iPhone 15 leak suggests big design change for Apple's cheapest phone
A week after alleged CAD-based renders of the iPhone 15 Pro dropped, new renders show a possible 6.2-inch iPhone 15 with some important changes
➡️ The Shortcut Skinny: iPhone 15 CAD renders
📏 Alleged CAD-based renders show iPhone 15 with a bigger 6.2-inch screen
🏝️ iPhone 15 may get the Dynamic Island and lose the former camera notch
👍 The renders also show a USB-C port, thinner bezel and curved edge design
📱 Rumored 15 Pro features like solid-state buttons and 3 cameras stay “Pro”
🤷 Renders don’t show technical specs like USB-C speed, screen refresh rate, etc
The presumed September iPhone 15 Pro Max release date is 7 months away, and if leaked renders yesterday are real, we already have a pretty good idea what this year’s iPhone 15 lineup will look like. It’s been a week since we got our first look at an iPhone 15 Pro render alleged to have been crafted from CAD files acquired from an unnamed, reputable case manufacturer (courtesy of 9to5Mac), and late yesterday, it looks like it’s happened again, this time with the base model iPhone 15.
Again crafted by 3D artist Ian Zelbo, many of the updates to the iPhone 15 Pro design are on display in these new iPhone 15 base model renders, as seen at 9to5Mac. See the curved edges, the thinner bezel surrounding the screen and a USB-C port on the bottom. The iPhone 15 USB-C port would replace the proprietary lightning port found on all iPhones since the iPhone 5.
Interestingly, for the first time, Apple may have made the iPhone 15 screen size a little larger than the iPhone 15 Pro – 6.2 inches to the iPhone 15 Pro’s 6.1. That’s not the only thing that looks to have grown versus the iPhone 15 Pro – the camera lenses pictured, or at least the housing around them, look a little bigger than those of the Pro phone renders, as well.
iPhone 15 features: a little more ‘Pro’
It’s been rumored there will be a 48-megapixel sensor incorporated in the iPhone 15 camera array, like the current iPhone 14 Pro, for some time now. Today’s iPhone 15 renders, real or not, don’t confirm that, but the larger lenses indicate some change, at least.
A 48mp camera sensor isn’t the only previously-Pro-only feature that may come to the iPhone 15. Whispers that it would lose its notch and gain the same pill-shaped cutout as the iPhone 14 Pro series look more likely than ever, as these renders show just such a feature for the iPhone 15 base model.
iPhone 15 Pro features: better, faster, stronger
The iPhone 15 Pro design would, if the renders are real, still have some exclusivity. The images show three cameras instead of two and the lenses clearly jut out much farther than those on the claimed iPhone 15 renders, perhaps owing to the rumored periscope zoom lens that may lurk beneath. It looks like the iPhone 15 will use mechanical buttons according to 9to5Mac, whereas the alleged iPhone 15 Pro renders hold clues supporting solid-state volume and power buttons similar to the old home button shift that started with the iPhone 7.
We can’t suss out technical details like the speed of the iPhone 15 USB-C port (it’s rumored to be limited to USB 2.0 throughput, or the same as Lightning), nor can we discern anything about the iPhone 15 display’s composition or its refresh rate. The iPhone 15 Pro Max specs are rumored to get a huge brightness boost – will that come to the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus? No clue.
Yesterday, we reported the iPhone 15 Pro Max A17 chipset may be on a 3nm process, but I expect Apple will again use an older chip – probably the A16 – for the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus (again, these renders don’t clarify this).
We also don’t know about the materials of the frame – the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max are supposedly getting titanium instead of steel, but given the costlier nature of titanium, I’d be surprised if Apple used it over aluminum for its base model phones. We also haven’t seen concrete rumors about the iPhone 15 price or colors, though we have heard there may be an iPhone 15 subscription incoming.