New iPhone 15 Pro leak reveals curved edges, imposing cameras
Subtle curves in the glass and back show a mild, yet significant redesign for 2023
➡️ The Shortcut Skinny: iPhone 15 Pro renders
📱 Renders prepared from case manufacturer CAD files show iPhone 15 Pro
⤵️ Images show the glass screen curving around the edge
📏 The screen bezel shrinks, as does the phone, but screen size likely unchanged
📸 Camera bumps seem significantly bigger
🔌 iPhone 15 USB-C looks to be probable in image of the bottom
⚡️ iPhone 15 Pro buttons look likely capacitive, recalling iPhone 7 home button
Several months ahead of the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max release date, new iPhone 15 Pro leaks show a revealing first look at what the newest Apple flagship may look like, as seen at 9to5Mac – and it’s a doozie.
Several rumored design changes look to be confirmed in this batch of leaked renders, including softer, curved edges and a USB-C port. The images came courtesy of Ian Zelbo, a 3D artist who worked from a CAD model given to the publication by an unnamed case manufacturer. As 9to5Mac notes, CAD files are relied upon by phone case makers to prepare for production, which lends more legitimacy to the images you see here.
iPhone 15 Pro dimensions: slim bezel, smaller body
The iPhone 15 Pro may have shrunk a bit while keeping the same screen size. 9to5Mac notes a few millimeters smaller difference in the chassis compared to the iPhone 14 Pro models, but thinner bezels, seen in the above comparison with last year’s iPhone, will probably mean it keeps its 6.1-inch size. Also noted is the glass screen wrapping around the body just a smidge, similar to what you’d see in our Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra review.
iPhone 15 USB-C: its time has come (allegedly)
We’ve been expecting an iPhone 15 USB-C port ever since the EU mandated it be done, though Apple doesn’t technically have to apply the change for the iPhone 15. Assuming the renders are real, it looks like we’re getting USB-C on the iPhone 15, after all, and it couldn’t come too soon. The rumor mill has made it seem all but a foregone conclusion, which is never good to assume before seeing a final product, but recent iPhone 15 leaks like this one have made it that much more probable.
iPhone 15 Pro camera: a lumpy proposition
If you find the iPhone 14 Pro’s floppiness when it lays on its back distasteful, I’m afraid I have potential bad news. The camera bump, if these renders are accurate, is mountainous, as you can see in the above comparison posted to Zelbo’s Twitter account. The lenses have been peeking out of their housing for the last few generations, and now they don’t just peek – they ogle like a Warner Bros. cartoon wolf.
iPhone 15 Pro design leak: solid state buttons
As 9to5Mac speculates, the cutouts in the sides don’t look like they’ll hold mechanical buttons. Instead, we see only holes where screws might go. Typically, buttons sit on a thin bracket that’s screwed into the frame from the inside.
If the CAD files they worked from are real, Apple may indeed relegate the volume and power buttons to the same fate as the iPhone 7’s home button, as has been rumored for some time. On that phone, Apple replaced the home button with a capacitive surface to register presses and a taptic engine beneath to generate a small vibration that simulates the feel of a click. It was a convincing trick, though it was unnerving to press when the phone was off, only to feel nothing, just like I do on the inside.
One last detail I’m curious about is the single channel where the individual volume buttons are on current iPhones. It almost looks like the iPhone 15 Pro will get a single, long volume rocker instead of separate buttons – then again, the 9th generation iPad has separate buttons nestled in a long channel also, so perhaps that’s what’s being done here.