First Alleged iPhone 16 Pro Component Leak Reveals Redesigned Battery

Images purporting to depict a new battery designed for the iPhone 16 Pro today leaked online, showing a new metal casing and a slightly larger capacity.

iPhone 16 Side Feature
The images come from the leaker known as "Kosutami," who has disseminated accurate information about Apple's plans in the past. If authentic, the images are the first to be shared of the ‌iPhone 16‌'s components.

The battery is said to be designed for an early stage ‌iPhone 16‌ Pro prototype with a 3,355 mAh capacity. The iPhone 15 Pro contains a 3,274 mAh battery, meaning that prototype ‌iPhone 16‌ Pro models currently feature a battery that is just 2.5% larger. The new battery also features a redesigned connector.

The most significant change is the transition from a black foil casing, the likes of which have been used on every ‌iPhone‌ model thus far, to a frosted metal shell. This change improves the thermal efficiency of the battery, with no significant impact on the component's weight. The Apple Watch used to feature batteries with black foil casing, but starting with the 40mm Apple Watch Series 7, Apple began adopting metal shells for improved thermals.

apple watch 40mm battery change ifixitThe new and old Apple Watch battery designs (via iFixit).

The early component images appear to confirm information shared last week that said Apple plans to introduce a new thermal system on the ‌iPhone 16‌ to reduce overheating. In addition to batteries with metal shells on the ‌iPhone 16‌ Pro models, the entire ‌iPhone 16‌ lineup is rumored to feature a graphene heat-sink to reduce overheating. Graphene has high thermal conductivity, surpassing that of copper, which is currently used in ‌iPhone‌ heat-sinks. Apple has been interested in graphene for thermal management for some time, filing patents related to its exploration of the material for heat dissipation in portable devices.

The moves appear to come partly in response to widely encountered overheating issues experienced with the ‌iPhone‌ 15 Pro, which Apple ostensibly addressed through a software update earlier this year.

Related Roundup: iPhone 16
Related Forum: iPhone

Popular Stories

iOS 26

iOS 26.2 Coming Soon With These 8 New Features on Your iPhone

Thursday December 11, 2025 8:49 am PST by
Apple seeded the second iOS 26.2 Release Candidate to developers earlier this week, meaning the update will be released to the general public very soon. Apple confirmed iOS 26.2 would be released in December, but it did not provide a specific date. We expect the update to be released by early next week. iOS 26.2 includes a handful of new features and changes on the iPhone, such as a new...
Google maps feaure

Google Maps Quietly Added This Long-Overdue Feature for Drivers

Wednesday December 10, 2025 2:52 am PST by
Google Maps on iOS quietly gained a new feature recently that automatically recognizes where you've parked your vehicle and saves the location for you. Announced on LinkedIn by Rio Akasaka, Google Maps' senior product manager, the new feature auto-detects your parked location even if you don't use the parking pin function, saves it for up to 48 hours, and then automatically removes it once...
AirPods Pro Firmware Feature

Apple Releases New Firmware for AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods Pro 3

Thursday December 11, 2025 11:28 am PST by
Apple today released new firmware designed for the AirPods Pro 3 and the prior-generation AirPods Pro 2. The AirPods Pro 3 firmware is 8B30, up from 8B25, while the AirPods Pro 2 firmware is 8B28, up from 8B21. There's no word on what's include in the updated firmware, but the AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods Pro 3 are getting expanded support for Live Translation in the European Union in iOS...
iOS 26

iOS 26.4 and iOS 27 Features Revealed in New Leak

Friday December 12, 2025 10:56 am PST by
Macworld's Filipe Espósito today revealed a handful of features that Apple is allegedly planning for iOS 26.4, iOS 27, and even iOS 28. The report said the features are referenced within the code for a leaked internal build of iOS 26 that is not meant to be seen by the public. However, it appears that Espósito and/or his sources managed to gain access to it, providing us with a sneak peek...
Foldable iPhone 2023 Feature 1

