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When I first saw Apple announcing the iPhone 14 Pro, I clearly remember having two thoughts: first, “Wow, this Dynamic Island looks stunning” and then, “Wait, that’s the only design change? What are they going to do next? 14 Pro, It seems to mark the longest Apple has committed to a design style, the camera layout has remained the same for 3 years, the straight-edge design and lack of a home button has been around since 2017, a full 10 years since the Lightning Port was introduced on the iPhone. Passed.
Concept designer Antonio De Rosa pulled together all the rumors available on the interwebz (with a few creative tweaks of his own) to reveal what could possibly be the most radical change to the iPhone in the last 5 years. The iPhone 15 Pro Max retains the straight edges (although they look more rounded than before), but it’s a big change in almost every other area you look at. This incredibly enticing concept includes a larger Dynamic Island on the front, independently floating rocker-style volume buttons to mute your phone, a Thunderbolt 4 port at the base (instead of lightning), and a new absolutely unrecognizable back cover. camera layout + branding. If all that greatness is somehow not enough for you, it even has an M1 chip inside, which means it’s the first time an iPhone will get Apple’s M-series chips.
Designer: Antonio De Rosa
The first thing you notice with the iPhone 15 Pro Max is a camera bump with 2 large cameras instead of 3 smaller ones. This is mainly because one of these cameras now has a variable aperture, while the other rumoredly includes a Periscope Lens. The now rectangular camera bump includes a better flash, called the Pro Flash Duo, and a special depth microphone that can illuminate certain areas and record the sound of exactly what’s in the camera frame.
The entire back of the new iPhone 15 Pro Max is also noticeably different. The new layout of the camera bump affects the entire composition of the rear, requiring a newly designed marking system. That’s why the 15 Pro discards the central Apple logo and opts for the word ‘iPhone’ instead. However, the Apple logo places it in the lower right corner, creating a look of balance while almost mimicking a playing card in its design.
The biggest change in the iPhone 15 Pro Max is the new camera system. While the 14 Pro does nothing more than introduce an Action Mode with a larger sensor and stabilized video, the 15 Pro returns to the drawing board with a completely redesigned layout. Now that it almost looks like something from the Android universe (with a distinct flavor of OnePlus and Vivo here), the 15 Pro has a larger camera with variable aperture and a camera with a periscope lens underneath. The variable aperture camera is fascinating – it was just tried by Samsung, but stopped almost immediately… However, if anyone can make it, it’s probably Apple. The variable aperture works almost like an eye, increasing in low light settings allowing the camera to capture more light information and creating more natural bokeh, and shuts down at brighter settings for incredibly sharp images with greater depth of field. The Periscope Lens just below manages the telephoto using a unique lens setup that mimics a much longer lens to achieve better optical zoom.
Perhaps the most anticipated change to the iPhone 15 Pro is the death of the lightning port. Thanks to EU legislation, the iPhone 15 Pro is expected to have USB-C instead, but the company will likely outdo itself by going straight to Thunderbolt 4. The smartphone will continue to use MagSafe and wireless charging, as Apple probably hopes to switch to a portless iPhone in the near future.
The concept also brings the M1 chip to the iPhone – a feature that seems like a distant reality but still fun to imagine. However, it shares a few features with its predecessor, including a Dynamic Island (now bigger and better), an improved SOS feature, an Always-On display, and a SIM-free build.
Apple is expected to unveil the iPhone 15 series as early as September 2023, but there’s no word on what the lack of supply chain will mean for the company’s ability to deliver its next best iPhone on time. Apple is also rumored to be announcing a wearable VR/AR towards the end of the year!
