Apple isn’t always first when it comes to introducing new smartphone features. The company is known for taking its time and getting things right rather than trying to be first to market. Just ask Samsung about the travesty that is the Galaxy Fold and you’ll understand why Apple is more than happy to do things well instead of just doing them quickly. When it comes to smartphone design, however, Apple has always been a trendsetter.
Most people likely don’t even remember what smartphones used to look like before the first iPhone debuted in 2007. Fast-forward a decade, and rival smartphone makers still scramble to copy Apple’s every move. 2018 was indeed a rough year for smartphone fans since just about every handset out there was nothing but a boring iPhone X copycat, but 2019 is going in a completely different direction. In fact, something quite interesting is happening this year: For the first time since companies like Samsung and others popularized the phablet form factor, Android companies are actually moving away from copying Apple and starting to come up with their own novel designs.
The upcoming iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Max, and iPhone 11R (if that’s what Apple ends up calling it) are shaping up to be nearly identical to their predecessors in terms of design. There will some refinements here and there, and we know that it’s going to put Android phones to shame when it comes to fit and finish. But overall, the iPhone 11 design we’ve seen leak time and time again is anything but exciting and new. Now, a new video has taken the information from all the leaks we’ve seen over the past few weeks and used it to show us what Apple’s next-generation flagship iPhone models will look like.
We still have more than four months to go before Apple announces its new iPhone 11 series smartphones, but the leaks have really picked up over the past month or so. Long story short, we now likely know just about everything there is to know about Apple’s iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Max design.
The image above shows what will likely end up being the iPhone 11’s only distinguishing feature as far as hardware design goes. The front of the iPhone 11 will look exactly like the front of the iPhone XS and the front of the iPhone X — an all-screen design interrupted by a large notch at the top of the screen. Around back, however, both the iPhone 11 and the iPhone 11 Max are expected to have a large square camera array consisting of three camera lenses and an LED flash. Only, it won’t actually end up looking like it does in the render above, because we recently learned that Apple has a pretty big change planned for the rear camera on its iPhone 11 series phones.
In the iPhone 11 Max render above, the phone itself is gold but the area around the cameras is black. Like other smartphone makers out there, this is the design Apple has always used on its iPhones. This year, however, word from the world’s most accurate Apple insider suggests that Apple has decided to color-match the iPhone 11’s rear camera so that it blends in with the rest of the back of the phone. Honestly, we’re not so sure how we feel about the change.
It looks pretty good in the render above, but this render uses some shading on the sapphire crystal to darken the glass. As a result, there’s still some contrast between the back of the phone and the camera array. The actual iPhone 11 models Apple releases later this year obviously won’t have any shading on the sapphire crystal, and now a new video created by graphic designer Gunho Lee shows us what Apple’s next-generation iPhones will look like with color-matched cameras.
We’ll obviously have to wait to pass a final judgement until we see the real iPhone 11 series phones Apple unveils this coming September. For the time being, however, we’re not so sure we like this change.
