A new leaked part said to be from the iPhone 16 corroborates existing rumors about vertically stacked cameras, which could facilitate shooting Spatial Video.
The iPhone 12 was the last model with vertical cameras
On Friday, known and questionable leaker Majin Bu posted pictures that they claimed to be the camera module of Apple's yet-to-be-announced iPhone 16.
This would appear to be the new camera module of the iPhone 16, as you can see the vertical positioning is confirmed pic.twitter.com/JWF5olGwQ4
-- Majin Bu (@MajinBuOfficial) February 16, 2024
While Majin Bu's track record isn't very good, this isn't the first time we've heard this rumor, either. In May 2023, another leak from more reliable leaker Unknownz21 suggested the same vertical layout.
In December, renders of the iPhone 16 showed similar vertical positioning. Apple reintroducing vertical cameras to standard iPhones is likely for Spatial Video capture.
With Spatial Video capture, users can capture 3D video that can be viewed on Apple Vision Pro. For now, it is limited to iPhone 15 Pro.
This rumor is ranked "possible" not because of the source, but because of a series of previous rumors leading to this point, all saying the same thing. Majin Bu has periodically gotten some things right which generally come from other sources first, but is very wrong more often than not.
The iPhone 12 family was the last iPhone to have a vertical camera.