI-powered text and image (and emoji) generation in the following months.
The AI tricks will only work on the iPhone 16 range and last year’s iPhone 15 Pro models, meaning those with an iPhone 15 will miss out.
Here’s a closer look at the main upgrades to help you decide which iPhone is best for you.
Display
Pro users, rejoice! The iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max boast larger displays, measuring in at 6.3 inches (up from 6.1) and 6.9 inches (versus 6.7) respectively. ProMotion technology that supports up to 120Hz refresh rates, and an always-on display, are also still exclusive to the Pros.
Bye, bye bezel
In addition, the Pro models have the “thinnest borders on any Apple product,” according to the iPhone maker. That’s how Apple managed to cram more screen real estate into these albeit larger packages.
The gargantuan displays may make it seem like these are bulky devices but, during our iPhone 16 hands-on, we didn’t have a hard time holding and using them.
A new camera button
All iPhone 16 models sport a new action button, poached from the iPhone 15 Pros (replacing the mute switch), alongside a camera wcontrol button that functions like a shutter button on a digital camera.
A single tap launches the camera, and another tap records a video. If you hold the button down, video recording starts immediately.
What’s unique is that it’s not a standard button, but a pressure-sensitive panel. A light press reveals additional controls, such as zoom, focus, and photography styles. You can then swipe along the panel to adjust zoom or switch between different settings with ease.
Later this year, Apple is promising to upgrade the Camera Control to let you search real-world objects through your snapper. It’s calling this feature Visual Intelligence, and with it you’ll be able to do things like look up a dog’s breed or a restaurant’s opening times by pointing your camera at them.
New chips all round
The entire iPhone 16 lineup will come with the new A18 chip, built with the latest manufacturing technology that makes it faster and more powerful than before. These processors are the brains for Apple’s phones, and are expected to bring improvements in battery efficiency and gaming performance. Plus, they’re on hand to quickly handle those AI tasks, like writing summaries of emails and crafting emojis on the fly.
Apple Intelligence
While Apple made a big song and dance about its own spin on AI at the event, Apple Intelligence is not quite ready for the spotlight just yet. Eventually, it will be able to prioritise notifications, rewritie and summarise text, automatically transcribe audio, generate images and emoji, and search for images based on descriptions. Plus, your data stays private with Private Cloud Compute, ensuring Apple can’t get a peep at it.
