It's Glowtime decoded: what Apple's next event invite means for the iPhone 16

TechPhonesiPhonesIt’s Glowtime decoded: what Apple’s next event invite means for the iPhone 169 September is Apple’s official launch event, tagline ‘Glowtime’, but what exactly does it all mean?When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

9 September is Apple’s official launch event, tagline ‘Glowtime’, but what exactly does it all mean?

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(Image credit: Apple)

It�s Glowtime - Apple special event 2024 invitation

(Image credit: Apple)

It’s showtime! No, hang on, in Apple’s world ‘It’s Glowtime’! That’s the tagline of the officialnext Apple eventinvitation –scheduled to take place Monday 9 Septemberthis year, and here’show you can watch it live– when the iPhone 16 series is fully expected to be revealed.

So what is the invitation’s wording and, just as importantly, visual language all about? Here I’ll decipher what’s on show and how that reflects what we’re likely to see from the iPhone 16 launch event, in thecontext of Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference 2024, which took place back in June.

1. Siri and AI

“It’s showtime” has become something of a movie cliche. But it’s still a very relevant phrase and defines the commencement of an important moment. On a simple level that’s the reason for Apple paraphrasing such an expression for its next event.

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2. More power

The glowing Apple symbol in the event invitation could therefore also be a reference for new levels of power, owed to new and more powerful chips incoming within Apple’s arsenal. I think Apple is going to need to shout about how much better its AI can be than its Android competitors' offerings, too.

However, while the competition is waxing lyrical about NPUs (neural processing units) and TOPS (tera operations per second), I suspect Apple will choose to express any new chipsets' power potentials in more demonstrative ways. Like the visual of the glowing Apple logo, I expect to see what we’re talking about rather than just hear a bunch of big numbers reeled off.

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3. Movie magic?

But let me roll back to that “It’s showtime” paraphrasing for a minute too. As it’s a movie-associated expression, there is some argument that the iPhone 16 range will also be the best yet for capturing and playing back such content. Ideal for watchingthe best streaming services' latest shows and movies.

While there aren’t any visual cues specifically about cameras or screens in the invitation, I have wondered how long it’d be beforeallof Apple’s iPhone models caught up to current standards – i.e. 120Hz refresh rate panels, even for the ‘entry’ models.

It could be that cameras will improve capture, formats such as ProRes could become more widely available across the iPhone range, and high dynamic range (HDR) fast-refresh screens could become the norm.

If Apple Intelligence is to roll out across thefulliPhone range in its fullest capacity – the entry and Plus models included – then the base entry specification will need to see an uplift. I’m not expecting this to actually happen, though, it’s far more speculative.

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4. An iPad Mini?

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1. Siri and AI#

2. More power#

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3. Movie magic?#

4. An iPad Mini?#

1. Siri and AI

2. More power

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3. Movie magic?

4. An iPad Mini?