iPhone 16: Apple opens pre-orders for new AI-powered device

Updated Apple Watches and AirPods also now available

(AFP via Getty Images)

Apple has opened pre-orders for the new iPhone 16 line-up, as well as other upcoming products.

The company announced the new devices at the beginning of this week, and they can now be ordered online. The new products will arrive on 20 September, when they will also go on sale in store.

The iPhone 16 brings a new “camera control” to the side of the phone, as well as improvements to the processor, camera and other features. It also comes with a fresh focus on Apple Intelligence, the company’s AI offering, though that will not start being available until this month.

Alongside the new iPhone, Apple is offering the Watch Series 10 and AirPod, and new colours of the Apple Watch Ultra and AirPods Max. All of them will be available on the same schedule.

Apple was once famous for the large queues that greeted its iPhone releases, which began sometimes days in advance. But in recent years it has instead encouraged users to buy their products online, even if they intend to pick them up in store.

Customers can buy their phones through the freshly redesigned Apple Store app, for instance, which incudes product recommendations and preselected configurations. Those phones can then be picked up in store or delivered as usual.

Apple is also offering a new option called “Personal Setup”, where users can get a one-on-one remote appointment where an employee will run them through help setting up their new phone.

As well as buying directly from Apple, a range of networks are offering deals on the new devices.