Could iPhone 6s lose protruding camera after all?

iPhone 6s CAD render OnLeaks 003

The slightly protruding camera lens on the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus that Apple’s design tzar Jony Ive likened to “a really very pragmatic optimization” could become a thing of the past after next-generation iPhones arrive next month.

Monday, uSwitch published claimed CAD design renders for upcoming iPhones which were obtained from @OnLeaks. The drawings depict a little thicker next-generation ‘iPhone 6s’ than the current model, measuring 7.1mm thick versus the current iPhone 6 with a thickness of 6.9mm, without the protruding camera.

However, renderings of an ‘iPhone 6s Plus’ suggest the phone is 7.8mm thick with the camera protrusion versus the current iPhone 6 Plus that measures 7.1 mm deep. Unless erroneous, the discrepancy might hint that the protruding camera that featured on the iPhone 6 “could be missing from the iPhone 6s but will reappear on the iPhone 6s Plus,” notes the publication.

Again, the 0.5mm camera bulge is present on renderings of the 4.7-inch iPhone 6s, but is nowhere to be found on technical drawings depicting the 5.5-inch iPhone 6s Plus.

As mentioned before, the 7.8mm measurement of the iPhone 6s Plus takes into account the 0.5mm extra depth of the protruding camera.

There’s no such marked protrusion on the iPhone 6s renders as measurements for that device include the body of the phone and that alone. It’s totally possible that the iPhone 6s renders could simply be incomplete so take this speculation with a grain of salt.

Be that as it may, conventional wisdom has it that the slightly thicker body could be used not only for new features like Force Touch sensors, but also for outfitting the device with a back-facing camera flush with the handset’s body.

Here’s a video of suspected CAD renderings of the yet-to-be-announced device.

uSwitch claims the CAD renderings are based on Apple-provided designs that cherry-picked case makers receive in advance of next-generation iPhone releases.

A fully assembled ‘iPhone 6s’ display purportedly shown off in new photos gives  yet another indication of a 0.2mm thicker body which—again, theoretically—could help get rid of the protruding camera on the back.

Apple Patent tiny camera drawing 001

For what it’s worth, Apple was awarded a patent for a 2mm-long high-resolution camera, shown above, suitable for mobile devices like the iPhone and Apple Watch.

As for slightly thicker iPhones, note that the imperceptible 0.2mm change in depth is within Apple’s margin of error meaning the existing crop of iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus cases will accommodate the upcoming handsets perfectly.

Will the next iPhone lose the protruding camera, do you think?

Source: uSwitch