With the launch of the iPhone 15, Apple launched design modifications like a curved body and a frosted glass again. Info acquired by MacRumors means that Apple’s next-generation iPhone 16 will construct on these updates with modifications to the buttons and the digicam structure.
We have now particulars on early pre-production designs for the iPhone 16, together with a take a look at the variants and {hardware} configurations that Apple has thought-about to this point. Our info comes early within the design course of, nevertheless it supplies a sign of what we will count on from the iPhone 16, or DeLorean as Apple engineers confer with it internally.
We have included mockups of what the iPhone 16 might seem like based mostly on Apple’s inner designs, right down to the precise colours the corporate is utilizing for testing. The iPhone rendered in yellow options the earliest recognized button design with an Motion Button, unified quantity button, and iPhone X-style digicam bump. The iPhone in pink has an Motion Button and separate mechanical quantity buttons, whereas the iPhone in midnight has the bigger Motion button and new Seize button. The iPhone rendered in black is the design we expect at this level.
As a part of the iPhone 16 design course of, Apple has prototyped a number of {hardware} configurations. Whereas these look comparable at first look, there are a variety of variations between them.
The obvious and visually distinct change is a brand new vertical digicam association. In contrast to its predecessor, the iPhone 16 could have vertically aligned rear cameras, making the telephone simply recognizable as the most recent mannequin. Whereas the vertical alignment of the rear cameras has to this point remained fixed all through totally different improvement levels, Apple is contemplating two totally different digicam bump designs:
- iPhone 12-style design, with two digicam lenses positioned one above the opposite
- iPhone X-type design, with a singular pill-shaped enclosure
Relative to the iPhone 15, the situation of the flash is identical with each designs, which means that Apple doesn’t plan to alter the place of the flash. Whereas each designs have been thought-about, the iPhone 12-like digicam structure with two distinct lenses has been used extra extensively on Apple’s prototype models.
The earliest recognized prototypes of the iPhone 16 included a unified quantity button that was developed as a part of the now-canceled Bongo undertaking initially supposed for launch with the iPhone 15 Professional. The unified button would have supplied customers with haptic suggestions, nevertheless it was scrapped earlier this 12 months following unresolved technical points. After the cancelation of the Bongo undertaking, Apple moved again to mechanical buttons for the iPhone 16.
The Motion button is one other carry-over from the iPhone 15 Professional. That we’re seeing the Motion button this early on suggests Apple final 12 months had determined to section out the mute swap, with plans to standardize the Motion button throughout all the iPhone 16 vary. The dimensions of the Motion Button has diversified throughout totally different configurations. Some designs and prototypes function a considerably bigger Motion Button, which was created as a part of Mission Atlas in an effort to alter the Motion Button from mechanical to capacitive, whereas some have the identical button that is on the iPhone 15 Professional. Indicators level to a capacitive Motion Button presently.
Apple can also be experimenting with a brand new button on the suitable facet of the iPhone 16. As MacRumors revealed again in September, the iPhone 16 is anticipated to incorporate an all-new capacitive Seize Button, developed internally below the codename Mission Nova. Info from our sources means that this button will function a pressure sensor along with “tact-switching” performance, though it’s nonetheless unclear what the latter entails. The Seize Button is positioned in the identical spot because the mmWave cutout on iPhone fashions offered in america, so with the iPhone 16, the mmWave antenna has been moved to the left facet of the machine.
Whereas it appears to be like like we’re getting a brand new button, Apple has developed an alternate {hardware} configuration that doesn’t function a Seize Button, which it might revert to if there are {hardware} points throughout the button’s improvement.
The entrance of the iPhone 16 doesn’t function any noticeable modifications, and it continues to make use of the Dynamic Island. The bottom mannequin iPhone 16 is anticipated to function a show much like the one used on its predecessor, with no main variations. As with the iPhone 15, the iPhone 16 has a USB-C port on the backside of the machine.
So far as colours are involved, early prototypes have been seen in three colours: yellow, pink and midnight, whereas documentation means that different colour choices initially developed for the iPhone 15 have been additionally used for testing at one level.
To sum up, although the iPhone 16 will not have notable modifications to its chassis, it’s going to have the next key updates:
- Vertical digicam association, probably much like iPhone 12
- New capacitive Seize Button
- Capacitive Motion Button
The knowledge introduced right here precisely portrays and describes early designs of the iPhone 16, however the existence of a number of {hardware} configurations means that Apple’s design plans haven’t but been finalized. The iPhone 16 continues to be removed from launch, and extra modifications are all the time doable.
For extra info on what to anticipate, take a look at our rumor roundup pages for iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Professional.