Unconfirmed reports about design changes coming in the iPhone 15 took concrete form as CAD drawings of Apple’s next handset supposedly leaked from a Chinese accessory maker.
These help confirm rumored features like USB-C and the somewhat curvier design.
iPhone 15 leaks take more concrete form
It’s not unusual for CAD drawing of future iPhones to leak out long before the product is scheduled to launch. These are often very accurate, like the one from March 2022 showing the new hole-and-pill design of the iPhone 14 Pro seven months early.
The iPhone 15 CAD model was given to 9to5Mac who asked designer Ian Zelbo to convert it into a render. The source is supposedly an unnamed “factory out of China that is seemingly the first to get these files.”
A tipster said months ago that we can expect rounded edges in place of the current square ones. The new images allegedly show that the change will be fairly modest. The sides of the handset won’t be curved — the edges will only be softer.
The camera hump is supposedly going to grow yet again. And the buttons are the unmoving, solid-state ones reportedly coming to the iPhone Pro and Pro Max.
A change that doesn’t stand out in the images made from the CAD model is the switch from a Lightning port to a USB-C one.
Many details don’t show up on CAD drawings like these. They are intended for accessory makers to produce cases that fit the upcoming handset and so don’t need specifications like screen resolution. And internal specs like processor and RAM won’t appear at all, of course.
Even though the launch of the iPhone 15 series is still months away, Apple has almost certainly finalized the design and the products are already in trial production. Full production won’t begin until summer, though. And the launch will likely be in September.