Apple to Make More Foldable iPhones Than Expected [Updated]

Tuesday December 9, 2025 9:59 am PST by
Apple has ordered 22 million OLED panels from Samsung Display for the first foldable iPhone, signaling a significantly larger production target than the display industry had previously anticipated, ET News reports. In the now-seemingly deleted report, ET News claimed that Samsung plans to mass-produce 11 million inward-folding OLED displays for Apple next year, as well as 11 million...
AirTag 2 Mock Feature

Apple AirTag 2: Four New Features Found in iOS 26 Code

Thursday December 11, 2025 10:31 am PST by
The AirTag 2 will include a handful of new features that will improve tracking capabilities, according to a new report from Macworld. The site says that it was able to access an internal build of iOS 26, which includes references to multiple unreleased products. Here's what's supposedly coming: An improved pairing process, though no details were provided. AirTag pairing is already...
iOS 26

Apple Releases iOS 26.2 With Alarms for Reminders, Lock Screen Changes, Enhanced Safety Alerts and More

Friday December 12, 2025 10:10 am PST by
Apple today released iOS 26.2, the second major update to the iOS 26 operating system that came out in September, iOS 26.2 comes a little over a month after iOS 26.1 launched. ‌iOS 26‌.2 is compatible with the ‌iPhone‌ 11 series and later, as well as the second-generation ‌iPhone‌ SE. The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones over-the-air by going to Settings >...
iOS 26

15 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 26.2

Friday December 5, 2025 9:40 am PST by
Apple is about to release iOS 26.2, the second major point update for iPhones since iOS 26 was rolled out in September, and there are at least 15 notable changes and improvements worth checking out. We've rounded them up below. Apple is expected to roll out iOS 26.2 to compatible devices sometime between December 8 and December 16. When the update drops, you can check Apple's servers for the ...
maxresdefault

iOS 26 Code Leak Reveals Apple Smart Home Hub Details

Thursday December 11, 2025 4:02 pm PST by
Apple is working on a smart home hub that will rely heavily on the more capable version of Siri that's coming next year. We've heard quite a bit about the hub over the last two years, but a recent iOS 26 code leak provides additional insight into what we can expect and confirms rumored features. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Macworld claims to have access to an ...

Top Rated Comments

JoeShades Avatar
27 months ago

Sounds like a minor improvement at best, while searching for better battery tech, such as graphene or solid state.

BUT: Can you believe anything you read on X these days? It's a cesspool of lies, disinformation and the lowest forms of human behavior, all of it heartily endorsed by its owner.
What kind of nonsense is this. Did Elon musk post this rumor or did he hack this account which had been there before he took over . What a stupid comment. Also I am pretty sure the same people i follow did not become a bunch of liars because of the person that owns it. Maybe you should follow better people
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
NMBob Avatar
27 months ago
It looks like it already has burn marks on it. :)
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JoeShades Avatar
27 months ago

I don't follow anyone on X. I've never had an X account, and never will. Your angry response just confirms my belief that X is only populated with angry extremists, who will brook no dissenting opinions.
So you never had an account, followed one single person or anything on there and never posted but you can think you can make a judgement about a platform you never used. And somehow I am an angry extremist because I accurately called your post nonsense.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
phill85 Avatar
27 months ago
?

Can’t wait for this!!
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jayducharme Avatar
27 months ago
Perhaps one day they'll figure out how to mitigate the giant camera hump.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
RickDEGH Avatar
27 months ago
‘Can’t wait for this’, ‘can’t wait for that’; it won’t do anything differently from current models. The watch 8 didn’t significantly improve battery life over the 7 moving to metallic battery casing. So, I definitely don’t believe there’s going to be anything radically different from what we have now, despite all the technical, environmental and ‘ethical’, mambo-jambo Apple would try to throw at us.

If anything they’d charge more. That, I’m sure! They took away leather cases and brought sh*tty woven nonsense - which costs more - that you use and discard the next day.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)