As usual, references to upcoming iPhone models appeared in the iOS beta, this time in the iOS 17 developer beta 5 that was released yesterday. All test operating systems were updated last night without major external changes.
These four make sense
There are of course four new models as the 16.1 and 16.2 models refer to the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max which have the A17 chip, and the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus which have the A16 chip and this year’s 14 Pro. Significant performance improvements are expected this year (many Macs are also upgraded with the 3mm M3) with the A17 chip and better power savings thanks to 3mm production technology. The references were later removed by Apple.
- iPhone 15.4
- iPhone15.5
- iPhone16.1
- iPhone 16.2
But what is this?
What’s even more interesting is that X account “Aaron” has found references to two iPhone models we haven’t heard of yet: iPhone14.1 and iPhone14.9. As pointed out by 9To5Mac, for example iPhone14 and x refer to “iPhone 13, iPhone 13 Pro, iPhone 14, and the third generation iPhone SE.”
So it seems that these mobiles are powered by A15 chip. One possibility is that this is the third generation iPhone SE and possibly the iPhone 13 mini with USB C so those models will be ready before the EU’s USB C requirements go into effect in late December 2024. A point against this theory is that this only makes sense. Whether Apple does the same with the iPhone 14 that will still be available for purchase for at least another year remains to be seen.
“Web specialist. Lifelong zombie maven. Coffee ninja. Hipster-friendly analyst.”
