What to expect from Apple's Sept. 7 event: new iPhones with pressure-sensitive home buttons, 5.5-inch model with dual-camera system, new Watch with GPS, more
Apple seeks to set foundation for holiday quarter with iPhone camera upgrades, improved Apple Watch fitness tracking, and refreshed software
Context & Ripple Effects
This preview is the first entry in what becomes a near-decade-running September ritual: the same beat returns ahead of the 2019 iPhone and Watch Series 5 event, the 2023 Wonderlust keynote with USB-C iPhone 15s, the four-model iPhone 16 and Apple Intelligence lineup in 2024, and the ultrathin iPhone 17 Air in 2025.
What changes each year is the hardware; what stays fixed is the formula — new iPhones, a new Watch, refreshed software, all staged to set up the holiday quarter. In 2016 the differentiators are a dual-camera system reserved for the 5.5-inch iPhone, a pressure-sensitive home button, and GPS in the Watch, which per the report is aimed at improved fitness tracking.
First-order effects
- The dual-camera system makes the 5.5-inch iPhone the photography flagship, splitting the lineup into a camera-led premium tier and a standard tier rather than two sizes of the same phone.
- Built-in GPS lets the new Watch track runs and workouts without carrying an iPhone, removing the main dependency that previously tied its fitness use to the phone.
Second-order effects
- A pressure-sensitive home button and a second camera raise the flagship's component cost, giving Apple room to push the top of the iPhone price range at exactly the moment holiday-quarter demand peaks.
- A GPS-equipped Watch moves the product into direct competition with standalone GPS sports watches and fitness trackers during the gifting season, where it previously competed mainly as a phone accessory.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern in the coverage holds — iPhone plus Watch plus software every September from 2016 through 2025 — Apple's fall keynote hardens into a fixed industry calendar anchor, with suppliers, carriers, and reviewers planning around a predictable annual refresh rather than surprise launches.
The trend: Apple's September keynote has settled into a permanent annual cadence — new iPhones, a new Watch, refreshed software — that anchors the holiday quarter year after year.