No camera module, no notch, and a design that feels like the spiritual successor to the iPhone 4 which would complete its 11th year anniversary on the day. That’s what the upcoming iPhone 14 will look like, proclaims YouTuber and Apple’s worst nightmare Jon Prosser.
Amidst the chaos of the September 14th invite to Apple‘s launch for the iPhone 13, Prosser decided to drop a pretty big bombshell. His leak, he reiterates, isn’t of the iPhone 13… but rather, of the iPhone 14, which isn’t due till 2022. Prosser says he’s been in touch with supply chain workers who have shared images of the new phone with him and has then used those images to create renders that fully do justice to the design. The design in question, celebrates the 10th anniversary of the popular iPhone 4, with a similar flat-edge design, a flat camera module underneath a glass back, and a metal rim running along the sides. A noteworthy upgrade, however, is the presence of 3 rear camera lenses, and the disappearance of the divisive notch, which has plagued the iPhone’s design for nearly 5 years if you count the notched iPhone 13 that drops next week.
Prosser teamed up with long-time collaborator RendersByIan to help visualize the phone. Look past that incredibly tongue-in-cheek Twitter screenshot of Prosser being blocked by Apple Executive Phil Schiller, and you’ll see a design that seems new yet familiar. Apple’s cultivated a reputation of incremental progress and upgrades (with a few absolute refreshes every decade or so), and the iPhone 14 is no different. It looks remarkably like the iPhone 4, with how flush the cameras sit on the back, the circular buttons against the metal rim on the side, and a silhouette that is just as bit iconic as it was back in 2011.
Flip the phone over on its front and you’ll notice perhaps its biggest visual change yet. The screen on the front does away with the infamous notch, finally adopting the hole-punch camera design that’s been around on Android phones for a while now. The disappearance of the notch was even briefly foreshadowed on an episode of Ted Lasso where fans managed to catch a fleeting glimpse of a smartphone with a hole-punch camera. Now, this could easily be Apple just trying to elaborately fool us, but the most logical solution is that the company’s finally come up with a replacement for FaceID and therefore doesn’t need that massive unibrow on the top of the phone. Some speculate an in-screen fingerprint while others say the fingerprint scanner could be merged within the power button.
Prosser’s video also deep-dives into possible color options and materials, which feels a little speculative at this point but it’s literally the only information we’ve got. He claims the images he saw were of the iPhone 14 Pro Max, so it isn’t immediately clear which other variants Apple aims at releasing and if there’s an iPhone 14 Mini too. Prosser also speculates that the phone will finally do away with the aluminum chassis and offer a new titanium variant which sounds incredibly interesting. The removal of the camera bump ties in with yet another online rumor from Ming-Chi Kuo that the iPhone 14 will be portless, which would mean the smartphone would need to rely solely on wireless communication and wireless charging, putting the phone’s MagSafe feature front and center. A flatter back panel (sans the camera bump) would go a great distance in helping the phone rest on flat chargers and wireless communication devices too. However, it’s too soon to really get into the details of a smartphone that isn’t due for approximately another 13 months. That being said, all we can really hope and pray for is that we get past the massive chip shortage we’re currently facing, so the next iPhone launch is nothing but smooth sailing!
Image Credits: Jon Prosser and Ian Zelbo (FRONT PAGE TECH)
