It is ‘nerdy Christmas’ once again and in just a few short hours Apple will announce what could be its “biggest ever shakeup to the iPhone”.
The US tech giant will unveil the iPhone 16 alongside a host of other new hardware when its biggest product launch of the year gets underway this evening.
On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, Newstalk tech correspondent Jess Kelly said the rumoured iPhone shakeup will likely be more internal than external.
She said Apple is expecting big things from its ‘Apple Intelligence’ services – which will let users use Siri in a “much more sophisticated” way.
There are also rumours of a new dedicated photo button and a potential switch from LCD to OLED screens.
“This is nerdy Christmas,” said Jess. “This is one of the biggest events of the year.
“Apple always holds an event in September showcasing the next iPhone and some of the analysts in the US have said this is going to be the biggest shakeup ever to iPhone.
“Now, from some of the leaks of the design that I've seen, it doesn't seem that dramatic; it's still the standard looking iPhone although the screen on the bigger models - so the Pro models - will be a bit bigger.
“The key thing here is Apple intelligence; we've talked about AI a lot but Apple have notions so they now call it ‘Apple intelligence.’”
iPhone 16
Jess said the new iPhone will be more powerful than its predecessors – with better cameras, more storage and a better chip.
She said the integration of AI with Siri will allow people to use the smart assistant in a “much more sophisticated way”.
“If you're the kind of person who has quite a few unread emails, rather than going through all of them one by one by one, you can now ask Siri to go through your inbox for you and tell you what actions you need to take based on those emails,” she said.
“Siri will be able to take information from your inbox, summarize it for you and then give you a list of what needs to be done.
“Equally, if I text you saying let's go for dinner on Friday night in a certain restaurant, on a Thursday, you'll be able to say, Hey, Siri, remind me where I'm meeting Jess.
“This is what we've been waiting for.”
"Incredibly excited"
Jess said we still don’t know what price point the new models will come in at – but experts do not expect them to be dramatically more expensive than the current iPhones.
“If you want the Pro or the Pro 16, which are the two notions models, the upper-end models, it probably will be around €1,500 or so,” she said.
“Obviously, if you're on a bill, you can get them for lower but the key thing here is that the AI that we've spoken about over the last few months and indeed years that seemed kind of far-fetched or seems very niche, is now going to be something that we are all using every single day without even thinking about it,” she said.
“So I have to say, I am incredibly excited for the event that's taking place at 6pm this evening.”
Apple has not confirmed when the new iPhone will be available to buy; however, many analysts expect them to hit the shelves on Friday September 20th.
You can listen back here:
