New iPhone 16 case leak hints at big changes to come

Apple announced the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro in September of last year and now we expect it to announce their replacements in September of this year. There are likely to be four new iPhones when they are all announced and we've been hearing various leaks here and there ever since the iPhone 15 launched. Now, we've been treated with a new leak that shows some of the features that we've been told to expect from this year's iPhone refresh.

The leak comes in the form of a post on the X social network, with leaker Majin Bu sharing three different CAD renders of what appears to be cases for the new phones.

The cases show one of what is sure to be the biggest addition to the new iPhones in the form of the Capture button, as has been rumored for months. It's going to come in the form of a new button that will reportedly be used as part of the camera setup, allowing people to more quickly and easily capture photos and videos, hence the name. The button is also expected to have pressure sensitivity which means that it will allow people to perhaps press slightly to focus and then press further to take the shot.

The new button will be below the power button on the right side of the phone as previously discussed and shown in these leaked cases, replacing the mmWave antenna that you will find on current iPhones in the United States.

Another addition is the altered camera layout of the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus. The cases show a vertical camera layout that will see two cameras appear side by side when the iPhone is in landscape orientation. That will allow the new iPhones to capture spatial video, something that is currently only possible on the iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and the Apple Vision Pro. That final device is the only way that people will be able to watch spatial videos as is the case today, so we can't expect that to change. But buyers of the new iPhones will at least not have to buy a new Pro model to be able to capture spatial videos.

The new iPhones are all expected to be announced in the first parts of September before going on sale around 10 days later. That'll likely happen alongside the rumored Apple Watch X and a refreshed Apple Watch Ultra.