Even experienced users can find it hard to tell some iPhones isolated. Apple updates the iPhone all year, merely it doesn't always shift the design - sometimes the evidentiary changes are on the at bottom, so much as faster new components - which can make it very hard to identify which poser you've got.

You power be speculative which iPhone you've got because just certain models can run the latest version of iOS. Or you might penury to know because you're planning to sell. You power flatbottom rich person an issue with you iPhone and need to know what model it is so that Apple or a third-party repairer can suggest a fix.

There are lots of reasons wherefore you might need tell the dispute between contrary iPhones. We'atomic number 75 here to help.

How to tell which iPhone you've got

The easiest way to identify an iPhone used to be to check the 'A' model number on the back, and in this article we list the A numbers pool for every iPhone. Just Apple doesn't publish A numbers racket any more, so for those with recent models, or who come up the number too small to register, there are former methods: you can check in Settings, or look at the phone's shape and extrinsic features and make an identification using the descriptions and photos infra.

If you're troubled to name one of your other Apple devices, we also have got guides to determination which iPad you have and which Mack you have.

Look in Settings for the sit name and add up

The simplest method these days is to look in Settings.

  1. Wide-eyed the Settings app, and ecstasy to General > About.
  2. In the upside bank of entries you'll fancy Model Name, with iPhone 12 Pro or whatever next to information technology.
  3. This foliate likewise tells you the gimmick's capacity, which is listed a bit further down.

How to identify which iPhone you've got: Settings

Some older iPhones won't show the iPhone model name here. For example, this iPhone 6s shows a combining of letters and numbers instead; that is the model number and you can use this to identify the iPhone.

How to identify which iPhone you've got: Identifying older models in Settings

You'll too witness the Model Number beneath Exemplary Name on newer iPhones. By default Settings shows the M total (also called the SKU - and if you've got a replacement model it'll probably start with an N), but you rear tap information technology to display the A number instead, which can also be accustomed identify which iPhone mannikin you have.

The SKU/M amoun/N number is quite handy, however, because information technology provides a more precise designation than the A number or even the Model Name (it specifies storage capacity and even colouring material). There's a huge number of possible M Numbers - far more than we can heel here. Curb the iPhone Wiki for a full list.

How to identify which iPhone you've got: SKU number

Settings, as we stern see, is extremely helpful when it comes to identifying an iPhone. But information technology has the slight down side of requiring that your device be functional and accessible to you; if you're trying to identify a bricked device or one you force out't unlock, this won't be much use and you'd better progress to the visual identification chart in the next section.

Repute the back for the A number

Older iPhones wish have an identification routine printed on the backbone. This is a small number that starts with the letter A, and labelled 'Model'. It'll be something like "A1203" or "A1634".

When we say "small number" we really do mean gnomish, and you may chance it hard-boiled to read the number with the naked eye. A magnifying tras volition help if you've got one!

All the same, the iPhone 8 and later do not have this number printed on the back. If you can't find anything here you at least know that your iPhone is an iPhone 8 operating theatre later.

How to identify what iPhone you have: Model number

For simplicity's sake we'll call this the A number, as opposed to the M routine found in Settings discussed above, and the a great deal longer IMEI identifying number, which is unequaled to your individual handset.

One time you've got the A number, check it against this list to see which model you've got. (Note that there are multiple A numbers for some iPhones. These refer to versions for different territories, meshwork standards etcetera. And straight-grained the recent iPhones have A numbers - they're good not easy to find.)

  • A1203: Original iPhone
  • A1241: iPhone 3G
  • A1303: iPhone 3GS
  • A1332, A1349: iPhone 4
  • A1387: iPhone 4S
  • A1428, A1429: iPhone 5
  • A1456, A1507, A1526, A1529 Oregon A1532: iPhone 5c
  • A1453, A1457, A1528, A1530 or A1533: iPhone 5s
  • A1549, A1586 or A1589: iPhone 6
  • A1522, A1524 or A1593: iPhone 6 Plus
  • A1633 or A1688: iPhone 6s
  • A1634 or A1687: iPhone 6s Nonnegative
  • A1723, A1662 Beaver State A1724: iPhone Southeast (2016)
  • A1660, A1778 or A1779: iPhone 7
  • A1661, A1784 Beaver State A1785: iPhone 7 Plus
  • A1863, A1905 or A1906: iPhone 8
  • A1864, A1897 or A1898: iPhone 8 Plus
  • A1865, A1901 or A1902: iPhone X
  • A1984, A2105, A2106 or A2108: iPhone XR
  • A1920, A2097, A2098 or A2100: iPhone XS
  • A1921, A2101, A2102 Oregon A2104: iPhone XS Max
  • A2111, A2223 or A2221: iPhone 11
  • A2160, A2217 or A2215: iPhone 11 Pro
  • A2161, A2220 or A2218: iPhone 11 Pro Max
  • A2275, A2298 or A2296: iPhone Selenium (2020)
  • A2176, A2398, A2400 or A2399: iPhone 12 miniskirt
  • A2172, A2402, A2404 or A2403: iPhone 12
  • A2341, A2406, A2408 or A2407: iPhone 12 Pro
  • A2342, A2410, A2412 surgery A2411: iPhone 12 Pro Max

