Apple has officially announced its iPhone 16 range. That includes the iPhone 16, the iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max. There's plenty of upgrades coming to the standard iPhone 16 with a few Pro trimmings reserved for the iPhone 16 Pro. Here's everything we know about the new handsets.
iPhone 16: Everything you need to know
// Camera Control, Apple Intelligence and bigger Pro models.
- : From $1399
- : 20 September 2024
- : 16 and 16 Pro plans from Telstra, Optus and Vodafone
- : Better camera, Action & Camera control buttons, A18 chip and Apple Intelligence
- : Bigger displays, slimmer bezels, powerful A18 Pro chip and better battery
Order the iPhone 16 now
#1. Price
How much does each iPhone 16 model cost in Australia?
One of the biggest surprises to come out of this year's iPhone announcement was the price; with companies quick to blame the inflation boogeyman for rising costs, you might have expected a price bump for the iPhone 16. Not only is the iPhone 16 not more expensive than the iPhone 15, it's cheaper than the iPhone 15 was when it launched. What a twist. The knock-on effect there is that the iPhone 15 and iPhone 14 are now even cheaper, so don't count them out if you're shopping for a new handset.
Here's a side-by-side breakdown of the iPhone 16 range:
iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro plans in Australia
iPhone 16 128GB plans
iPhone 16 256GB plans
iPhone 16 512GB plans
iPhone 16 Plus 128GB plans
iPhone 16 Plus 256GB plans
iPhone 16 Plus 512GB plans
iPhone 16 Pro 128GB plans
iPhone 16 Pro 256GB plans
iPhone 16 Pro 512GB plans
iPhone 16 Pro 1TB plans
iPhone 16 Pro Max 256GB plans
iPhone 16 Pro Max 512GB plans
iPhone 16 Pro Max 1TB plans
#2. Release date
Pictured: 1:1 size of the new iPhone 16 Pro Max
As of 20 September 2024, the iPhone 16 has officially gone on sale in Australia.
iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus
Pictured: iPhone 16 in Black, White, Pink Teal and Ultramarine
- Upgraded chipset: Thanks to the fact that Apple wants to put Apple Intelligence and the revamped Siri in front of as many iPhone users as possible, the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus are packing an upgraded A18 chipset to support all that additional thinking they've got to do.
- Action Button: Last year's Pro-exclusive Action Button makes its way to the standard iPhone 16 and 16 Plus this year. The Action Button is a side-mounted customisable button that can be used as a silent toggle, a flashlight button, for voice memo recordings or matched up with an accessibility feature or shortcut.
- Camera Control: The Camera Control button is an all-new side-mounted button under the lock button. It's a touch-sensitive button that launches the camera and lets you adjust image settings (like zoom) by swiping the button.
- 48MP Fusion camera: The iPhone 16 and 16 Plus also feature an updated main shooter. The main lens includes both a 48MP wide angle camera and a 2x telephoto option, essentially a lite version of the Pro's third lens crammed into the main camera. For the few Apple Vision Pro owners among us, spatial photos and video are also available in the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus.
iPhone 16 specs
iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max
Pictured: iPhone 16 Pro in Titanium Black, Natural Titanium, Titanium White and Desert Titanium
- Bigger displays: For the first time since 2020, the iPhone is getting bigger displays on the Pro models. The iPhone 16 Pro sports a 6.3-inch display, up from 6.1-inch with previous models, and the iPhone 16 Pro Max will rock a 6.9-inch screen, up from the 6.7-inch of Pro Maxs past. Otherwise, it's the same Super Retina XDR OLED Display you know and love. The ProMotion 120Hz refresh rate for silky smooth animations is still a Pro exclusive with the 16 range, as is the Always-On Display.
- Camera Control: The iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max will get the same new Camera Control button as the standard 16 and 16 Plus.
- 48MP Ultrawide: The camera itself, however, will be a little better again thanks to a 48MP ultrawide lens that is capable of better low-light snaps.
- Bigger, better batteries: Perhaps one of the most exciting aspects of the new larger iPhone 16 Pro models is the bigger batteries inside. Aided by the efficiencies afforded by the A18 Pro chip, Apple claims the iPhone 16 Pro Max is capable of 33 hours of video playback, while the iPhone 16 Pro can manage an admirable 27 hours. That's an extra four hours of video playback in the iPhone 16 Pro Max; something we can't wait to test out ourselves.
- Even better(er) A18 Pro chip: Apple is doubling down with the chipset upgrades this year, including an even more powerful A18 Pro in the iPhone 16 Pro range. Apple says the A18 Pro clocks a 20% increase in GPU speed, improved ray tracing performance (for better lighting and shadows in games) and boasts a 20% bump in energy efficiency (which should contribute to the additional battery life.) The CPU is also 20% faster than last year's iPhone 15 Pro Max.
iPhone 16 AI
Apple Intelligence
We were already introduced to Apple’s bite of the big AI pie back at the 2024 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC.) Apple Intelligence will land with iOS 18 and will bring with it new generative AI writing and drawing tools and Genmoji, an AI-driven emoji system that lets you create unique emoji reactions. Most importantly, Apple Intelligence promises to skill up Apple’s voice assistant Siri with text-based commands (when you don’t feel like speaking to Siri,) rich language understanding that allows for flubs and interruptions and new ways to interact across apps (like forwarding a work email draft to your close friends for a second opinion.)
Apple Intelligence will be available on all four iPhone 16 models at launch, but it will also come to the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, plus a longer list of Apple iPads and Mac devices eventually.