The iPhone 17 series coming this September will be a lot like the iPhone 16 series that preceded it. That’s something I probably said about most unreleased iPhone series during their respective rumors season. They’d look almost like the previous version.
We hit peak smartphone design a while ago, so I don’t expect any big changes from the upcoming iPhones, no matter what generation we might be looking at. The same goes for the iPhone 17 series. We’re looking at four phones that will look largely similar to their predecessors.
However, Apple will make some cosmetic changes to the iPhones so buyers can tell them apart from the previous generation. And, as it happened in previous years with the iPhone mini and iPhone Plus sizes, Apple will test a new form factor this year, via the iPhone Air.
The latter might impact the design of the other models in the series, especially the iPhone 17 Pros, in a way that makes more and more sense: the camera design. And we have a new leak that details the big changes coming to the iPhone 17 Pro design.
The conflicting camera rumors
The ultra-slim iPhone 17 Air should feature a horizontal camera bar at the top, similar to what the Pixel phones have offered in recent years. That’s even though the iPhone 17 Air should only feature a single lens on the back. We already have rumors that the camera bar will force Apple to use a two-tone design for the iPhone 17 Air, mixing metal (for the camera bar) with glass (for the rest of the back).
Some reports said all iPhone 17 models will feature a similar design, with the iPhone 17 Pro cameras potentially sitting horizontally inside that camera bar, just like on Pixel Pro models.
Others said that the iPhone 17 Pro phones will have the same camera arrangement as all the Pros before them, but the camera module will be elongated so the flash and LiDAR sensor sit on the right side of the handset.
The iPhone 17 Pros would also feature a two-tone design on the back because of the rear camera module, no matter how it would look like.
The iPhone 17 Pro camera leak
YouTuber Jon Prosser posted a clip on his Front Page Tech channel that sheds more light on the big camera design change coming to the iPhone 17 Pro. If the claims are real, the iPhone 17 Pro Max should feature the same camera design, of course.
Prosser explained the main problem with the rumors that say the iPhone 17 Pro will feature a camera bar similar to the Pixel positioned right at the top of the handset’s rear.
There’s no space inside the phone to make this design happen. The selfie camera and Face ID system would have to occupy the same space as the rear-facing cameras. A horizontal camera bar would only work on the iPhone 17 Air, which would feature a single lens on the back.
As for the iPhone 17 Pro, Prosser said he had seen the device himself and obtained information from sources familiar with Apple’s design plans for the handset. The handset supposedly has a bar-like camera module occupying the entire width of the top side. But the cameras still maintain the placement Apple used on iPhone Pro models since it started using three cameras.
The mockup above is based on the purported iPhone 17 Pro camera design, showing the flash and LiDAR sensor placed all the way to the right.
The mockup also supports rumors that Apple will use a two-tone design for the iPhone 17 back. Most of the rear panel would have to be made of glass so MagSafe would continue to work. But the camera module might be made of something else. If it’s glass, it might have a different coloring.
What’s the point of the design change? Prosser doesn’t know, speculating that the iPhone 17 Pro has to look like a new device. Such meaningless design changes let Apple use this marketing trick to inform buyers they’re looking at or handling a new device.
Is The iPhone 17 Air to blame?
I believe the iPhone 17’s camera bar design is a consequence of the iPhone 17 Air. The iPhone 17 Air’s rumored 5.5mm thinness is a problem for the single-lens rear camera and the Face ID system. The latter might be too thick for such a thin device, and I’m speculating here.
The solution is to place a camera bar at the top that would provide the space Apple needs for the Face ID camera. This also fixes the camera protrusion camera. Imagine an ultra-thin phone with a large camera protrusion on the back. Wait, you don’t have to. Just look at the Galaxy S25 Edge phone above. I don’t care how ugly or big the camera module is on a phone, but a camera bar would work better than a vertical module for the Air.
If the iPhone 17 Air gets a horizontal camera bar, Apple might want to keep that design detail uniform across the entire iPhone 17 Air lineup. That’s how we end up with a larger-than-necessary iPhone 17 Pro camera module like the one in Prosser’s mockup.
This is all speculation for now, but we’re going to learn more details soon enough. In a few weeks, iPhone 17 dummy units will start making the rounds, at which point we’ll know exactly what to expect from this year’s iPhone design.
