New iPhones: What you should know about the products Apple announced at the special event

PHOENIX - Apple's special event on Sept. 9 came amid months of speculation over what products the tech giant will launch.

During the event, Apple announced new versions of their iPhones, in addition to other products.

Here's what to know.

Why is the event such a big deal in the Apple world?

Previously, the company only announced that a special event was to be held on Sept. 9, and said little else about the event itself.

The event announcement sparked speculation over the products that could be launched, and among the speculation is that of a new iPhone, as the company tends to announce such product refreshes during September or October in recent years.

Why is Apple so secretive about this?

For those who have followed news related to Apple, the secrecy should come as no surprise, as the company is known for such secrecy.

An article published in 2017 describes certain aspects of Apple's secrecy culture, with the author suggesting a marketing benefit that Apple reaps from such secrecy.

So, did they announce a new iPhone?

During the event, Apple announced new versions of the iPhone, iPhone Plus, iPhone Pro, and iPhone Pro Max.

The new iPhone models will all feature the name "iPhone 16" somewhere within the respective model's names, and it comes with a number of changes, the biggest of which revolves around their artificial intelligence abilities.

What's new?

Apple Intelligence

In their news releases for the new iPhone and iPhone Pro lines, Apple said the models are built for Apple Intelligence, an AI feature that Apple announced in June.

"Apple Intelligence on the iPhone 16 lineup harnesses the power of Apple Silicon and Apple-built generative models to understand and create language and images, take action across apps, and draw from personal context to simplify and accelerate everyday tasks," read a portion of the news release.

Apple Intelligence will also upgrade Apple's virtual assistant Siri to get it to better understand requests and give it some awareness of on-screen actions taking place on the phone, hopefully making it more useful.

Apple is trying to preserve its longtime commitment to privacy by tailoring its AI so that most of its functions are processed on the device itself instead of at remote data centers. When a task requires a connection to a data center, Apple promises it will be done in a tightly controlled way that ensures no personal data is stored remotely.

iPhone 16/iPhone 16 Plus

In their news release, Apple said the new iPhones will come in five colors: ultramarine, teal, pink, white, and black.

The tech firm also revealed a number of changes for the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus, such as:

• An action button that was previously only available for iPhone Pro and iPhone Pro Max, which Apple says allows a user to "easily access a variety of functions with just a press."
• A camera
• A bigger battery
• Send and receive texts, emoji and Tapbacks via satellite
• A new chip called A18, which has six CPU cores and five GPU cores.
• A new switch called "Camera Control" that allows users to control the phone's camera with the switch
• A new dual camera system

iPhone 16 Pro/iPhone 16 Pro Max

Per Apple, the new version of their iPhone Pro and iPhone Pro Max will run Apple Intelligence and will feature the aforementioned "Camera Control" switch, just like the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus.

The iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max, per a statement, will come in four colors: black titanium, natural titanium, white titanium, and desert titanium.

Some features that may be of interest to those with creativity in mind include:

• A faster camera sensor that allows for zero shutter lag for photos
• 4K slow-motion video recording
• A 5x telephoto camera
• "Studio-quality" microphones

Other under-the-hood features include:

• A 6.3-inch display for the iPhone 16 Pro, compared to a 6.1-inch display for iPhone 15 Pro
• A 6.9-inch display for the iPhone 16 Pro Max, compared to a 6.7-inch display for iPhone 15 Pro Max
• A bigger battery that Apple says allows for up to 33 hours of video playback on the iPhone 16 Pro Max, compared with 29 hours in the iPhone 15 Pro Max.

How much will I have to pay for the new iPhones?

Apple released the following prices for the iPhones on their website

iPhone 16

• 128GB: From $799
• 256GB: From $899
• 512GB: From $1,099

iPhone 16 Plus

• 128GB: From $899
• 256GB: From $999
• 512GB: From $1,199

iPhone 16 Pro

• 128GB: From $999
• 256GB: From $1,099
• 512GB: From $1,299
• 1TB: From $1,499

iPhone 16 Pro Max

• 256GB: From $1,199
• 512GB: From $1,399
• 1TB: From $1,599

When will the new iPhones go on sale?

Apple said the new iPhones will be made available for pre-order at 5:00 a.m. (Pacific Time) on Friday, Sept. 13, and will be made available to the public on Friday, Sept. 20.

I have an older iPhone and I don't want to upgrade yet. Do I still get some of the features announced?

It goes without saying, but getting the upgraded hardware-specific features on an older device is impossible.

However, if you currently have any of the iPhone 15 models, you can enjoy Apple Intelligence when it comes out, as the feature is currently only available on the iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 product line.

Did Apple announce any other new products at the event?

Besides its latest iPhones, Apple also introduced a new version of its smartwatch that will include a feature to help detect sleep apnea, as well the next generation of its AirPods Pro that will be able to function as a hearing aid with an upcoming software update.