Updated April 5: article originally posted April 4.
As we get more details on the iPhone 16, the latest leaked images confirm the biggest design changes coming to Apple’s upcoming smartphone.
Longtime Apple leaker Sonny Dickson is behind the latest scoop, with exclusive images highlighting the design of the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max. Apple is expected to announce the range in early September 2024, but we can see many of the new features today.
Update: Friday April 5: While the metal machined blanks can’t tell us anything about the materials Apple plans to use in the upcoming iPhones, a new leak via ShrimpApplePro offers a tantalising glimpse at the rear of the latest iPhone 16 models.
Like last year’s iPhone 15 range, Apple will infuse the rear glass with a specific colour, with space black, grey, white, and rose making up the four colours. It’s worth noting that the resulting glass is not as strong as the textured matte glass back used on the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max models. Still, the material may have been strengthened over the last 12 months.
The move to the infused glass will be one of the visible differences between the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro. Tim Cook and his team will, like many, hope that fashion and materials can be a suitable enticement to generate upgrades within its community.
Dickson’s images show the machined ‘blanks’ provided to peripheral manufacturers ahead of a phone’s release. These allow cases, holders, and other accessories to be designed around the exact dimensions of the device and the individual buttons. Naturally, we can’t see how these new features will work in software, but the hardware on show clearly indicates Apple’s updated approach to the iPhone.
Action Button On All Models
Following its introduction on the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max, the Action Button will now be available on all four iPhone models. It replaced the mute switch found on previous models. Many continued to use the Action Button to toggle the mute/vibrate functions of their iPhone. Yet, this programmable button can be set up to open up a single user-defined app or perform a specific action when pressed.
With it appearing across the entire range, Apple’s marketing team can lean into it heavily as a unique feature of the iPhone, and developers can build their apps knowing that more users will be able to use features designed around the Action Button.
Capacitive Capture Button Introduced
The addition of a second button to the iPhone design has been leaked numerous times over the last six months. However, the exact design of the button and which iPhone models it would appear on have been in flux—no doubt as Apple created several prototypes to try out the various options.
Apple has now settled on the design and the scope. For the latter, every iPhone 16 model will come with the new Capture Button, making marketing and developer adoption easier. For the former, Apple has decided on a capacitive button across all models. This means no moving parts in the actual button, instead relying on the haptic-based “Taptic Engine” to simulate the feeling of a physical button.
It’s a secondary part of the UI, yet if it is successful, I can see capacitive buttons replacing the physical volume, power, and action buttons in future iPhones as Apple’s vision of a ‘portless and buttonless’ smartphone comes ever closer.
Stereoscopic Camera Potential
The blanks also confirm the positioning of the camera lenses in the rear camera. The diagonal layout seen in the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus has been superseded by a vertical arrangement of the two lenses. It shouldn’t impact pictures taken but will allow stereoscopic video to be recorded. That won’t make a difference on the iPhone or the desktop, but it does mean that videos played back in the Apple Vision Pro mixed reality headset will be seen in 3D.
The iPhone will vastly outsell the Vision Pro headsets. Yet, anyone buying a Vision Pro headset in the future could find that the videos they have backed up to Apple’s iCloud service are available on their new headset and can be replayed in 3D.
Alongside the new hardware, Apple plans to introduce generative AI tools into iOS 18. We should learn more about Tim Cook’s AI plans at June’s Worldwide Developer Conference. The new iPhone 16 family will likely launch in its traditional early September slot.
Now read more about Apple’s plans to increase the battery capacity of your next iPhone…
