The iPhone 16 will be here soon enough, with Apple announcing a September 9 date for its annual fall product event. Yet, even though we're two weeks out from seeing new iPhones, all that some people want to focus on is the iPhone 17.
That would be the device Apple plans to release in 2025, by the way, and not the one that could be in your hands by this time next month. I've heard of delayed gratification, but that's taking things a bit far.
That said, I can understand the interest in the iPhone 17, even with four new iPhone models set to arrive sooner rather later. For all that the iPhone 16 lineup will have going for it, the rumored changes aren't necessarily show-stoppers. From the standard iPhone 16 all the way up to the iPhone 16 Pro Max, the handsets coming out this month are going to look a lot like the Apple phones that are currently available.
That may not be the case for the iPhone 17 if early rumors about the 2025 models prove accurate. We're being promised some significant design changes, with a rumored iPhone 17 Slim model slated to be ridiculously thin and light. Throw in likely improvements to the camera setup and chipsets powering the iPhone 17, and it sounds like a very promising update.
Still, if you're in need of a phone upgrade, what's coming 12 months from now won't do you much good. And those expected iPhone 16 changes may be run-of-the-mill compared to what's being touted for the iPhone 17, but they shouldn't be dismissed out of hand. Here's why the iPhone 16 will be a very good upgrade no matter what the iPhone 17 eventually brings to the table.
What's exciting about the iPhone 17
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Don't get me wrong — there's an excellent case to be made for waiting for the iPhone 17, particularly if you're a fan of Apple's Pro phones. Early iPhone 17 rumors tip the iPhone 17 Pro Max to feature 48MP sensors across all its rear cameras, giving Apple's top-of-the-line phone the kind of camera optics phones like the Pixel 9 Pro XL already enjoy. It's possible the iPhone 17 Pro models are going to feature more RAM, which would help with all the on-device AI features Apple will be adding over the next year or so.
Even if you're considering the standard iPhone, though, you can expect a big improvement over the current models. We don't think the iPhone 16 or iPhone 16 Plus will see any upgrade to their displays' refresh rate, meaning things will still be stuck at 60Hz. Instead, Apple's likely to follow the lead of nearly every other major phone maker by brining 120Hz to its cheaper flagships in 2025. The A19 chipset expected to power all of Apple's 2025 phones could be bit on a 2-nanometer process, as well, which would translate to gains in both performance and battery efficiency.
Of all the rumored changes, though, it appears that the iPhone 17 Slim has captured the imagination of most people (or at the very least, the imagination of my colleague Mark Spoonauer). If you think phones have become boring and interchangeable, the Slim offers the promise of something different. It's supposed to be just 5mm thin, according to some rumors, which would shave more than 3mm off the thickness of the current iPhone 15 Pro Max. If you tote around a phone everywhere you go — and that's most of us, I'm assuming — that's an attractive prospect.
Why you should get the iPhone 16 anyway
I understand the urge to hold off on an upgrade because of the promise of something better a little further down the road. But really, something better is always coming a little further down the road. You could put off a new phone purchase in perpetuity thanks to the promise of next year's model, and while that's probably good for your short-term budget, it's not going to do much for keeping your tech reasonably up to date.
"You pile up enough tomorrows, and you'll find you are left with a lot of empty yesterdays," Harold Hill says in "The Music Man." I do not believe he is referring to smartphone upgrades in that context, but I think it's good advice for people who might be wondering if any of the upcoming iPhone 16 models will be right for them.
We won't know until Apple makes the specs of its new phones official, but from the iPhone 16 rumors floating around out there, I think the answer to that question is yes — yes, there are changes coming to Apple's phone lineup that should deliver the goods for most would-be upgraders.
You want better displays? The iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max have been tipped to get larger panels than their current counterparts, with at least one rumor forecasting a higher maximum brightness for the Pro models.
You want enhanced cameras? The iPhone 16 Pro is supposed to adapt the tetraprism telephoto lens that Apple added to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, meaning a longer 5x zoom for both Pro phones. We've also heard that the ultrawide camera sensor should get a boost from 12MP to 48MP. That means better images and the flexibility to crop in on things.
The iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus are supposed to pick up the Action button from the iPhone 15 Pro models, and every new iPhone is expected to add a Capture button to aid with image capture. And best of all, Apple may finally stop using last year's silicon in this year's phones, as the standard iPhone is expected to run on a new A18 chipset. (The Pro models should still enjoy an edge here with an A18 Pro system-on-chip, but at least some measure of parity is returning to the iPhone lineup.)
There are still some blanks we're waiting to fill in, whether it's via the rumor mill or from Apple itself at the September 9 launch event. There's little word on what kind of battery life to expect, though it's likely the A18 silicon will offer improve power efficiency, particularly over A16 Bionic-powered models like the iPhone 15. We also don't know if Apple is going to keep prices the same, though there's a strong argument to be made for avoiding price hikes at all costs.
iPhone 16 outlook
That's not to say everyone out there should toss aside their current iPhone and jump to the iPhone 16. If you bought an iPhone 15 any time in the last year, you're probably more than satisfied with your current phone — even if you've got a standard iPhone 15 that won't be able to support Apple Intelligence features. Even iPhone 14 models released in 2022 might still be worth holding on to, especially if you're the least bit intrigued by the what you've heard about the iPhone 17 so far.
But for everyone else, the iPhone 16 will be a perfectly substantial upgrade, assuming the rumored improvements to Apple's phone cme to pass. You'll get a phone with a better display, better camera and a faster chipset capable of running the latest AI features from Apple. To me, that's worth far more than the promise of a thinner phone at some point in the near future.
