Everything We Know About the Upcoming IPhone 17 Series
With Apple finally removing the Home button in today’s iPhone 16e announcement , all of the company’s phones now have the same general look: boring. Apple’s latest budget phone may have a big battery and surprising power to follow up the iPhone SE, but anyone looking for something that breaks the mold will have to wait for the iPhone 17.
That’s because Apple’s next line of phones looks like it will finally redesign the iPhone. For the first time since Dynamic Island was introduced with the iPhone 14 Pro, it looks like you’ll finally be able to tell if someone has a new iPhone with just a glance.
Will the iPhone 17 have a camera panel?
According to leaks from YouTuber Jon Prosser , the iPhone 17 may have followed Google’s lead, resulting in significant changes to its design. Notably, it will presumably ditch the camera bump in favor of a full camera panel.
In a video posted to YouTube over the weekend, the leaker posted renders of what the iPhone 17 Pro could look like, based on information from a number of unnamed sources, as well as a model he allegedly saw.
In the render, the iPhone’s camera lenses are arranged in the same triangular pattern as on modern iPhones, but the ridge that houses them now extends across almost the entire back of the phone. The flash, LiDAR and microphone are now also located opposite the lenses, on the other side of the protrusion.
If this is true, then the new iPhone will definitely need a new case, but it will also emulate Google’s Pixel series of phones, which introduced a “camera panel” back in 2021 that looks suspiciously similar to this leak.
Reviews, including my own , haven’t always been kind to the camera panel, which can stick out from the sleek-looking phone like a sore thumb, so it’s initially unclear why Apple made this change. Some social media users are speculating that Apple could use the extra camera panel space to add a small display on the back of the phone that can help take selfies or view information using widgets, but that’s just speculation at this point.
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Of course, this is the nature of leaks in general. While Prosser claims to have seen the phone, other sources are divided on the camera panel. Specifically, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman , who has his own sources at Apple, hinted that Prosser’s renderings appear to be based on a fake CAD design created in January. Information leader Majin Boo has already shown this CAD to designers, who said that it is most likely not real.
Prosser, however, isn’t the only one predicting a camera panel for the iPhone 17. Both supply chain analysis from tech publication The Information and claims from Chinese leakerDigital Chat Station hint at a pill-shaped camera bump that would be similar in design to the Pixel’s camera panel.
However, both rumors have problems, which has led to doubts from other well-known sources including Instant Digital andIce Universe . In particular, a pill-shaped camera panel would interfere with the way the iPhone currently shoots spatial video, while Prosser’s design would place the flash and LiDAR far away from the camera lenses, which could impact their usefulness.
Whatever camera layout the iPhone 17 gets, there’s a lot to like about this phone, even if it’s not immediately visually interesting.
iPhone 17 Air
Along with the base iPhone 17 and two iPhone 17 Pro models (the typical Pro and Pro Max), the iPhone 17 is rumored to introduce a new, lighter version of the phone called the iPhone 17 Air. The new model will replace the iPhone 17 Plus, although there will be no direct comparison with it.
iPhone 17 Air rumors started in November from Korean social media account yeux1122 and have since been repeated by Apple analyst Jeff Pu (via MacRumors) , The Information , and Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman .
The phone will supposedly be around 5mm to 6mm thick, depending on which source you choose, which would still make it much thinner than Apple’s thinnest phone to date, the 6.9mm thick iPhone 6. As for the phone’s size, while it doesn’t have the ‘Plus’ branding, it’s expected to be slightly taller than the 17 Pro and slightly shorter than the Pro Max, with the details again depending on which rumors you go by.
The report also claims that a camera panel will be present on air, revealing that it will be shaped like a tablet with a camera in the center. This may be where rumors about a camera panel in the iPhone 17 lineup started, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the Pro models skip the camera panel while the Air has one, but no one seems to know for sure. However, this would make sense as the Air could save some thickness. Additionally, Prosser also has a render of the Air with a pill-shaped camera panel, although his model places the lens closer to the edge of the phone, again away from the flash and microphone.
Standard iPhone 17.
While the iPhone 17 Pro and Air models may bring new interest to Apple’s traditional all-in-one layout, the rumored base iPhone 17 is where you’d expect based on the last few models. There are currently no rumors regarding the lack of a camera panel on this phone, although MacRumors suggests, based on the expected size of the iPhone 17 Pro, that it could get a slightly larger screen at 6.3 inches rather than 6.1 inches.Instant Digital also claims that the base iPhone 17 will have an improved OLED panel that will allow it to achieve higher frame rates using Apple’s ProMotion feature.
Regular improvements
In addition to the new design features, the iPhone 17 series is expected to receive the usual set of improvements. The Pro models will likely be upgraded from the A18 chip to the A19 chip, while the base model will probably use the A18 chip instead. Likewise, we could see an increase in camera specs, with Jeff Pu (via MacRumors) expecting all iPhone 17 models to have a 24MP selfie camera, up from the 12MP on the iPhone 16 lineup. Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo also expects iPhone 17 Pro models to see all lenses upgraded to 48MP next year, improving on the 12MP telephoto cameras in the current batch.
The Information’s report also points to a potential mechanical aperture on at least one model, which would allow users to control how much light their lens sees, while Chinese site MyDrivers suggests the entire lineup will use a vapor chamber to improve cooling. This will point in entirely new directions for Apple and should probably be taken with a grain of salt.
There’s also one potential downgrade: The Information’s analysis points to the possibility that Apple could revert to an aluminum frame for its Pro models rather than the current titanium frame. This may reduce the cost, but it may also make the phones a little heavier.
Price and release date
A Wall Street Journal report says Apple will price the iPhone 17 Air somewhere between the base 17 and 17 Pro, but beyond that, the price is still up in the air. The base iPhone 16 costs $799, the Pro costs $999, and the Pro Max costs $1,199, so expect to pay at least that much for these upgrades—though with tariffs imposed on Chinese parts manufacturers , prices may rise slightly.
As for the release date, Apple typically releases a new iPhone series in September, so expect the iPhone 17 lineup to debut sometime this fall.