Apple iPhone 17 Pro Design Saga Takes New Twist In Latest Report

Updated Dec. 20 with new information about the dueling reports.

Exactly what will next year’s iPhones look like? A recent report about the design of the iPhone 17 series claimed that the cameras would be seen in an all-new arrangement.This was a surprising development but was taken seriously as it came from a leaker with a decent track record. However, but it’s now been flatly contradicted. Since the contradiction also comes from a respected source, it may have left you wondering what’s really what.

After all, the original report from Weibo user Digital Chat Station included a render of an iPhone with a single row of cameras along the top edge of the phone. The render looked persuasive, and didn’t claim to be the real thing, but it wasn’t based on any leaked visuals or images.

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Three cameras in a row might look good but there are knock-on effects from them. The triangle of lenses on the back of the iPhone 15 Pro, for instance, have the benefit of being equidistant, which helps the seamlessness of switching from one lens to another.

Also, as Ben Lovejoy at 9to5Mac points out, if a change to a straight line of lenses was coming, a vertical line makes more sense than horizontal because, “most photos and video are shot in landscape mode.” And, as discussed below, vertical lenses like on the iPhone 16 and 16 Pro enable the iPhones to shoot Spatial Video that can be played back on the Vision Pro.

As mentioned, the previous suggestion was for an iPhone with a horizontal row of cameras instead of, for instance, the triangular placing on the iPhone 16 Pro. It meant an iPhone that looked strikingly similar to the Google Pixel 9 Pro. Some were skeptical that this could be correct, but more reports were needed to be sure.

Now, there’s a new post on Weibo from regular leaker Instant Digital, who has had a strong, though not perfect track record. It was spotted by MacRumors, and it offers a different viewpoint, saying (in machine translation), “My source told me that the appearance of the back has indeed changed, but the layout of the three cameras is still triangular, not the horizontal bar spread on the Internet now.”

This makes a lot more sense to me, but let’s dissect it a little. The triangular placing seems likely not just because it’s familiar but because it means that the current capability for recording Spatial Video with the iPhone held in landscape orientation continues.

I would be astonished if Apple didn’t preserve this feature intact for the next several generations at least.

Where the report is less clear is exactly what’s meant by the appearance of the back being different this year. Given the increased screen size of the current Pro models compared to 2023, I believe the display will be the same in 2025, so the changes will lie elsewhere.

One rumor covers a camera area clad in aluminum rather than glass, though it’s thought that the majority of the iPhone’s rear will still be made of glass. Without that, wireless charging would be gone, and that’s another key feature that is unlikely to disappear.

When several reports from leakers with strong reputations clash, it can be confusing. But while there are still a lot of questions to be answered, the prospect of a Pixel-like camera design seems to have retreated.

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