Apple's iPhone 16 Pro might borrow the iPhone 15's color-infused back glass

If everything goes the way that we have come to expect, Apple will announce the new iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro later this year and we've been hearing all kinds of things about what Apple has been working on. The leaks began around the same time that the iPhone 15 models were announced in September 2023 and we're still seeing new leaks now. The latest of those comes via a Weibo post that was spotted by the X leaker ShrimpApplePro.

According to that leak, Apple could be about to bring the iPhone 15's color-infused back glass to the iPhone 16 Pro models this year, although that is obviously not something that Apple has confirmed so far.

The color-infused back glass was something that Apple made a big deal out of last year and uses a custom dual ion exchange process for the glass construction that creates a finish that is matte while the glass does indeed look like the color is deep within it. It's an interesting finish and one that stands out in a way no other iPhone's back glass has done to date, especially around the camera module.

If Apple sticks to the expected plan the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max will all be announced this coming September before being made available to buy in the same month. The Apple Watch X and a refreshed Apple Watch Ultra are also expected to be announced at the same time.

Long before then, a new OLED iPad Pro and refreshed iPad Air are also expected to be announced as soon as early May. The iPad Pro tablets are set to get their first OLED displays while the superfast M3 chips are also likely to be made available for the first time in a tablet. Those chips already power the latest Macs, of course.

The iPad Air refresh will be notable because of the arrival of an all-new 12.9-inch version. Those tablets are expected to be powered by Apple's M2 chips, upgrading over the previous M1 chips that are used in the current iPad Air lineup.

Other announcements are expected this year with the WWDC event set to happen in June. That event will see Apple announce new software updates for the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Apple TV, and Apple Vision Pro. The software won't be made available immediately, however, with September the usual release window for these things.