Updated April sixth: Article was originally published on April 4th.
As we get more details in regards to the iPhone 16, the newest leaked images confirm the most important design changes that Apple’s upcoming smartphone will bring.
Longtime Apple leaker Sonny Dickson is behind the newest scoop, with exclusive images highlighting the design of the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max. Apple is predicted to unveil the range in early September 2024, but we will already see lots of the recent features today.
Update: Friday, April 5: While the machined metal blanks cannot tell us anything in regards to the materials Apple plans to make use of in upcoming iPhones, a brand new leak about ShrimpApplePro offers a tantalizing have a look at the back of the newest iPhone 16 models.
As with last 12 months’s iPhone 15 lineup, Apple will color the back glass a selected color, with Space Black, Gray, White and Rose making up the 4 colours. It’s value noting that the resulting glass is not as strong because the textured matte glass back used on the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max models. Still, the fabric could have strengthened over the past 12 months.
The switch to glass might be certainly one of the visible differences between the iPhone 15 Pro and the iPhone 16 Pro. Tim Cook and his team, like many others, hope that fashion and materials generally is a suitable incentive to create uplift in the neighborhood.
Update: Saturday April sixth: While the blanks don’t show the design of the iPhone 16 screen, recent details from The Elec Allow us to introduce Apple’s recent design for the front of this 12 months’s iOS smartphone.
Apple plans to supply thinner frames using Border Reduction Structures. These structures allow for a more compact arrangement of the display circuitry, thereby reducing the footprint of the physical frames. The phone’s case still needs to carry the display in place and create a secure structure; The must take up less internal volume will aid the design process.
Given that the usage of BRS will likely increase the bill of materials for any phone that uses it, this design could also be limited to the higher-priced iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max and never available for all 4 phones. Apple has done its best to create differences between the Pro and vanilla iPhones lately. Using BRS for a thinner and more fashionable design suits well with this ethos.
Dickson’s images show the processed “blanks” that were provided to peripheral manufacturers before a phone was released to market. This allows cases, brackets and other accessories to be precisely tailored to the scale of the device and the person buttons. Of course, we will not see how these recent features will work within the software, however the hardware on display clearly shows that Apple is taking the updated approach to the iPhone.
Action button on all models
After its introduction on the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max, the Action Button will now be available on all 4 iPhone models. It replaced the mute switch of the previous models. Many continued to make use of the motion button to toggle their iPhone’s mute/vibrate functions. Still, this programmable button will be set as much as open a single custom app or perform a selected motion when pressed.
Because it appears across the product lineup, Apple’s marketing team can leverage it heavily as a novel feature of the iPhone, and developers can construct their apps knowing that more users will find a way to benefit from the features designed across the Action Button.
Introducing the capacitive recording button
The addition of a second button to the iPhone design has leaked multiple times within the last six months. However, the precise design of the button and which iPhone models it will appear on were in flux – little doubt, as Apple created several prototypes to check out different options.
Apple has now agreed on the design and scope. For the latter, every iPhone 16 model will include the brand new Capture Button, making marketing and developer adoption easier. For the previous, Apple has opted for a capacitive button on all models. This signifies that there are not any moving parts within the actual key, as a substitute counting on the haptic “Taptic Engine” to simulate the texture of a physical key.
It’s a secondary a part of the UI, but when it succeeds, I can imagine capacitive buttons replacing the physical volume, power and motion buttons in future iPhones, while Apple’s vision of a “port and buttonless” smartphone all the time stays gets closer.
Stereoscopic camera potential
The blanks also confirm the positioning of the camera lenses within the rear camera. The diagonal arrangement of the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus has been replaced by a vertical arrangement of the 2 lenses. It should not have any effect on the pictures captured, but allows stereoscopic video to be recorded. This makes no difference on iPhone or desktop, nevertheless it does mean that videos played with the Apple Vision Pro mixed reality headset might be displayed in 3D.
The iPhone will sell significantly higher than the Vision Pro headsets. But anyone who buys a Vision Pro headset in the long run may find that the videos they’ve backed as much as Apple’s iCloud service can be found on their recent headset and will be played back in 3D.
In addition to the brand new hardware, Apple plans to introduce generative AI tools in iOS 18. We should learn more about Tim Cook’s AI plans on the Worldwide Developer Conference in June. The recent iPhone 16 family is predicted to launch on its traditional launch date in early September.
Now read more about Apple’s plans to extend the battery capability of your next iPhone…