New iPhone 13 3D renders show a new notch layout but a familiar iPhone 12 design

Iphone 13 3d Render
Iphone 13 3d Render (Image credit: MySmartPrice)

What you need to know

  • New supposed iPhone 13 3D renders show a largely unchanged design from last year.
  • The notch does seem to have had a makeover, as does the rear camera area.

Apple is expected to announce the iPhone 13 lineup later this year with newly released 3D renders supposedly showing the iPhone 13 model in particular. Overall, not much appears to have changed. But that doesn't mean there isn't anything of note here.

Shared by the oft-reliable MySmartPrice, the 3D renders appear to show a device that's very similar to the iPhone 12 that it will replace in Apple's lineup. The size appears to be the same, for example, but there are differences around the front of the device. Specifically, in the notch area.

Rumors of a smaller notch have been rampant in recent weeks and it seems things have had a rejig if these renders are to be believed.

Form MySmartPrice:

The big surprise here is that there are three cutouts for the cameras on the front. Now, that's technically the same as current iPhones, which have a cut-out each for the dot-projector (for FaceID operations), an Infrared camera and the main front camera. Having said that, the usual placement is two cutouts on the left of the notch, with the earpiece in the middle, and another cutout for the camera on the right of the notch. In this one though, the three cutouts are placed right next to each other, which makes you wonder why Apple would pick such a design unless it wanted to put two cameras on the front this year. The earpiece is placed above these three camera cutouts.

The overall layout of the cameras around the back also seems to have been changed, although it isn't thought that the hardware will see significant improvements. Quite why Apple is changing the layout isn't clear, however.

Iphone 13 3d Render Rear

Iphone 13 3d Render Rear (Image credit: MySmartPrice)

MySmartPrice once more:

The rear cameras have also been placed diagonally this time, but it doesn't seem like Apple will change the overall specs. We still have four cutouts there, two on either corner of the module for the cameras, and two more for the flash and a noise-cancelling microphone.

If all goes according to plan I expect Apple to announce its iPhone 13 lineup towards the end of September. Until then, iPhone 12 Pro is still the best iPhone money can buy.

Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.