Now that the iPhone 16e has finally been announced, we’ve got our eyes set on Apple’s next flagship: the iPhone 17 series. And though we’re still months out from the expected release date, the rumor mill is already chugging along steadily. The latest comes from noted Apple leaker Sonny Dickson, who posted renders on X (formerly Twitter) Sunday of a supposed iPhone 17 Pro Max clad in a MagSafe case.
Word is that Apple plans to overhaul the back of the phone’s design, but exactly how remains unclear. These latest renders suggest the camera module could be spread out along the width of the phone, as last week’s leak from Front Page Tech suggested. The iPhone 17 Pro Max retains the triangular camera arrangement as before but shoves the LED flash, microphone, and LiDAR scanner off to the opposite side. The result is a rectangular camera bar similar to that found on Google’s Pixel series like the Pixel 9.
Here’s a first look at how cases might look on the iPhone 17 Pro Max. What do you think? pic.twitter.com/HzCGkRBIQvFebruary 23, 2025
The iPhone 17 Pro is expected to share this redesigned camera bar along with the all-new, ridiculously thin iPhone 17 Air. Curiously, word is Apple’s decided to stick with the current design on the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Plus. Maybe it’s to make its premium handsets more distinctly recognizable compared to their counterparts. It’s a pretty chunky camera module since it spans the full length of the phone’s back, which would certainly set it apart even among the best iPhones.
Based on these renders, it’s hard to tell if Apple has shrunk the Dynamic Island as we’ve heard in previous rumors, something iPhone owners have longed for since the introduction of Apple’s selfie camera spot. At least one leaker has said the iPhone 17 Pro Max will get a narrower Dynamic Island thanks to the help of a “metalens” design for Face ID. This type of flat lens uses metasurfaces to focus light as opposed to the curved lenses traditionally used in phones to bend light toward the image sensor.
We’ll have to take all this with a grain of salt for now, but it’s got us excited. If history shows, the iPhone 17 will launch right around the five-year anniversary of the iPhone 12, the last major redesign of the iPhone, so the lineup is overdue for an overhaul. In addition to the new design, the iPhone 17 series is tipped for several noteworthy upgrades like 24MP selfie cameras, the addition of vapor chamber cooling, and 120Hz displays on all models. The leaks aren’t likely to stop anytime soon, but we probably won’t know anything for certain until Apple’s usual September launch window.
