Alleged iPhone XI Leak Corroborates ‘Ugly’ Camera Bump Design

A new leak is seemingly corroborating previous rumors that Apple is going to go with a square camera bump for its triple-lens iPhone this year.

The leak itself is allegedly a manufacturing schematic which was posted to Slashleaks on Thursday. While the image itself doesn’t indicate which device it may be, the leaker identified the handset as an “iPhone XI.” At this point, there’s no way to independently confirm the schematic’s authenticity.

The device itself appears to be fairly consistent, at least when it comes to the dimensions, with current and recent iPhones.

It’s important to note that the schematic only depicts the metal chassis of the device, so we don’t get many clues about its actual appearance. But we do get one clue — and not everyone is going to like it.

The alleged schematic appears to show off a square camera cutout design with three circular holes for a triple-lens system. Although we can only see the metal chassis, the cutouts appear extremely similar to a past rumored design.

Back in January, OnLeaks’ Steve Hemmerstoffer posted alleged CAD renderings of a triple-lens iPhone. Those renders were met with a bit of controversy — and it only takes one look at them to figure out why.

To put it plainly, the rumored camera bump is just plain ugly. It’s objectively clunky, takes up way too much space, and it seems distinctly out of character for a company that prides itself on clean design and attention to detail.

In other words, the off-centered and obtrusive camera bump is certainly not everyone’s favorite. Luckily, there are some alternative designs floating around the blogosphere that are a lot more aesthetically pleasing.

And yet, Hemmerstoffer is already claiming that the manufacturing schematics released this week only corroborate the alleged design that he leaked earlier this year.

Of course, no matter which form it takes, a triple-lens camera setup will offer a number of advantages for iPhone users.

For one, it could boost augmented reality capabilities through the use of depth-mapping technology (something that’s reserved for the front-facing camera in current iPhones). More than that, a triple-lens system could offer overall better picture quality and other unique photography features.

According to a past Bloomberg report, for example, Apple is developing a computational photography feature that could leverage the triple-camera setup to add in a subject who “may have accidentally been cut off from the initial shot.”

Apple is widely expected to introduce at least one iPhone with a triple-lens camera setup this year. At this point, it’s not clear if the triple-lens camera will be reserved for an iPhone XS Max successor. But past reports suggest that the iPhone XS and iPhone XR successors will retain a dual-lens camera setup.

[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]