Will the iPhone 16 be upstaged at its own event?

Welcome to our weekly Apple Breakfast column, which includes all the Apple news you missed last week in a handy bite-sized roundup. We call it Apple Breakfast because we think it goes great with a Monday morning cup of coffee or tea, but it’s cool if you want to give it a read during lunch or dinner hours too.

There must be more to life than this

There’s exactly one week to go until the biggest event of Apple’s year, and the hype is almost unbearable. Most of that hype, inevitably, is directed at the iPhone 16, which is understandable because the iPhone makes more money than most companies’ entire product ranges. But will the new model actually live up to the billing? That’s debatable.

It’s been a while since we got a truly exciting new iPhone. (I pondered this question in an Apple Breakfast column in 2023, and settled on the iPhone X as the last model people at the time agreed was a big deal.) And at this stage in the product’s evolution, it’s getting increasingly unlikely that we’ll see one again.

Most of the critical developments were made in the first three generations (3G, the App Store, copy and paste and other interface basics), and Apple’s designers and engineers spent the next decade or so steadily stripping the tree bare of higher-hanging fruit. There simply isn’t much left to change about the iPhone, other than updating the processor vastly beyond the needs of current mobile apps and improving the camera vastly beyond the needs of real-world photography. The iPhone 16 will get more RAM, Apple Intelligence, and a bunch of new colors, but there probably won’t be much else to write home about.

Fortunately, however, the Glowtime event isn’t just about showing us a new iPhone. And Apple has plenty of other announcements up its sleeve to make this an entertaining and informative presentation.

The Apple Watch, for example, is used to sitting in the shadow of its more lucrative smartphone cousin at fall events but looks set for a more memorable showing in 2024. The very first Apple Watch was unveiled on September 9, 2014, so this month’s event will fall precisely on its 10th anniversary… and given how rarely Apple holds an event on a Monday, it’s hard to believe that’s a coincidence.

Expect an Apple Watch X to celebrate the 10th anniversary (which thanks to a few delays in the early years coincides with the 10th generation of the product), and Apple will want the product to be just as compelling as the iPhone X in 2017. We expect a larger display and a slimmer profile as part of the product’s first significant design refresh; there could also be new health sensors. We should be able to agree that it’s a big deal.

And the evening’s announcements may not stop there. We’re also expecting not one but two new sets of AirPods, including an entry-level “Lite” model which probably won’t be called that but could bring these iconic earbuds within the budget of far more customers. And suspicious stock shortages suggest the iPad mini is set for a long-overdue update too. Give it an M-class processor with 8GB of RAM, a FaceTime camera on the landscape edge, and a bit more storage, and we could have ourselves the perfect Apple Intelligence device.

All in all, we’re expecting a fun event with plenty of highlights; it’s just that the highlights may not correspond to the established hierarchy of Apple’s marketing department. Then again, we already know that this is going to be an event that breaks all the rules; perhaps the company will surprise us all by announcing the iPhone 16 first, just to get it out of the way, and saving the new iPad mini for “One more thing” at the end. And if that wouldn’t be an exciting turn of events, I don’t know what would be.

Trending: Top stories

With a new model around the corner, we round up the 7 best iPhones of all time.

The iPhone 16’s biggest competitor is the other version of itself.

If it wasn’t for bad advice, Apple wouldn’t get any advice at all.

Apple Intelligence forces Apple to finally give us what we want: More RAM.

How the iPhone 16’s camera will change the game (again).

Kevan Parekh to replace Luca Maestri as Apple CFO next year.

Podcast of the week

Apple sent out invites with the tagline “Glowtime” for its event on September 9. We talk about the event itself and what we expect.

You can catch every episode of the Macworld Podcast on Spotify, Soundcloud, the Podcasts app, or our own site.

Reviews corner

• Think Tank Venturing Observer M2 review: Perfect MacBook transportation.
• Ugreen Revodok Pro 210 review: Hub offers decent speeds at a nice price.

The rumor mill

Apple’s ‘Glowtime’ event is coming on Sept. 9 to introduce iPhone 16 and more.

iPhone 16, Apple Watch X, iOS 18, and everything coming in Apple’s biggest month.

Noise cancelation in the next AirPods Pro might be getting even better.

Hints of new iPad mini as stock of old model runs suspiciously dry.

The iPhone 16 Pro is rumored to get a massive 48MP ultra-wide camera upgrade.

Software updates, bugs, and problems

Hackers are using fake banking apps on iPhones to steal your data.

iOS 18.1 beta 3 is out now, adding ‘Clean Up’ AI tool in Photos.

And with that, we’re done for this week’s Apple Breakfast. If you’d like to get regular roundups, sign up for our newsletters. You can also follow us on Facebook, Threads, or Twitter for discussion of breaking Apple news stories. See you next Monday, and stay Appley.