Leaked iPhone 16 dummy units show design changes for all four phones

iPhone 15 Pro Max
The iPhone 15 Pro Max (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)

We’re expecting quite a few design changes and new hardware features across the iPhone 16 line, and now we’re not limited to seeing these just in renders, as metal dummy units of the phones have also leaked.

Photos shared by Sonny Dickson on X (via 9to5Mac) show dummy units of all four expected phones – the iPhone 16, the iPhone 16 Plus, the iPhone 16 Pro, and the iPhone 16 Pro Max – from a variety of angles, highlighting key details.

Those details include a new Capture button for all four models. This is shown on the right edge, and based on previous leaks is expected to work as a shortcut to camera functions like recording videos and taking photos.

We can also see that all four dummy units have an Action button on the left edge. This customizable shortcut is already present on the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, but we’re expecting all four iPhone 16 models to have it.

The other big visual change here is to the cameras on the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus, which are shown with vertically aligned lenses rather than the diagonal layout of the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus. This change has been rumored for a while, and it’s speculated that the new arrangement will allow them to record spatial video for the Apple Vision Pro.

Beyond that, it looks like the iPhone 16 Pro is slightly larger than the iPhone 16, and that the iPhone 16 Pro Max is a little larger than the iPhone 16 Plus. That would be a change from the current models, but in line with leaks suggesting that the iPhone 16 Pro will grow to 6.3 inches (up from 6.1), and the iPhone 16 Pro Max will be 6.9 inches (up from 6.7).

Credible, but far from guaranteed

Given that all of these things have leaked extensively before there’s a good chance the details here are accurate, but as always we'll take them with a pinch of salt for now.

Dummy units are often used by case makers to ensure their cases fit the upcoming phones, so the details tend to be fairly accurate; however there’s no guarantee of that, especially as we don’t know the source of these leaked dummies.

We expect a much clearer picture of these phones to emerge over the coming months, as information is sure to keep leaking ahead of their launch, which will almost certainly happen in September.

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James Rogerson

James is a freelance phones, tablets and wearables writer and sub-editor at TechRadar. He has a love for everything ‘smart’, from watches to lights, and can often be found arguing with AI assistants or drowning in the latest apps. James also contributes to 3G.co.uk, 4G.co.uk and 5G.co.uk and has written for T3, Digital Camera World, Clarity Media and others, with work on the web, in print and on TV.