An alleged iPhone 15 Pro mold has been posted to Twitter (via ShrimpApplePro and user 老爆科技 on Weibo), giving us an interesting look at some of the phone's design features months in advance of launch.
The mold is made from an attractive-looking metallic blue metal, which is a shame since SAP says this isn't an actual color option for the phone. We can also set aside the oddly prominent slots for the MagSafe magnets on the back, as this is presumably a design aid for manufacturers and not indicative of a bold new design direction for the back of the iPhone 15 series.
The video shows normal-looking volume buttons look normal, as well as a typical power button on the opposite edge. We had heard rumors of the new pro iPhones getting a single solid-state volume "rocker" that wouldn't move, and instead give haptic feedback to the user when changing the volume. This now looks like it'll be an iPhone 16 Pro upgrade instead, so it's not surprising to see the familiar trio of buttons on this mold.
Above the volume buttons in this mold there appears to be a separate button that could be the Action button we've heard about that could replace the mute switch. It would be used to mute the iPhone but also perform various shortcuts. We've also heard that this button could be customizable.
In some good news for the phone's design, the camera block looks no larger than the one on the iPhone 14 Pro. We're not expecting any big changes to the photography abilities of the iPhone 15 Pro, unlike last year where Apple introduced its first 48MP main camera. The iPhone 15 Pro Max could be getting an upgrade all to itself though, as multiple sources are claiming it'll receive a 6x telephoto camera.
iPhone 15 Pro’s aluminum mold. Source: Weibo. pic.twitter.com/kQWc1j4mr5May 10, 2023
On the bottom edge, the port looks too narrow to be a USB-C one, although we expect this is another quirk of the mold's design. Apple seems all but guaranteed to ditch Lightning ports for the more common connector this year, although the Pro models' USB-C could offer superior data and power transfer speeds compared to the standard models.
The front of the mold has some text on it, which seems to suggest this is a 6.1-inch iPhone 15 Pro, and also that the phone measures precisely 146.62 x 70.64 x 8.25 millimeters. Converting this, we get roughly 5.77 x 2.78 x 0.32 inches, which suggests the iPhone 15 Pro will be a little shorter and thinner, but also a bit thicker, than the 5.8 x 2.8 x 0.3-inch iPhone 14 Pro.
The front also features a slight curve, although it's very hard to notice. If you look at the edge of the phone around the display, you can see a slight bevel to it. This could be what's helping Apple make the bezels around the phone even smaller, as other rumors have claimed.
With Apple's usual timings, we should see the iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max appear in September this year. But we'll get an idea of some of its new features this June, as the new iOS 17 software that will appear on the new iPhones should see its debut at WWDC 2023.
