iPhone 11: Image appears to show new phone with strange camera design on the back

Phone appears to have at least three lenses in its camera – though the reason is still something of a mystery

Customers leave the Apple store in Berlin, Germany, 20 December 2018 (EPA/ALEXANDER BECHER)

New pictures could show the inside of the new iPhone – and seem to boost the idea it will have a very complicated camera set up.

Apple is said to be readying a whole host of phones for release in September. And one is one of the strangest rumours to surround the iPhone: that it could have at least three lenses in its camera, though it is still not entirely clear what for.

New schematics seem to show that new phone, with all of its three lenses. It chimes with previous rumours about that set-up, which have come from leaks from inside Apple's supply chain.

The triple camera setup in the back of the iPhone 11 is thought to be configured in a square. In the image, those three lenses and their housing can be seen, though the fact it shows schematics mean the lenses themselves can't be seen.

As well as the lenses, there are holes that could host a microphone and a flash.

The pictures were shared on Twitter by the account @laobaiTD, which has legitimately shared such images in the past. They were described as showing a "New iPhone XR" – but if that is correct, it likely refers to the phone that will take the XR's place as the cheaper and mid-sized part of next year's line-up.

However, the phone of this design is actually thought to be the iPhone 11, or whatever the follow-up to the current iPhone XS is named. The new version of the XR is expected to have just two cameras in its back – an extra one compared to its predecessor, and the same number as the more premium phones in the line-up.

It is still not clear what Apple will do with the wide variety of cameras in the iPhone 11: rumours have suggested that the extra one could be used for augmented reality features, or for improving the phone's performance in situations that would be otherwise difficult to photograph. The two lenses in the XS – and presumably in the new version of the XR – have one wide angle and another more zoomed in lens.

All of the phones are expected to arrive in September, when Apple traditionally releases its new handsets.