It’s no secret that Apple lays out its product roadmap years in advance. In light of that, it shouldn’t be surprising that we’re already starting to see a smattering of iPhone 16 rumors slowly but surely leak out. So while the iPhone 15 release is just about a month away, the latest iPhone 16 rumors might help inform your purchasing decision if you’re on the fence about upgrading or waiting it out another year.
According to analyst Jeff Pu of Haitong International Securities (via MacRumors), Apple’s iPhone 16 Pro will incorporate a 48-megapixel ultra-wide camera. The benefit is that the advanced lens will allow more light to pass through, ultimately resulting in better photos in low-light conditions. As any iPhone user can attest, trying to take a picture in low light conditions with the 0.5x ultra-wide lens is an exercise in frustration.
The report adds that the iPhone 16 Pro ultra-wide lens will utilize the same pixel binning technique Apple first introduced on the iPhone 14 Pro.
Faster Wi-Fi
Camera enhancements aside, Pu also relays that the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max models will support Wi-Fi 7. Apple’s current iPhone lineup supports Wi-Fi 6, and the upcoming iPhone 15 is expected to support Wi-FI 6E. As a quick point of interest, Wi-Fi 6E offers up improved wireless performance, lower latency, and lower power consumption. Wi-Fi 7, meanwhile, will bring more of the same. Put simply, Wi-FI 7 will boast faster speeds, even lower latency, and “better connectivity experiences in areas with high device density.”
Pareteum adds:
Wi-Fi 7 will operate on the 2.4GHz, 5GHz, and 6GHz radio bands. However, the biggest advance from Wi-Fi 6E is that the new standard will double the number of MU-MIMO (Multi-User, Multiple-Input, Multiple-Output) streams to 16, enabling the standard to handle more throughput than its predecessors.
Moreover, the new standard will mitigate network traffic and interference with Multi-Link Operation (MLO) technology. This will improve throughput and reduce latency by enabling devices to simultaneously send and receive data over multiple radio bands as though they were a single, aggregated connection.
iPhone 16 release timeframe
If history is any indication, Apple’s iPhone 16 lineup will launch sometime in mid-September of 2024. Meanwhile, Apple’s iPhone 15 will, rumor has it, be available for pre-order on Friday, September 15. The launch date, in turn, will be one week later on September 22.
As a final point, be on the lookout for a slight price increase when Apple’s iPhone 15 lineup drops. There is speculation that the entry-level iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max models will start at $1,099 and $1,199, respectively.
