Apple iPhone 16 pre-orders go live this Friday: Here’s everything you need to know
Apple has just confirmed that the iPhone 16 will be available to order globally starting Friday, meaning you won’t have to wait much longer to get your hands on the brand’s latest premium flagships.
The new devices are, as expected, the Apple iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max. All four feature significant new upgrades to the company’s chipset, cameras and a host of new AI features that the brand is calling “Apple Intelligence”. Overall, Apple has focused heavily on software improvements not just in terms of internal hardware, but also with these devices, though you will still see new colours and fresh design tweaks such as the new Camera Control button.
The devices will debut for the same starting price as last year ($799), with pre-orders beginning at 5:00 AM PDT / 8:00 AM ET / 1:00 PM GMT. The devices are scheduled to ship on September 20, so there will be a short wait before the iPhone 16 line is officially released.
| Row 0 – Cell 0 | US starting price | UK starting price |
| iPhone 16 | €799 | €799 |
| iPhone 16 Plus | €899 | €899 |
| iPhone 16 Pro | $999 | €999 |
| iPhone 16 Pro Max | €1199 | €1199 |
- Trade-in discounts confirmed for both US and UK
- Up to $650 off at Apple
- Up to £645 off at Apple UK
- Up to $1,000 off major airlines
While pre-orders aren’t live yet, Apple has already confirmed some of the trade-in discounts that will be available from Friday. As expected, Apple itself is offering a discount of up to $650 / £645 on unlocked devices across its range, which is the exact same discount that’s been available on its official store for a few months now.
Apple’s keynote event also mentioned trade-in rebates of up to $1,000 in the US, which will almost certainly be from AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile. There are no deals listed on Apple’s site yet, so we’ll have to wait until Friday for official confirmation on the details. Likewise, contract deals across the major networks in the UK don’t go live until Friday, so we can’t mention pricing yet.
Over on our dedicated iPhone 16 deals page, we’ll be diving deeper into launch deals over the coming days, including recommendations for the best savings this Friday.
What’s new in the iPhone 16?
- New A18 and A18 Pro chips
- Huge focus on new AI-integrated features
- 48MP “Fusion” camera
- Physical camera control function
Both the iPhone 16 and 16 Pro represent significant upgrades over their predecessors. From the new A18-series chips that are built from the ground up for AI integration to the improved cameras, these devices offer a host of enticing new features.
First up, the A18 series chipsets come with the introduction of ‘Apple Intelligence’, which as the name suggests is a whole host of new AI features across the range of existing Apple apps. Think ChatGPT-like language models for text or emails, image and emoji generators, and a new ‘Visual Intelligence’ app that’s kind of like Google Lens.
On the hardware side, the iPhone 16 series not only features new chipsets, but also an improved camera with a new physical camera control button that communicates directly with the camera app. Apple calls the new 48MP main camera the “Fusion camera” because it can seamlessly switch between high-resolution images and images that require more storage, plus stereoscopic capture for Apple Vision Pro.
The iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max feature slightly larger 6.3-inch and 6.9-inch displays with thinner bezels than their predecessors. The main upgrades for the Pro models this year are the option for 4K video recording at 120FPS (great for slo-mo photography) and the usual 48MP ultra-wide and 5x telephoto lenses (12MP and 2x on the standard iPhone 16).