iPhone 16 Pro spec predictions: What we expect from Apple’s most powerful phones
Apple has confirmed that its next major product unveiling will take place on September 9. The event, dubbed ‘It’s Glowtime’, will almost certainly bring official news on the iPhone 16 lineup, which we expect to include the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max.
We don’t think we’re the only ones looking forward to the official specs of Apple’s most expensive smartphones. The iPhone 14 Pro Max and iPhone 15 Pro Max were the two best-selling smartphones worldwide in 2023.
If, as we predict, resource-intensive AI in the form of Apple Intelligence comes to iPhone soon, it will be critical that Apple ensures its highest-end iPhones have the power to handle these new features.
Of course, leaks and rumors about the specifications of the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max have been circulating for a while now. Below, we’ve collected the most relevant predictions about Apple’s next powerful phones.
Incremental internal upgrades
We expect to see some changes in chipset and storage capacity for the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max, but nothing revolutionary on the software front.
The new Pro iPhones are likely to get a new ‘A18 Pro’ SoC, which offers a performance boost over the A17 Pro chip found in the previous generation, especially when it comes to AI.
According to GeekbankThe iPhone 15 Pro saw an 11.4% increase in single-core CPU performance and a 7.5% increase in multi-core CPU performance compared to the iPhone 14 Pro, with similar changes for the Pro Max.
If this trend continues, we can expect a small but noticeable increase in performance for the so-called ‘A18 Pro’. Of course, we’ll do our own testing once we get our hands on the new iPhones.
As for RAM, we don’t expect any change from last year, and there’s even a specific leak the A18 Pro paired with 8GB of RAMThis has led to questions about the iPhone 16 Pro’s ability to handle AIWhile the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus are expected to have the same amount of RAM as the Pro models at 8GB, it’s also possible that Apple Intelligence is optimized for this amount of memory.
There may be a bit more movement when it comes to storage. We’re expecting to see the same 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB options present, although one leaker with a mixed record suggests a 2TB option will join the line-up.
It’s worth noting that the iPhone 16 Pro Max likely won’t have the 128GB option that its smaller sibling starts with, but will instead come with a minimum of 256GB.
Bigger screen, bigger battery
The iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max will likely still get OLED displays with an adaptive refresh rate of 1-120Hz (which Apple calls “ProMotion”), but there are hints that the size of these displays could change.
In April it leaked Sonny Dickson shared images via X (formerly Twitter) that appeared to show prototypes of the iPhone 16 series. The Pro models were both 0.2 inches larger than the previous generation.
This same amount – 0.2 inches – was suggested by another leak in October 2023. Other leakers suggest that part of the increase could be due to smaller bezels, which MacRumors proposed could be the thinnest smartphone ever.
We expect Apple to pad out the larger frame with a slightly larger battery, with the iPhone 16 Pro’s battery increasing from 3,290mAh to 3,355mAh and the iPhone 16 Pro Max’s battery increasing from 4,422mAh to 4,676mAh.
Camera upgrades
In the case of the iPhone 16 Pro, that larger frame is also rumored to make room for a 5x telephoto lens carried over from the Pro Max, up from the current 3x lens.
Any potential parity hinges on whether the iPhone 16 Pro Max is the ‘super telephoto‘camera hinted at by an old leak, which would finally allow Apple to challenge Samsung and Huawei’s 10x lenses.
Other rumored camera upgrades for the iPhone 16 Pro include a larger sensor, an upgrade from 12MP to 48MP for the ultra wide angle cameraa new one artifact reducing lens coatingand a ‘stacked camera‘ design that could capture much more light. The front-facing camera is unlikely to change, meaning sharper selfies would be the product of better software or AI.
These rumors come from a variety of sources with varying track records. For a detailed analysis, be sure to check out our dedicated iPhone 16 Pro cameras page.