This render’s from Olixar, and depicts their ExoShield Clear case
The iPhone 11 (iPhone XI?) won’t be released until September. However, we’ve heard theories about it since before the iPhone XS came out, and there have been leaked models, renderings, schematics, and more.
iPhone designs aren’t surprising anymore. The early cases from case makers have fit, the renders have matched, and, frankly, that’s because we only need small details about the next iPhone to know exactly what it will look like. Apple design is no longer innovative, it’s iterative. Take a look at this old post predicting what the iPhone XS and iPhone XR would look like. Identical.
So when we heard the new iPhone would have a square shaped camera cutout for three lenses and a circular mute switch like the iPad used to have (so cases won’t switch it as easily), we know exactly what it will look like.
It’s rather unfortunate, because I haven’t liked the design of the iPhone in many years.
That being said, let’s look at the predicted design for the iPhone 11, which is probably accurate.
Case Manufacturers
Case manufacturers aren’t always accurate. However, lately, they haven’t had to worry very much about making predictions early. So let’s take a look at a few cases.
Olixar is ready to go!
Ghostek is ready to go, too!
Raised corners might not look good, but it does offer more protection.
Hey, Apple’s saving them money! Now they can use one case for all the iPhones in the past three generations!
By now you get the point. Many case manufacturers have not only based their designs off leaks, they’ve also already gone into production. They want to be the first on the market so when iPhone early adopters go to buy their new iPhones, they’ll pair them with one of the cases they developed in advance. Before the iPhone 11 even comes out, you’ll be able to own a case for it.
Other Leaks
We also have schematics and renderings based on those schematics. We know that case manufacturers sometimes get these from Apple (or from someone within Apple) before the device is released. Ming Chi Kuo has spoken of this design. Sonny Dickson has. Ben Gaskin. Every major leaker or analyst has pointed to the same design for the next iPhone.
Yawn. The camera bump is huge, the arrangement of the cameras is unbalanced and off putting, and the same design we’ve had since the iPhone 6 is still present.
Again, yawn.
What if You’re Wrong?
You know what? Being wrong sucks. But do you know what’s worse? Being right about something lousy. Before he won the nomination, I told my friends that Donald Trump was going to be the next president of thew United States. They laughed. Him? I was right. An iPhone with a slippery design, uncomfortable (and fragile) glass back, and an ugly rear camera arrangement isn’t as bad as Trump, but it’s still not great.
For these case manufacturers, being wrong will be expensive. However, being right means getting ahead of everyone else, making large profits, and cornering the market. If the company can survive a mistake, they can usually make up for it during Apple’s next generation. Because, frankly, the iPhone just doesn’t change enough to be completely wrong about these predictions anymore.
I just hope that by the time our next president takes office, the iPhone at least looks a little different than it does now.
Sources/Photos:
- Killian Bell, Cult of Mac
- Roger Fingas, AppleInsider
- William Gallagher, AppleInsider
- Chaim Gartenberg, The Verge
- Gordon Kelly, Forbes, [2], [3]
- Benjamin Mayo, 9to5Mac
- Chris Smith, BGR