iPhone 16 event: Apple prepares to launch its AI-first phone

Apple is preparing to launch what will be the first iPhone to lean explicitly into artificial intelligence.

The company announced an event, scheduled for 9 September, during which it is rumoured to be launching the iPhone 16 alongside new Watches and AirPods. Other devices, such as an updated iPad Mini, may also be shown off in the live-streamed event.

The highlight of the event is likely to be Apple’s introduction of new features for what it is calling Apple Intelligence. That suite of features includes a revamped Siri as well as other tools sprinkled through other Apple products, including tools to summarise messages on the iPhone.

Apple Intelligence was introduced at the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference, in June. But it said then that it would reveal more later, and for now those tools are limited only the top-end iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max.

Apple’s invitation and marketing around the September event lean heavily into the same swirling blue and purple colours that have so far been used for Apple Intelligence, and which are part of the newly rebranded Siri. The tagline for the event – “It’s glowtime” – seems also to reference that design.

As such, it looks likely that the launch will heavily feature Apple Intelligence. It remains unclear whether Apple will introduce new features during the event, or simply highlight those existing ones, but rumours suggest that Apple will allow all the new phones to access the tools.

It will not be the first time that Apple’s devices feature AI technologies: currently everything from cutting people out of photos to recommending apps use artificial intelligence.

But for a long time Apple has chosen to focus more on the experiences that those technologies have enabled, without explicitly referencing the technologies themselves. Until recently, if it did refer to those technologies then it preferred to call them machine learning.

Apple has also been explicit about the fact that it has largely missed the possibilities of generative artificial intelligence, which allows computers to create images and convincing text. Those tools are a key part of Apple Intelligence, and they might be even more heavily integrated into the new iPhones.

But this year pressure from the media, investors and commentators, as well as an increased interest among customers, have led the company to lean into both explicitly featuring AI in its announcements and integrating the technology more heavily into its devices. The company’s two big announcements of the year – new iPads in May, and the software-heavy WWDC in June – both featured regular references to AI, and generative AI in particular.

That might be a hint at what the iPhone 16’s launch event will include. Apple will presumably look to push the AI capabilities of the new device – though might also be conservative in its promises, given the widespread worries about the risks of artificial intelligence as well as the fact that some Apple Intelligence features are not scheduled to arrive until next year.

There will no doubt be other upgrades in the new iPhone 16. Rumours suggest that it will include a new capture button, redesigned cameras, and larger displays without necessarily increasing the size of the actual phone.

Apple is also rumoured to be launching new Watches and AirPods during the event. Apple might use that opportunity to explain how AI is improving its other devices – though some of them, including older iPhones, have been held back by the large amounts of processing power required to actually provide those experiences.