iPhone 16 Pro camera ring leak appears to confirm 'Desert Titanium' color rumor

iPhone 15 Pro lineup on pink background
The iPhone 15 Pro (Image credit: Future / Apple)

We thought we had a good idea of the colors that the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max will land in, but recently we heard that the iPhone 16 Pro colors might include a brown shade rather than the previously rumored rose one. Now, further evidence for this new color has emerged, though it could be more aesthetically pleasing than initially believed.

Posting on X (via 9to5Mac), leaker Majin Bu has shared an image of what appears to be a colored camera lens ring for the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max. The ring is shown in four different colors, including silver, black, gray, and what appears to be a dark gold or bronze.

That said, Bu mentions a white option rather than a silver one, so it’s not clear whether we’ll see a white iPhone 16 Pro with a silver camera lens housing, or whether their interpretation of the color just differs from ours.

In any case, we’ve heard talk of a white or silver shade, a black shade, and a gray shade (possibly set to be called Natural Titanium) previously, so this is just more evidence that we’ll see those colors. And those colors aren’t overly exciting – not least because versions of them are already available for the iPhone 15 Pro line.

The interesting bit is the dark gold or bronze, which could replace the iPhone 15 Pro’s Blue Titanium shade, and which Bu calls ‘Desert Titanium’. They describe the new shade as “kind of dark gold, similar to the old purple color, relatively discreet and deep.”

This, then, sounds a little like the recently leaked brown shade, but while many dismissed that as boring, if this ends up being more of a dark gold it could prove more appealing.

Gold or rose?

The big question now is whether some version of this brown, bronze, or dark gold shade is coming, or whether we’ll instead see the previously leaked rose option. It’s unlikely that both will land, since Apple usually only offers four shades on its Pro phones.

Credible leaks have pointed to both, but oddly one of the leakers who pointed to a rose iPhone 16 Pro shade included an example image that looked more bronze or gold anyway. So – especially since the claims of a bronze or gold color are more recent – we’re inclined to say that’s more likely than a rose iPhone 16 Pro. 

Either way, though, it sadly looks very unlikely that the iPhone 15 Pro's blue shade will be making a return.

We should find out for sure what colors we'll get soon, as the iPhone 16 Pro release date is likely to be in the first half of September.

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James is a freelance phones, tablets and wearables writer and sub-editor at TechRadar. He has a love for everything ‘smart’, from watches to lights, and can often be found arguing with AI assistants or drowning in the latest apps. James also contributes to 3G.co.uk, 4G.co.uk and 5G.co.uk and has written for T3, Digital Camera World, Clarity Media and others, with work on the web, in print and on TV.

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