iPhone 16 CAD renders "confirm" radical camera redesign

As we reported last month, the iPhone 16 is expected to have a revised camera layout that's very similar to the vertical design we saw in the iPhone X. And now a new set of CAD images add more weight to the rumours. The credible-looking CAD images appear to confirm the design change.

As with previous renders, the new leak comes via tipster Majin Bu on X. The most significant part of the design is the new capture button, which is on the right hand edge if you hold the phone facing you in portrait mode; flip your phone into landscape mode for shooting with the camera bump at the top and the button is on top of your iPhone 16 for effortless control. Buttons aren't usually something to get excited about but a physical shutter button makes shooting much easier.

That's not the only new button. There's also the Action button we've already seen on the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, which sits just above the volume controls. That's programmable so that you can launch your favourite app, or in my case so you can forget it's there and continue to launch your favourite app via the touchscreen.

iPhone 16 changes: what the renders don't show

There are some things the renders and CAD images don't tell us. For example, while we can clearly see the capture button it's unclear how that will work; it's possible that the button may be pressure sensitive, and if so that could mean easy focus or zoom adjustment without having to take your hands off the case. 

We also don't know yet whether the new button will be mechanical or solid state. Apple was rumoured to be switching to more durable, more water resistant solid state buttons for the iPhone 15 but that didn't happen; while reports have since suggested that the move will happen with the iPhone 16 in 2024 there have apparently been production problems that mean it might not happen in this iPhone generation either. 

And it's unclear whether the revised camera layout is partly to enable iPhone 16 users to shoot Spatial Video, which is currently reserved for the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max. It seems likely – the revised layout means the iPhone 16 lenses mimic the vertical section of the Pro and Pro Max's camera bump – but CAD images can only show us where components go, not what those components will actually do.