Apple will reportedly introduce two new finishes to the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max later this year, according to a rumor floating around the Chinese micro-blogging website Weibo. However, the company is said to bring a small change to the glass assembly process, with one tipster referring to it as a ‘dual ion exchange’ process. Here, we discuss how different this process will be and if Apple has used it before in any previously released iPhones.
The dual ion exchange process has previously been used on Apple’s iPhone 15 – iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max design to get a small upgrade since they use titanium
We have reported previously that instead of the Blue Titanium and Natural Titanium options, the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max will eventually be available to purchase in ‘Space Black’ and ‘Rose.’ ShrimpApplePro, who spotted the Weibo post, had disclosed the four finishes of the upcoming flagships but did not provide information on the dual ion exchange process. However, it is not a new technique that Apple will employ on its upcoming handsets because the infused back glass process was previously adopted for the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus. For those who do not know, this approach gives off a frost-like effect.
However, Apple is going to one-up the design on this occasion because the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus did not share a titanium finish. The upcoming iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max will not only share a polished titanium chassis, but that back glass infusion should make both flagships more attractive aesthetically than their direct predecessors. Since the entire iPhone 16 family is reported to be lackluster when it comes to compelling upgrades, Apple could use a slight design change to attract potential buyers.
According to the post, the vanilla iPhone 16 will come in 4 new colors:
Space Black
Grey (gray?)
White and
Rose, not sure how pink the rose is tho.
The back glass will share the same manufacturing process which is color-infused glass with matte texture back. pic.twitter.com/UvD3N00qyG— ShrimpApplePro 🍤 (@VNchocoTaco) April 3, 2024
By using ‘Border Reduction Structure’ technology, Apple could also reduce the bezel size on these models. Unfortunately, there is so much information that we have yet to stumble upon, and with the official launch still months away, we want our readers to treat this information with a pinch of salt until we have some concrete evidence on our hands.
News Source: Weibo