The wait is almost over. In less than 24 hours, Apple’s new iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max will be available to pre-order in the UK, days after revealing the smartphones, a new Apple Watch Series 10 and new AirPods at its “Glowtime” event in Cupertino, Calfornia.
The iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro are filled with the company’s new Apple Intelligence smarts, powered by the company’s new A18 chip and iOS 18, making Siri more useful and your iPhone apps more connected than ever before. But as leaked ahead of time, the AI features have been delayed, with Apple confirming in the keynote that they won’t come to the UK until December.
Beyond AI, all four iPhones have gained a new haptic camera control button on the side for taking pictures and videos, and even let you swipe between camera settings. The Pro smartphones also have bigger displays while keeping the same phone footprint, and they have even longer battery life. All four handsets have better cameras and new colours and are more durable than ever before.
The smartphones will officially launch on Friday 20 September, but you’ll be able to pre-order all four handsets from Friday 13 September at 1pm BST. You can even pre-configure your chosen iPhone 16 now so that when the time comes, you can quickly skip to the front and place your pre-order.
When can you pre-order the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro in the UK?
The iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max will be available to pre-order in the UK from 1pm BST on Friday 13 September. You can pre-order directly from Apple, but other retailers, including Amazon and Currys, will also offer up offers and trade-in deals. Major mobile carriers, including EE, Vodafone and O2 have also confirmed they will drop their iPhone 16 pre-order contract deals starting from 1pm.
As mentioned above, you can already pre-configure your chosen iPhone 16, including the model, colour, storage size, trade-in and Apple Care options. Plus, you can even add your payment details on Apple’s website. Apple will save all your preferences, so all you need to do is confirm that everything’s correct and click the pre-order button, skipping the whole hubbub you used to slog through on iPhone pre-order day.
Apple iPhone 16 price: How much does the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro cost in the UK?
While rumours ahead of the iPhone launch suggested that components of successive iPhones were getting more expensive and increasingly difficult for Apple to absorb, the entire iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max remain the exact same price as the iPhone 15 line-up.
The base iPhone 16, which features a new 48MP camera system, a bigger battery and the new camera control button starts from £799 for the 128GB model, while the larger iPhone 16 Plus starts from £899.
The iPhone 16 Pro starts from £999 for the 128GB model, which is the same price as the iPhone 15 Pro at launch, while the iPhone 16 Pro Max starts from £1,199 for the 256GB models.
The best iPhone 16 carrier deals in the UK
With the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro available to pre-order from Friday (13 September), mobile phone carriers are already starting to reveal their pre-order deals. We’ll be rounding up the best contract deals as they land throughout today and tomorrow.
Best Sky Mobile iPhone 16 deals
Sky Mobile offered the very cheapest deals for the entire iPhone 15 line-up last year, and it seems to be matching those prices for the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro.
Jumping the gun early, Sky has revealed that the iPhone 16 Pro will be available starting from £33 per month, while the iPhone 16 Pro Max will be available from £39 per month. The iPhone 16 will start from £26 per month and the iPhone 16 Plus will start from £30 per month. There’s no up-front cost like other carriers, but you will have to add on a data plan. Sky is offering double data for a limited time, and the cheapest data plan costs £5 per month, getting you 10GB of data instead of 5GB.
Plus, there are other perks if you take out a contract with Sky Mobile. The carrier has a piggybank system, which rolls your unused data into a virtual pot that you can share with your family, use in future months, or even exchange for rewards. The carrier also lets you stream on any Sky app, such as Sky Go and Sky Sports, without using any of your data.
What iPhone 16 pre-order deals could we see this year?
Most carriers won’t be revealing their pre-order deals until tomorrow, but turning back the clock to the iPhone 15 launch could provide some clues as to what iPhone 16 deals we could see. With the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro costing the same as the iPhone 15, we don’t expect carrier deals to differ too heavily.
If you didn’t mind paying an up front cost, Mobiles.co.uk had the best iPhone 15 Pro deal at launch. The online retailer, owned by Currys, was offering up a 24-month contract for £39.99 per month with 100GB of data. The only catch was you had to pay £149 up front. Hopefully, Mobiles.co.uk will reduce the up front cost, while keeping the same monthly charge for the iPhone 16 Pro.
If you’re looking to buy the iPhone 16 outright, it’s worth taking advantage of trade-in deals from the likes of Apple and Amazon. Last year, Apple was offering up to £715 of credit if you traded in your old device for the new model, and Amazon was offering up to £484 in credit. All of that goes a long way in paying for the shiny new handset.
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