A major iPhone 16 design leak has revealed that Apple is continuing to test a brand-new camera bump, alongside a new Capture button.
Apple’s best iPhone models, the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro, are still barely out of the oven, but the rumor mill for this year’s launch is beginning to pick up pace ahead of an expected September launch of Apple’s next flagship.
To that end, MacRumors has shared revised designs of the new iPhone 16, following on from a substantial leak in December. Previously, the outlet revealed that Apple was testing three pre-production iPhone 16 designs but that it was leaning towards a more conservative change to the regular iPhone this year. Now, however, it seems Apple has tweaked its plans again, and the iPhone 16 is going to look much better as a result.
iPhone 16 design leaks
According to Wednesday’s report, “Apple's latest prototype features a vertical camera arrangement with a pill-shaped raised surface.” As shown in the mockups provided, Apple is looking to shift the iPhone 16’s camera layout to a vertical configuration, a change consistent in all three previously leaked prototypes.
MacRumors reports, "The pill-shaped camera bump features two separate camera rings for the Wide and Ultrawide cameras, adopting some of the stylistic cues from earlier prototype designs.” As the report notes, these designs have also been leaked on X by Majin Bu. The most obvious reason for the change seems to be spatial video. You can currently only record Spatial Video on iPhone 15 Pro (or Pro Max) because it requires the Main and Ultra Wide cameras to shoot simultaneously while in landscape orientation.
Beyond this revised camera layout, the latest design leak reaffirms the prospect of the Action button on iPhone 16, inherited from the iPhone 15 Pro lineup, and an all-new Capture button for shooting video. Interestingly, MacRumors reports that the Capture button may be pressure sensitive, such that it can be used to set focus quickly before you take your photo, much like a DSLR camera.
As the report notes, the current iPhone 16 prototypes remain pre-production models, so it’s possible that these designs could change again before they are finalized and revealed by Apple later this year.
