Rumors won't go away that the iPhone 17 will look radically different from the existing designs, and persistent tipster Martin Bu has added fuel to that fire with a tweet circulating images of a case design replacing the square bump with a horizontal 'bar' similar to that on the Google Pixel 9, which we rate as one of the best camera phones.
iPhone 17, the design seems confirmed. pic.twitter.com/5Wh6alUiMrJanuary 21, 2025
The images look convincing enough, but even in pre-AI days they could just be mock ups which never make it to market, so the real question is what level of likelihood is there that there will be a radical change to the iPhone 17 Pro series.
It might, of course, be another device – there are also rumors of an iPhone Air circulating, which might well need a different or bigger bump even for fewer than 3 cameras since it would no doubt be aiming to be as thin as possible – perhaps 5.1mm like the iPad Pro (or 5.5mm as Phone Arena speculates, while Bu suggested 6mm as early as last November). That's compared to 8.25mm for the iPhone 16 Pro Max. (The thinnest iPhone yet was the 6.9mm iPhone 6 – I'd say it's a safe bet Tim Cook would at least want to beat that in a keynote presentation!)
We know that case manufacturers tend to get a 1 month lead time, but manufacturing needs a longer lead time (especially for bigger changes) so design concepts being circulated now could actually be what we see in September (when we'd expect an iPhone 17).
We also know (or think we know) that Apple is keen to push the spatial imaging concept – which debuted in the Vision Pro. To be fair it was impressive when I tried it on the pricey goggles.
Arranging the two cameras doing the lifting to capture spatial information in a way that is horizontal when the phone is held in the now-familiar portrait mode might make sense for younger users (if not me, or serious pros), but in the meantime, we're expecting iOS19 to have some heavy nods in the direction of Vision OS.
So the logic is there. But how reliable is the source? Majin Bu says "iPhone 17, the design seems confirmed" but the poster dumps out a lot of sample designs and, while these look physical rather than renders, that doesn't make them more reliable.
Bu's track record is only mixed, but serious industry commentators seem to agree with the concept too, like David Phelan, who might not have cited Bu's images, but has pointed to the thermal advantages of a re-design.
A new bigger bump might help add room for a VC (Vapor Chamber) heat dissipation system which, he reminds us, is an area Apple did have some issues with, especially on the iPhone 15.
So, in summary, Bu might not be right, but there are plenty of reasons for Apple to make a big change.
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Why not keep up to date with the latest camera rumors, save yourself from getting a new camera phone by investing in one of the best action cameras (it's a lot cheaper) or read why I thought the Vision Pro isn't expensive enough!
