iPhone Ultra may have the most bizarre selfie cameras

Earlier leaks have shown the internal display of the iPhone Ultra with the selfie camera placed on the top-left side of the phone. If those are accurate, the selfie cameras could end up in the same corner of the phone.

Not the only unusual design trait

The leaked screen protector also shows clearly the unusual shape of the iPhone Ultra. The device may have square corners on one side and round corners on the other, adding to the unusual asymmetry of the front-facing cameras.

However, it’s very likely that the accessory manufacturers are wrong with their designs. Their products are typically based on leaked CAD files that are very often inaccurate, so they can’t be taken as a definite source of information.

The same leaked dummies that showed the inner camera in the left corner of the display, had the external front camera in the middle of the screen. Such an approach would be much more in line with what we’ve seen on other foldables smartphones.

Samsung’s latest Galaxy Z Fold 8, which is probably the main iPhone Ultra competitor, has the outer camera in the middle of the display. The inner selfie shooter is in the middle of the right-hand half of the unfolded phone, which is also how the Z Fold 8 Ultra handles things. 

On the other hand, devices like the Pixel 11 Pro Fold, Oppo Find N6, and Huawei Mate X7 all have their internal selfie cameras in the top-right corner. Still, in all of these cases, the external selfie shooter is in the middle of the display and not on the side.

Both options would make sense

If Apple chooses to put the outer selfie camera in the middle of the display, the iPhone Ultra will feel and look like every other iPhone and basically every mainstream smartphone on the market. However, putting the camera in the corner could be beneficial for the internal design of the phone.

If both cameras are in the same corner of the phone, but put at a slight offset, their modules could take up space in only one part of the 4.5 mm thick chassis. This could be Apple’s clever way to save some internal space by putting the two cameras in separate positions.

Such extra space could be used for other components or to add a battery that’s a bit larger than it would’ve been with the spaced-out camera design. Rumor already has it that the iPhone Ultra will have the largest battery of any Apple phone.

Let’s hope this is not true

As much as I would appreciate the product design ingenuity of using the same space for the two selfie cameras, I’d much rather have them in the middle. We’re so used to the camera being in the middle that I’m sure having it anywhere else will lead to a lot of selfies where nobody’s looking into the camera. That’s not the end of the world, but I’d prefer to be spared from the awkwardness of explaining where the camera is.