The false suspense is about to end. New school year and new iPhone as for more than a dozen autumns. Apple will hold its traditional keynote on Monday, September 9, dedicated to its star smartphone, the first designed to take advantage of the promises of generative artificial intelligence (AI or GenAI). Presented at the June developer conference, the iOS 18 operating system, which incorporates the in-house AI called Apple Intelligence and the ChatGPT assistant, will be the center of attention.
The iPhone range should once again be available in four formats, an iPhone 16, an iPhone 16 Plus, an iPhone 16 Pro and an iPhone 16 Pro Max which should concentrate all the innovations in the components. We are thinking in particular of the cameras which should evolve towards 48 Megapixel sensors instead of the current 12 MP. Shooting should, by the way, be made easier by the addition of a new physical button on the edge next to the Action button.
As for the shape of the device, the sketches of protective cases unveiled by Chinese manufacturers leave little room for doubt. The iPhone 16 will look more or less like its predecessor. It should slightly enlarge the surface of the touch screen. While making potential changes to the layout of the cameras on the back, particularly on the iPhone 16 which should only have two photo modules compared to three for the larger models.
New models for Apple’s flagship devices
Tim Cook has other devices up his sleeve. Starting with a new Apple Watch, the world’s best-selling smartwatch. As with the iPhone X, Apple could go all out and name the successor to the Series 9 the Apple Watch X (or 10). The watch would benefit from the increased performance of AI in optimizing battery life, its persistent weakness.
Prepare your ears, the famous AirPods are back in force with two expected models with shorter stems and a charging case that, like the iPhone for the past year, has been mourning the Lightning port in favor of a USB-C socket. Potentially good news for the consumer, one of the models would include active noise reduction without charging the current price of the AirPods Pro (279 euros).
The iPad, the flagship tablet, will also be entitled to a refresh of the range with more powerful processors capable of putting AI and Apple Intelligence into action. The iPad should see an 11th generation and a hardware update expected since the last iteration in 2022. Same fate for the iPad mini and a 7th version of the 8.3-inch tablet to come. MacBook fans will have to be patient, another fall conference should be entirely dedicated to them in October.
