It's once again about time for Apple's annual, post-Labor Day product launch event, and this year it comes with a semi-big new product, with a lot of caveats.
Apple's big upcoming event day is Monday, September 9, when Tim Cook and other execs will make their latest splashy presentations in the Steve Jobs Theater at Apple Park in Cupertino.
The teaser tagline this go-round is "It's Glowtime," and it's not yet clear what that refers to. As TechCrunch notes, new iPhone 16 Pro models are expected to have larger screens, and MacRumors suggests there will be a new haptic side button dedicated to taking photos. Also, there may be a new, larger Apple Watch model, and a couple new versions of AirPods.
The big news is likely to be the first iPhone built with generative AI capabilities in mind, as CNN reports, though it seems like some of those capabilities will not launch as fast as the phones hit shelves.
New features will come as part of the Apple Intelligence initiative, including AI-generated, personalized emoji called Genmoji. And Siri is expected to get a big upgrade with the help of Apple's recent with OpenAI — though because that is fairly recent, analysts say that a new ChatGPT-enhanced Siri is not likely to to be made available until late next year at the earliest.
Apple teased some of this move toward generative AI during the Worldwide Developers Conference in June.
Once this new, super-powered Siri goes online, though, Apple's longstanding personal assistant — which was always kind of an AI lite model — is likely to get (maybe creepily) more like Scarlett Johansson in Her. Some potential features include being able to tell you when a loved-one's plane is landing, summarizing what's in your email inbox, and answering questions about your schedule.
Given it's usually Apple's wont to try to bowl over fans with such new features long before they may be available, we can expect to see some of this demo'd two weeks from today.
As for how expensive these new iPhone 16 models will be, it's probably safe to say they will tick up in price from the iPhone 15s across the board.
Also, per CNN, some or all iPhone 15 models are expected to be capable of some of these software upgrades as well, down the line.
Previously: Apple Announces Their Plunge Into Generative AI in WWDC Keynote