Apple is set to launch the next iPhone 16 Pro smartphones early next month, and new photos of a quartet of Pro phones have been published that showcase a key part of the design that should help sell Apple’s latest handheld.
Longtime Apple leaker Sonny Dickson has released exclusive images of the upcoming iPhone 16 Pro. The four models shown illustrate the design elements being carried over from the iPhone 15 Pro family, as well as the all-important cosmetic decisions to bring in the fashionistas.
They are not the final retail models; instead, they represent the late-stage dummy samples that will be used for marketing and retail display. The photos and images you see, particularly of shots in the lifestyle genre, will more than likely be these dummy units. After all, there’s no need for the latest software to be on show; it can be added in post-production as needed.
What we can see are the eagerly awaited colours. Dickson has previously revealed the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus colorways; “The iPhone 16 colors include regular white and black, but pink, blue and green are also added to the mix.”
The iPhone Pro colors have always been a touch more demure than the solid colors of the vanilla iPhone, which will continue with the iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max. It’s to be expected that Apple would offer white, black and silver models (and it’s to be expected that they will have some incredibly artistic names to describe the shades)
It’s the fourth model that will catch the eye. The long-rumored bronze model looks set to be an official option for those buying one of the new handsets. I’d expect this color to feature prominently in the marketing of the new iPhone Pro models.
A closer look at the photos and the new Capture Button can be seen. This joins last year’s Action Button. The latter allows a certain level of user customisation to decide on apps and actions triggered by the button. The Capture Button will be closely tied to the camera, and the inference is that a camera shutter button is coming back in some form. That it is capacitive and will offer force sensitivity will allow a half-press to gather a focus lock before the picture is taken—echoing an age-old practice—seems a given.
The camera lens layout will be carried over from the iPhone 15 Pro. With the layout able to record stereoscopic video when held in landscape mode, the resulting video files can be processed into Apple’s “spatial video” format for viewing on the Apple Vision Pro headset, helping tie in the new ecosystem to the biggest.
The biggest change is the software, which is not on show, is the inclusion of generative AI across Apple’s operating systems, including iOS. Unfortunately, Apple will not have the backronymed Apple Intelligence ready for the iPhone 16 Pro launch. It will have a subset of features available in October, but the full suite will not arrive until late in Q1 2025.
Until then, Tim Cook and his team will hope that bronze is enough.
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