While it’s not always the case, it seems that Apple is teeing up a smooth iPhone 17 release later this year. A paywalled preview of an upcoming DigiTimes report (via MacRumors) reveals that the company has already completed Engineering Validation Testing (EVT) for at least one iPhone 17 model.
While the company still has to put its devices through Design Validation Test and Production Validation Test before mass production, Apple has been able to follow the usual schedule.
With EVT completed, the company ensures the iPhone 17 prototypes work as expected. Still, it could make some spec changes. Just recently, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said that at least three iPhone 17 models will feature 12GB of RAM.
If Apple thinks it can avoid supply constraints for the larger RAM, this could mean the base model could also add this spec bump, as it’s currently expected to maintain the same 8GB of memory.
Over the past few weeks, iPhone 17 dummies have surfaced on the web, as BGR extensively highlighted the possible new looks for this series and the upcoming cases. This makes sense as Apple finishes EVT and moves forward to DVT and PVT stages.
In addition, it would be impressive if Apple could release the iPhone 17 Air alongside the other three iPhone models. Samsung, for example, introduced its Galaxy Edge phone during the Galaxy S25 Unpacked, but it will only start selling this device in the coming weeks.
That said, Apple had a major supply constraint a few years ago with the iPhone 14 Pro models. In addition, the company usually has a hard time with the Pro Max phones, especially when they have exclusive features, such as the iPhone 15 Pro Max’s exclusive 5x optical zoom.
The iPhone 17 is expected to feature an all-new design for the Pro and Air models. These devices are rumored to add an all-new A19 chip, better lenses, improved battery life, and better display tech for the regular models. You can learn more about these devices below.