How to tell iPhones apart by peck

If for whatever reason the method acting to a higher place doesn't act, don't worry. You can still tell which kind of iPhone you've got by checking its build, external features and so happening. Only compare it against this guide, which includes all models of iPhone.

Original iPhone

The groundbreaking iPhone from 2007 is easy to identify. It has a grey/silver rear with a large black band across the posterior. It looks like-minded this:

What iPhone do I have: Original iPhone

iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS

If your iPhone has a curved plastic rear but without the coloured band from the fresh iPhone, you've got an iPhone 3G OR 3GS. This is what they feel the likes of:

What iPhone do I have: iPhone 3GS

One style of telling these two apart is colour - if it's white, you've got a 3GS.

Both models were sold in a black finish, however, so if you've got one of those, check the lustre of the detailing connected the back. On the 3GS, the Apple logo and the impress below are the same polished silver; on the 3G, the imprint is less shiny than the logotype.

Personify too-careful not to confuse these two models with the newer iPhone 5c (which looks somewhat similar - see below to compare).

iPhone 4 and iPhone 4s

The iPhone 4 and iPhone 4s both give a glass front and crank rear and come in black or white. Here's what they depend like:

What iPhone do I have: iPhone 4

It's hard to tell the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4s apart, alas. One opening is to look for a SIM tray connected the righthand side - if you can't find an opening move then you'Ra looking at (the CDMA version of) the iPhone 4, which was available both with and without a SIM tray. The iPhone 4s always has a SIM tray.

You can besides check the storage capacity, which may offer a clue. The 4 was sold in 8, 16 and 32GB capacities; the 4s was available in all of these only also added a 64GB model. Curb Settings > General > About, and if Capacity is any higher than 32GB then you've got an iPhone 4s. (IT won't atomic number 4 the full 64GB, of course, because close to of the publicised capacity is taken functioning with firmware and the like.)

iPhone 5

The iPhone 5 looks similar to the iPhone 4 and 4s but comes with a taller 4in display (measured diagonally, box to corner). This means information technology potty fit five rows of app icons (plus a sixth, the dock row, at the bottom), whereas the iPhone 4s and before could entirely fit quatern rows (plus the wharfage). Here's what it looks like:

What iPhone do I have: iPhone 5

iPhone 5s

The iPhone 5s looks largely identical to the iPhone 5, simply the game show is the Touch Idaho fingerprint scanner.

What iPhone do I have: iPhone 5s

If you look at the Home button, you'll notice that it no longer has a square on it - information technology's good a plain R-2. On the white-front models you potty find a shiny metal ring close to the edge; the non-white one is all black.

The colouration schemes are also different, with Gilt, Silver and Blank Grey replacement Black-and-white.

iPhone 5c

This one's easy to spotlight. The iPhone 5c comes in a range of scintillating plastic colours and has a curved plastic back.

What iPhone do I have: iPhone 5c

Information technology's besides taller and squarer than former fictile models (such American Samoa the iPhone 3G and 3GS), then information technology's easy to identify.

iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s

The 6-series handsets saw a pregnant redesign, with bowfront-off edges replacing the squarer look of previous phones. The screens are larger than earlier models, too: they quantify 4.7in diagonally. The Plus models accept still larger screens, course.

Here's what the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s look like. This is the iPhone 6s - you can tell because it came in pink Eastern Samoa well atomic number 3 the silver, atomic number 79 and Infinite Grayish offered by the iPhone 6.

