iPhone 17 Pro New Design Leak Hints At Brighter Future

Updated Oct. 18 with further details of the RAM for the iPhone 17 Pro and the processor which may be held until the iPhone 18 Pro comes along.

When Apple releases the iPhone 17 Pro in fall 2025, it looks like it could include a brighter color in the range and it seems an internal design—the processor technology and the RAM on board—will also be updated. However, the big breakthrough in new chip tech may not come until the following year, with the iPhone 18 Pro.

As for the RAM, there’ll be more in next year’s iPhones than now. The iPhone 16 range all have 8GB of RAM, which allows them to run Apple Intelligence. Previously, the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max had this much, but the regular iPhone 15 and 15 Plus had 6GB, which is why they can’t handle Apple Intelligence.

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A previous report has said that the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max will boost this to 12GB, according to a claim made on Weibo by someone calling themselves Mobile Phone Chip Expert, who has previously made correct predictions in this area. It was spotted by MacRumors.

The report talked about the processor we can expect to see next year and the year after. It’s been long predicted that the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max would be the first in the world to use a 2-nanometer processor. Which means what, exactly?

As MacRumors explains, “Terms like “3nm” and “2nm” describe generations of chip manufacturing technology, each with its own set of design rules and architecture. As these numbers decrease, they generally indicate smaller transistor sizes. Smaller transistors allow more to be packed onto a single chip, typically resulting in increased processing speed and improved power efficiency. This year’s iPhone 16 series is based on an A18 chip design built using a second-generation “N3E” 3nm process.”

However, the Weibo report suggests that if you’re thinking of buying an iPhone 17 Pro to get this 2nm chip, you may be disappointed. Instead, it now looks like the iPhone 18 series, and perhaps only the Pro and Pro Max models at that, will shift to 2nm, with the iPhone 17 Pro using 3nm chips like the iPhone 16 does.

The truth is that Apple is extremely careful with how it uses its processors. For sure, the company will ensure that whatever the chip, that it will be fast and powerful enough to do everything the software needs it to.

Look no further than the iPhone 16 range which all managed to increase battery life over the previous iPhones, through a combination of bigger battery cells, more efficient processors and carefully optimized software.

The same report also had information about the iPhone 18, due in 2026, will use a different packaging method for the way the chip is built, that “allows more complex systems, such as CPUs, GPUs, DRAM, and other custom accelerators (e.g., AI/ML chips) to be tightly integrated in one package.” These changes may be limited to the Pro versions of the iPhone 18 line. In the meantime, if these claims prove correct, it shows that Apple is busy changing the iPhone’s chip design to give it greater power, both next year and the year after.

And then there’s the color of the iPhone 17 Pro. The current iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max are mostly demure and understated, unlike the more vivid shades for the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus.

Right now, the color choices are these: Black Titanium, White Titanium, Natural Titanium and Desert Titanium. All are quiet shades, with the exception of the pale golden finish of Desert Titanium., and even that’s not what you’d call gaudy. Last year was even quieter, with the predecessor to Desert being Blue Titanium.

But next year, there could be teal, green or dark green options, according to prolific leaker Majin Bu. How likely is this?

One thing’s for sure, the range won’t include both green and dark green as the two are so close, and Majin Bu isn’t suggesting that it will—though I could see the green being the hero color for the iPhone 17 and dark green the corresponding Pro shade, rather like the iPhone 14’s purple and iPhone 14 Pro’s deep purple choices.

The leaker’s belief is that the most likely option is Teal Titanium, saying, “The most likely candidate could be Teal Titanium considering that there is already a similar option on the current iPhone 16 series.”

Well, the teal is not the brightest iPhone 16 color, that’s ultramarine, but it’s brighter than some. And for the iPhone 17 Pro, teal certainly fits with the understated vibe of the iPhone 16 Pro range and could look like a slightly jazzier version of last year’s Blue Titanium, which was quite a quiet color.

Personally, I’d be delighted with a dark green option, which would show the iPhone Pro range could surprise us in terms of color.

Apple has always taken pride in surprising people with its design and the colors that transfer from one generation of iPhone to the next are subtly different, even down to colors like PRODUCT(RED). When the next iPhone is released, it’s possible that the Pro models will take the iPhone in a new direction.

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