This event follows on from WWDC in June where Apple set the stage for the rest of the year with the annoncement of Apple Intelligence. Although this a hardware event, I would still expect the major theme of the keynote to be centralized around Apple Intelligence, with this year’s iPhone hardware updates set to be evolution rather than revolution, especially on the Pro models, but what should we expect to see?

iPhone 16 & iPhone 16 Pro

This year’s iPhone 16 is set to receive a number of updates that were previously exclusive to the iPhone Pro lineup.

The iPhone 16 is going to have its RAM increased from 6GB to 8GB, matching the iPhone 15 Pro released last year. The main reason being to support Apple Intelligence, whose models take just over 3 GB of RAM by themselves. This means that the current 6GB of RAM in the iPhone isn’t enough to run Apple Intelligence alongside whatever Apple would consider a reasonable number of apps in memory so that a user can switch between the instantly.

The iPhone 16 is also set to gain the Action Button introduced in the iPhone 15 Pro, which will also mean we say bye to the Silent / Ringer Switch after 17 years.

The entire iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro lineup will gain an additional capture button, whose solve purpose will be to improve the photo and video capturing experience. Rumours are is that it will feature multiple levels of pressure sensitivity, but with a case I am bit skeptical and that it will actually just support press and long press.

The iPhone 16 Pro will gain the 5x zoom that was previously only present in the iPhone 16 Pro Max, and both model will get a larger display, with the iPhone Pro increasing from 6.1 to 6.3 inches and the iPhone Pro Max from 6.7 to 6.9 inches. Other than the increased screen and a new color option, the only signficant hardware update will see the Ultrawide camera increase from 12MP to 48MP, using the same pixel binning techniques already found in the main camera to output images.

Apple Watch Series 10 & Apple Watch Ultra 3

The Apple Watch Series 10 is set to be the first series in what will be the 4th generation of screen sizes, having last being updated with the Series 7 in 2021.

The Series 10 is set to have the 2 available screen sizes increased from 41mm and 45mm to 45mm and 49mm respectively, while maintaining compatibility with existing watch bands.

The Series 10 and Ultra 3 are set to get a major performance upgrade (in Apple Watch Terms anyway!), with the S10 chip. The main focus will be improved Siri performance, but Apple Intelligence on the Apple Watch isn’t on the cards this year.

Apple Intelligence

Throughout the summer Apple have been shipping iOS 18.0 and 18.1 Betas in parallel, with the later being the only one featuring Apple intelligence, and with it being such a major focus of the keynote I would expect to see a concrete date for iOS 18.1 in October announced , with iOS 18.0 shipping alongside the new iPhones next week.

The event will also feature an extensive recap of all of Apple Intelligence functionality was announced at WWDC, but without any additions … unless Apple have managed to strike a deal with Google for Gemini at the last minute which seems doubtful.

AirPods

The AirPods Pro 2nd Generation was updated to a USB-C Charging case alongside the iPhone updates last September, but all of the other AirPod models Apple still sells; AirPod 2nd and 3rd Generation and AirPods Max, all still use the Lightening port.

The AirPods Max is set to be updated to the same internals as the AirPods Pro 2nd Generation and it will also move across to USB-C. The AirPod’s are set to be updated to their 4th Generation, in addition to a USB-C charging case the rumours point to a less sophisticated version of the echo cancellation found in the AirPods Pro, meaning Apple will continue to sell a previous generation of AirPods alongside them. Currently the differentiation between the AirPods 2nd and 3rd Generation is quite small, meaning that most people go for the cheaper 2nd generation, which obviously Apple would prefer not to be the case.

Mac and iPad

This keynote already feels pretty full of hardware updates, so I wouldn’t expect to see any additional hardware updates until October when we will probably get another keynote. The one outside bet is an update to the iPad mini which was last updated with the A15 SoC in September 2021, which means it is currently unable to run Apple Intellegence. If the iPad mini is updated, it has to be eventually, it will be intersting to see if Apple keeps it on the A Series or move across to the M Series like the iPad Air.

Come October we will start to see the Mac lineup migrate across to the M4 SoC, which has remained exclusive in the iPad Pro for longer than I would have thought!