What iPhone do I have: iPhone 6s

Assumptive you're non apotropaic enough to represent looking at a pink (technically Roseate Gold) framework, which is a dead giveaway, look for the missive S on the back, below the word iPhone. (IT's visible in the envision above.) This indicates that it's an iPhone 6s, fairly obviously.

iPhone 6 Summation and iPhone 6s Plus

The iPhone 6 Plus and iPhone 6s Plus look like the iPhone 6 just are much larger, with 5.5in displays (measured diagonally). They've got room for hexa rows of icons happening the Home screen, plus the dock row.

What iPhone do I have: iPhone 6s Plus

Over again, only the 6s Plus comes in Rose Gold, and the S model is selected by a varsity letter S on the back, below the word iPhone.

iPhone SE (2016)

The original iPhone Southeast uses the synoptical colour scheme as the iPhone 6 line of merchandise, but has the same design elements of the iPhone 5s. Your best stake to identify between a 5s and Sou'-east is to turn the iPhone on or look for the SE stamp at the back.

What iPhone do I have: iPhone SE

IT should also Be noted that the SE comes in Rose Metal, whereas the 5s only came in Silver, Blank Grey and Amber.

iPhone 7

The iPhone 7 boasts a 4.7in screen, with a glass front and aluminium back. It's similar to the 6 and 6s, but slimmer, and the punt of the body has lost the horizontal lines at the top and bottom. Information technology does non accept a earpiece jack at the stern: there is just a respective Lightning port in the rivet of the arse sharpness, with speaker grilles either side.

How to identify which iPhone you have: iPhone 7

IT's visible in six colours, and was the first iPhone to come in carmine.

Check the submission for iPhone 8 below, because that is very standardized; the independent difference is that the 7 has an aluminium back, whereas the 8 has a glass back up.

iPhone 7 Positive

The iPhone 7 Plus is unsurprisingly similar to the iPhone 7 - the main dispute is the larger 5.5in display. As with the 7, it boasts a glass front and golden backmost, which the camera protrudes from slenderly. It's also available in six different colors, including red (not shown below). And at that place is nobelium phone port.

In fact, the real giveaway is the horizontal similar-lens rear-veneer camera: here's what it looks like:

How to identify which iPhone you have: iPhone 7 Plus

Again, check the entry for the selfsame connatural iPhone 8 Asset infra. The 7 Plus has an aluminum back, whereas the 8 Plus has Methedrine.

iPhone 8

The iPhone 8 is a lot care the iPhone 7: it too has a 4.7in silver screen and no headphone jack. The main difference from the 7 is that this model has a drinking glass back rather than aluminium; if at that place's no A number engraved on the back that too May be a giveaway, because it was at this point that Malus pumila phased that out.

Still not for sure? The 8 comes in 64GB or 256GB storage options, whereas the 7 comes in 32GB, 128GB or 256 GB; check Settings > General > iPhone Storage and see if you can eliminate unrivaled of the options that way of life. And at long last, whereas the 7 came in black, Au, Rose Gold, silver, red and the ludicrously shiny Pitchy Black, the 8 just comes in silver, Blank Grey, a unprecedented pinkish gold (see to a lower place) and red.

What iPhone do I have: iPhone 8

iPhone 8 Plus

This one is a lot like the iPhone 7 Plus: the 8 Plus has a 5.5in display and a twin-lens camera protruding slightly from the back. And there is nobelium headphone left.

But the back is glass rather of aluminium, at that place isn't an A number engraved connected the stake (our GB model just says "iPhone/Designed away Apple in California/Amassed in China"), the storage options are 64GB and 256GB (as opposed to 32GB, 128GB and 256GB on the 7 Plus) and the colorise options are silver, Space Grey, red and the new pinky gold. No glassy Jet-black Black here.

What iPhone do I have: iPhone 8 Plus

iPhone X

The iPhone X hasn't got a Home push button happening the front end, with the riddle advent down almost to the bottom of the frame. It has a 'notch' taken kayoed of the top of the covert, and it has two cameras on the back, organized vertically vertically. Take a look (but don't be put off by the removable brown case, which yours probably won't have):

What iPhone do I have: iPhone X

The iPhone X came in just two colour options - silver and Infinite Grey - just it's no longer on sale. Also, live sure to check out the iPhone XS, below, which looks virtually the same and may present few identification issues.

iPhone XR

The iPhone XR has a 6.1in screen, but that's likewise true of the iPhone 11, 12 and 12 Pro. More helpful, then, are the deuce-ac facts that it doesn't have a Home push button, does have a notch, and comes with a single camera lens on the rear.

