iPhone 16 Pro launch date, delays in revealing its specifications, iPhone Air leaks

We take a look at this week’s news and headlines from Apple, including iPhone 16 Pro release dates, iPhone 16’s bigger battery, surprise iOS update, Apple Intelligence delay, iPhone Air plans, new Macs for 2024, and why your iPhone doesn’t have Bing.

Apple Loop is here to remind you of some of the many discussions surrounding Apple over the past seven days. You can also read my weekly Android news roundup here on Forbes.

Clues to the iPhone 16 Pro release date

It probably happened around the second Tuesday of September each year. However, until Apple announces the date, speculation about the iPhone 16 series launch date will continue. However, everything points to the 10th, including the accelerated manufacturing chain that is building inventory for the big day:

“..[which] “This suggests that iPhone production is on schedule, meaning that no delays are expected at this point. If true, it means that the iPhone 16 series is very likely to go on sale in September. More specifically, the likely date for the keynote revealing the devices — along with the Apple Watch Series 10 and possibly new AirPods — seems to be fixed at Tuesday, September 10.”

(Forbes).

There is a bigger battery in town.

Apple is set to significantly increase the battery capacity of the iPhone in the coming years. This is not the first time Apple has increased the battery capacity of the iPhone. The question now is what will it do with it, will it provide more endurance to the consumer, or will it provide more power to the software?

“The iPhone 16 Pro’s capacity change compared to the previous Pro model shows the most noticeable difference, with a more than 9% increase (303mAh). Meanwhile, the iPhone 16 Pro Max, while not as dramatic as its smaller sibling, gets a more than 5% increase (254mAh). Combined with the efficiency improvements, the increases should see both devices offer more sustained real-world usage on a single charge.”

(Mac rumors).

Quick update for iOS

This week saw the final release of iOS. Instead of a planned upgrade with more features, this appears to be a security patch to improve encryption on iCloud services:

Apple didn’t mention any new features, but the main one is a fix for a bug. The company describes it this way: “This update includes important bug fixes and addresses an issue that prevented Advanced Data Protection from being enabled or disabled.”

(Forbes).

AI lags in iOS

Speaking of iOS, the big software update next year will be in the realm of generative AI, the weirdly named Apple Intelligence. While Android is gearing up to unveil its next-generation AI, Apple will delay the launch of the core implementation until the month after the new phones launch, before the main software arrives in late Q1 2025:

“This means early iPhone 16 buyers may miss out on some of Apple’s latest AI features that it announced at WWDC last month, including Rewrite, Image Playground, Genmoji, voice transcription, web page summaries, and an updated Siri.”

(Forbes).

Air around iPhone

Looking ahead, the iPhone 17 family is set to receive a new member. The slim iPhone has been discussed in depth over the past year, but now we have a name. The iPhone AIr.

“It’s a logical name, as Apple already has the iPad Air line that sits between the basic iPads and the Pro models, and which was once billed as a thin option (though the latest model isn’t as thin as the latest iPad Pro). The MacBook Air was also billed as a thin device.”

(Tech Radar).

New Macs This Year

Apple may refocus on its Mac lineup later this year, but don’t expect much. While the Apple Silicon M4 specs will be bumped up as usual, everything else will “stay the same” except for the processor and the unification of the desktop I/O ports:

“With a new refresh coming to these models this fall, Gurman doesn’t expect much beyond the introduction of the new M4 chips. The M4 chip debuted in the iPad Pro in May, and no Mac models have received the new chip yet. Since the iMac still uses Lightning accessories, I also expect we’ll see USB-C accessories in the box of the 24-inch iMac with the M4 later this year.”

(9to5mac).

Finally…

Google’s antitrust case papers continue to reveal the inner workings and thinking of Apple’s leaders. One of those ideas was the choice Apple was given to switch to Microsoft’s default search engine, Bing…or not:

Google pays Apple billions of dollars a year to be the default search engine in Safari. But according to Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of services, there is no meaningful alternative. During the trial, he said that “Microsoft could never offer a price” to Apple to preload Bing in Safari.

(The Edge).

Apple Loop brings you seven days of highlights every weekend here on Forbes. Be sure to follow me so you don’t miss any future coverage. You can read last week’s Apple Loop article here , or you can also read this week’s edition of Loop’s sister column, Android Circuit , on Forbes.