When is Apple’s next event and what can we expect from the new iPhone 16?

CNN
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Apple wowed fans earlier this year with its vision for the artificial intelligence system “Apple Intelligence.” Now it’s time for the company to prove that it really works.

The company will unveil the first iPhone lineup specifically designed for generative artificial intelligence (which lets users create text and images) during its annual hardware event, which begins at 1 p.m. ET on Monday. You can watch the livestream here.

The event was announced with the cryptic motto “It’s Glow Time,” and Apple has so far remained silent about what it means.

Apple is under enormous pressure ahead of the event to prove that the new AI features and other iPhone 16 updates are worth shelling out for an upgrade. Apple also needs to convince investors that it hasn’t fallen behind in the AI ​​arms race, with competitors already releasing similar features with the new technology.

Since launching the iPhone 12 with 5G connectivity in 2020, the company has given users few exciting reasons to buy the latest generation. Phone cameras have largely advanced to the point where they’re sufficient for most people’s everyday needs without major hardware changes, and at some point the human eye won’t even be able to perceive higher screen resolutions.

As a result, iPhone sales have been sluggish, even though they account for half of the company’s revenue.

The company’s shares had also been relatively stagnant until the launch of Apple Intelligence – a sign that investors are betting on artificial intelligence to get people to buy new iPhones. Since the launch on June 10, Apple’s share price has risen 14 percent, and since the beginning of the year by almost 18 percent.

If Apple delivers, it could make money – according to a study last month by analyst Dan Ives of the investment firm Wedbush, around 300 million iPhones worldwide have not been updated for more than four years.

So while Apple will likely highlight changes to various products and services on Monday, such as AirPods or even Apple TV+, “it’s all about the iPhone upgrade cycle. Everything else is side story,” DA Davidson analyst Gil Luria told CNN.

Subplot or main character, here’s everything we expect from the Apple event.

The company has already hinted at some of the features of Apple Intelligence: It will enable more natural conversations with Siri, help with composing emails, make it easier to find specific moments in photo albums and integrate users’ personal information into responses. On Monday, the company will show iPhone users what this will look like in real life.

“Expect to see demos on how you can get summaries within your text chain,” Luria said. “You’ll learn why Tiffany M had a falling out with Tiffany R, and you can ask that in chat and get an answer. Those are the things that will get people excited… to show some concrete examples of how people can use Apple Intelligence to do things they couldn’t do before.”

And while it’s not uncommon for new iPhones to get an updated processor chip, this change could be especially important this year to ensure the iPhone 16 can handle the increased data processing demands that come with the new AI features without sacrificing battery life.

Luria added that he thinks there could also be a subtle change to the iPhone’s appearance, such as a wider screen or updated edges, “to clarify the purpose of an upgrade cycle.”

“There’s something special about the new iPhones that tells consumers, ‘I have the new iPhone and you don’t,’ which hasn’t been the case for the last four years,” he said.

According to a report by Mark Gurman of Bloomberg, the iPhone 16 will also have its own camera button.

A key question ahead of Monday’s event is how Apple will price the iPhone 16 lineup. For the past four years, the starting price for the new iPhones at launch has been $799.

Apple enthusiasts have been debating for years whether iPhone models should become cheaper, while investors would rather make maximum profit.

Many analysts, including Angelo Zino of CFRA Research, believe Apple may raise prices slightly for the iPhone line “across the board” due to the new AI features and the costs the company incurs in deploying them.

However, there will almost certainly not be a major increase because “they don’t want to spoil the enthusiasm (of customers) with a price shock,” Luria said.

Rumor has it that Apple could also announce updates for the Apple Watch and AirPods.

The Apple Watch Series 10 is expected to be thinner than its predecessors but have a larger screen. The company is also close to launching new low- and mid-range AirPod models, Gurman reported, citing anonymous people familiar with the situation.

These updates would follow new software offerings for both devices that Apple announced at its annual developer conference in June.

AirPods users can accept or decline calls with a nod or shake of the head. And Apple Watch’s new vital signs monitoring can alert users when they may be getting sick based on signals like body temperature and heart rate.

—Samantha Kelly and Ramishah Maruf contributed to this report.