What iPhone do I have: iPhone XR

Information technology comes in black, white, blue, white-livered, Precious coral (a sort of orangey peach) and red.

iPhone XS

A tricky one, this, because the iPhone XS looks identical to the iPhone X. What are the possible giveaways? It now comes in a parvenue colour - gold - and offers a new 512GB storage capacity at the top end, if you'atomic number 75 somehow able to determine that without having access to the Settings app (which is really where you should be bearing).

What iPhone do I have: iPhone XS

Other physical upgrades from the X are in essence infeasible for a consumer to go over. The glass back was strong to make it inferior to prone to cracking, and the waterproof rating was increased from IP67 to IP68, but in neither case should you test to destruction simply to identify your phone.

iPhone XS Max

The XS Liquid ecstasy, like the XR, can be identified by its screen size, which is a mighty 6.5in. Behave in mind that this should be measured between the theoretical corners where the screen edges would converge if the corners weren't rounded off, if that makes sense. Anyway, it's a prodigious old screen - that's what we're telling you.

Like the other X-series handsets it hasn't got a Home push, and its screen has a mountain pass at the top. It comes in metallic, gold and Space Grey.

What iPhone do I have: iPhone XS Max

iPhone 11

Three new models were discharged in autumn 2022. The cheapest of these is the iPhone 11.

The 11 looks the same as the iPhone XR from a year earlier, with one easy-to-spot difference: it has two cameras on the arse, arranged in a vertical configuration within a square block. No unusual iPhone has this bottom-television camera configuration soh information technology should be easy to stain.

The iPhone 11 comes in dilute, black, K, lily-livered, purple and red, and has a 6.1in block out with no Home button.

What iPhone have I got: iPhone 11

iPhone 11 Pro

The princely 11 Pro has terzetto cameras on the rear.

You can tell the 11 Pro and 11 Favoring Max apart because the Max is bigger. The 11 Pro has a 5.8in screen (measured diagonally, from corner to corner) and measures 144mm x 71.4mm.

What iPhone have I got: iPhone 11 Pro

iPhone 11 Pro Max

The 11 In favor of Max as wel has terzetto television camera lenses on the rear, just features a 6.5in screen and measures 158mm x 77.8 millimeter.

What iPhone have I got: iPhone 11 Pro Max

iPhone Selenium (2020)

Orchard apple tree redux the popular SE in 2022, but it was fewer compact than its 2022 predecessor. This clip Orchard apple tree put (most of) the components of the iPhone 11 in the curved-edge physique of the iPhone 8.

It has a 4.7in block out and a unshared camera lens happening the rear. IT has a Home button with Touch ID built in, and the second is glass.

Which iPhone have I got: iPhone SE (2020)

iPhone 12 mini

The 12 miniskirt has a 5.4in screen (with a nick at the top) and the same square, sharp-edged sides as the remainder of the 12-series handsets. It hasn't got a Home release.

It has 2 camera lenses on the rear, but these sit to the left of a larger square camera module; there's a limited flash on the righthand side of this. (You can see what this module looks like in the picture of the iPhone 12 below.) The back is meth.

Which iPhone have I got: iPhone 12 mini

iPhone 12

The iPhone 12 - like all the 12-series handsets - has sharp, squared-inactive edges rather than the curved edges seen on the 11-series and many earlier models. Information technology has a 6.1in screen (with a nick), two camera lenses connected the back and nobelium Home button, and comes in black, colorless, red, brightness green, uncomprehensible blue and purple (pictured).

Which iPhone have I got: iPhone 12

iPhone 12 Pro

The iPhone 12 Pro is easiest to discover by its combination of triple camera lenses on the buttocks, sharp, squared-off edges and a 6.1in block out. It comes in silver/white, gold, opprobrious and navy.

Which iPhone have I got: iPhone 12 Pro

iPhone 12 Pro Max

Finally we add up to the (at time of writing) top of the range, the iPhone 12 Pro Grievous bodily harm. IT's a whopper, with a 6.7in riddle - the biggest ever - and triple camera lenses on the rear. There's a mountain pass at the transcend of the blind and none Home release, and the edges are sharp A on the rest of the 12-series handsets.

Which iPhone have I got: iPhone 12 Pro Max

For more advice on the various handsets that Apple sells, assume a take our iPhone buying guide. And if you'Re looking to percolate a bargain on your adjacent handset, handicap our roundup of the best iPhone deals.