For nearly half a decade, Apple has sold smartphones that fundamentally serve the same design language originating on the iPhone 11. Later this year, the iPhone 17 series will hit the shelves. If you’ve been expecting an aesthetic makeover, there’s some bad news for you, unless you’re ready to spend big bucks on one of the Pro models.
According to Bloomberg, the iPhone 17 Pro “will look meaningfully different,” compared to its iPhone 16 series counterpart. Alongside the rumored super-sleek iPhone 17 Air trim, these two are reportedly the biggest design refreshes in recent years on Apple smartphones. The approach, however, would still be quite modest.
The front profile, including the display and its pill-shaped cutout for the Face ID hardware, might look identical across both generations. The more notable change is reserved for the rear shell, where the camera hump will likely rock a new look.
By new, we mean bigger. Unlike the corner-aligned square with round corners on the iPhone 16 Pro pair, the iPhone 17 Pro will sikply stretch the camera hump across from the left to right edge. It’s going to be huge, if leaked renders are to be believed.
The Bloomberg report seems to agree with those leaked representations, but throws in some caution, as well. Specifically, the report mentions that Apple isn’t eyeing any radical two-tone design approach, the kind we’ve recently seen on Google’s Pixel 9 series smartphones.
“The iPhone 17 Pro won’t have a two-toned back, I’m told. The camera area will be the same color as the rest of the device,” says the Bloomberg report. “That speaks to the more gradual design changes that Apple is making: The iPhone 17 Pro isn’t a major departure from current models.”
It seems Apple is going to take a more understated, industrial design approach for the large camera island on the iPhone 17 Pro. The bump in size is apparently due to internal camera hardware upgrades, which are said to include higher resolution sensors for the front as well as ultrawide snappers.
Specifically, the 12-megapixel sensor will reportedly be upgraded to a 48-megapixel sensor for ultrawide capture on the iPhone 17 Pro. That means all three rear cameras will now offer an identical resolution, and we might even get support for 8K video capture, too.
On the front, Apple is rumored to swap the 12-megapixel selfie camera in favor of a 24-megapixel sensor. Apple is also expected to boost the RAM capacity from 8GB to 12GB on the iPhone 17 Pro, tagging alongside a next-gen processor.
Pricing, however, remains a mystery, especially in the wake of recent tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump. The move has also attracted reciprocal action from China, one of Apple’s biggest manufacturing hubs, and affects other assembly hotspots such as India and Vietnam, as well.
