iPhone 16 may have just appeared on video — but I have my doubts

The iPhone 16 launch event isn’t supposed to happen for another week and a half, but it seems the phone has just appeared out in the real world — and captured on video. All thanks to leaker Majin Bu , who posted a video of what they claim to be an iPhone 16 in the rain over on X.

The video features a black iPhone, complete with a pair of vertically aligned cameras and a matte black finish. There also appears to be an Action button above the volume buttons and a larger button on the opposite side of the phone below the power button — which is presumably the rumored Capture button .

However we only ever see the phone from behind, with some glimpses of the side. There’s no footage of the phone from the front, and it seems the person in the video is deliberately ensuring that the front screen isn’t visible. Why they might be doing that isn’t clear, and that has me concerned about the authenticity of this device.

We never see the front of the phone, so we can’t be completely sure that this device is a real iPhone 16 — or if it’s some sort of dummy unit. Plenty of dummy units have leaked already, and it wouldn’t surprise me if the final mockups had details like realistic-looking camera lenses. Plus, if you had an actual iPhone 16 less less than two weeks before it was officially announced, you’d probably offer up a little more than a 15-second glimpse at the back of the phone.

A leak of this caliber would be a big deal, considering Apple is known for trying to keep a tight lid on things. Unreleased iPhones have only appeared in the wild a handful of times in the past, and the aftermath rarely went down well for the people involved . It’s not the kind of thing you flaunt so openly, and being coy about the unit in question isn’t likely to be much help.

Or maybe we’ll be seeing more of this device in the coming days, and the person behind the camera just wanted to make sure they didn’t give too much away — or risk setting off Face ID and unlocking the screen.

We may never know the truth, and we’ll just have to wait and see how this plays out. Odds are we won’t be seeing any better looks at the iPhone 16 before the Glowtime event on September 9 . You can stay up to date on what we expect to see on the day in our Apple event page, or keep up to date with all the latest news and rumors in our iPhone 16 hub.

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