Details of an iPhone 16 prototype have been shared with MacRumors, giving an early look at the possible design of next year's iPhone.

The basic iPhone 16 model (apparently known within Apple as the "DeLorean") has had three main designs during pre-production so far. While none of them may actually reflect the final phone version, they should still give us a pretty good idea of the actual phone design.

The most obvious change we notice from the iPhone 15 is the vertically aligned rear camera, similar to the iPhone 12 and iPhone 11, rather than the basic iPhone of the past three generations. It is speculated that this is so that Apple can shoot Spatial Video, currently exclusive to the iPhone 15 Pro, on the iPhone 16. This format appears to require the iPhone's main camera and ultra-wide camera to be aligned horizontally when recording, something that is not possible with the current diagonal camera layout of non-Apple Pro iPhones.

The earliest competing design (the yellow model in these images), with the two cameras in a single rectangular glass enclosure, would look quite different from the current iPhone lineup. However, two more recent prototypes show the familiar camera layout of two independent lenses on a rounded square camera block, which is apparently Apple's current preferred look.

The earliest prototypes also show that not only the rear camera has been redesigned, but also the side buttons; instead of two standard volume buttons, this has two large buttons with adjacent flat edges.

All prototypes shown here appear to switch the mute switch to the iPhone 15 Pro action button, but this time it appears to be a capacitive button instead of a physical button. Capacitive buttons were a feature that was rumored to be on the iPhone 15, but was discontinued before production began.

The black design represents the latest revision and includes the iPhone 16's capture button, which has been frequently rumored recently. Adding this would mean moving the mmWave 5G antenna to the other side of the phone, the darker part of the side rail that can be seen in the MacRumors renderings. We still don't know what the capture button does, but it is said to have tactile feedback, which strengthens our suspicion that it will be used primarily as a shutter button for taking impromptu photos and videos.

The design of these prototypes shows no changes to the front of the phone, which features the same dynamic island notch seen on the iPhone 15 series and, like the current iPhone, a flat screen with slightly curved edges is likely to be used.

Several rumored iPhone 16 features have already been discussed by leaked sources, including a new microphone for improved Siri interaction and a 5x telephoto zoom for both Pro models as well as the Pro Max model. Whether these are accurate leaks or not, and which of these newly discovered designs will be commercialized, will be known when the iPhone 16 series is launched.