Updated March 10: Article was originally published on March 9.
It seems that Apple has decided on the design of the next iPhone. The latest leaked CAD files claim to show the final design decision. And there's a big win for another Apple product in the mix.
Posted by popular online guide Majin Bu, CAD plans The back of the iPhone 16 shows the new camera island arrangement for the upcoming iPhone 16 (and presumably iPhone 16 Plus). In a change from the previous diagonally arranged pair of lenses, the iPhone 16's cameras will be mounted vertically on top of each other. The flash appears to be located alongside the main and telephoto lenses.
One of the main benefits of this arrangement will be Apple's mixed reality headset. Apple Vision Pro can play stereoscopic videos. Apple has described its version of this as spatial video. The iPhone 16's vertical camera arrangements, when placed in the traditional landscape mode for video recording, will place the lenses next to each other like digital eyes.
This is an arrangement that the iPhone 15 Pro has, making these videos compatible with headphones, but it's not an option on the iPhone 15 or iPhone 15 Plus.
Update: Sunday, March 10: Following the iPhone 16 CAD drawings of the back of the phone, The team at 91mobiles CAD schematics of the larger iPhone 16 Pro model have been posted.
With the iPhone 15 Pro already supporting stereoscopic video recording thanks to the vertical alignment of the two camera lenses, the iPhone 16 Pro continues with the same camera island design as the previous model. One addition that can't be seen in the CAD diagram is a potential change to the telephoto camera, which is said to get the quad-prism telephoto lens that was previously exclusive to the iPhone 15 Pro Max. This should provide 5x optical magnification.
The CAD diagrams also support previously leaked details about the size of the iPhone 16 Pro; With a slight increase in all dimensions, the screen size should increase from 6.12 inches to 6.3 inches.
While the Apple Vision Pro remains an expensive luxury with an undefined purpose beyond “defining the blue ribbon product of Apple's future,” the company's loyal community expects the price of headphones to decline over the next few years and the devices to become more expensive. diffuse. When that happens, a new Apple Vision owner can have years of family memories and personal moments sitting in iCloud thanks to spatial video, all waiting to be played back in virtual space.
This is a powerful network effect that can sell future headphones.
Bu has only posted a CAD render of the iPhone 16's back panel, so many design cues are not fully visible, but their influence on the design can be seen. Around the edge of the design, various buttons can be seen to control parts of the device. The action button, which was introduced in the iPhone 15 Pro, can be seen above the two volume buttons.
A fourth button can be seen on the other side of the iPhone 16. Although this has not been confirmed, it is widely expected that Apple will add a second programmable button to the smartphone called the Capture button. There's been some discussion that this could be capacitive, but the CAD renders here suggest that Tim Cook and his team decided to use a physical capture button for this year's iPhone.
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