We've been complaining for a while that Apple seems to be stagnating from a design perspective. With the iPhone approaching its 20th anniversary, there doesn't seem to be a lot of innovation left when it comes to the design of the small black rectangle. But if the iPhone 17 rumour mill is anything to go by, Apple is going to try its damnedest to prove us wrong this year.
We've already seen renders of the somewhat baffling so-called iPhone 17 Air, which seems to be sacrificing a lot (two camera lenses, presumably a ton of battery life) in pursuit of thinness at all costs. And now we've seen renders of the alleged iPhone 17 Pro, which are... even weirder. Let's just say, with a camera layout like that, it had better end up being one of the best cameraphones.
These renders by 3D artist Asher Dipprey suggest the iPhone 17 Pro will maintain the same three camera lens setup as the 16 Pro, whilst adopting a horizontal camera 'bump' that spans the entire device. And if that looked wild on the iPhone 17 Air renders with their single camera lens, this one looks almost laughable.
Remember when we said the iPhone 15 Pro might take things too far with its rumoured larger camera bump back in the day? Yeah, this is a whole different ball game.
Of course, it's possible that enormous camera array could have its uses. Apple has form when it comes to turning unsightly design touches into 'features', such as the Dynamic Island. It certainly looks like there could be room for a second display up there, perhaps for notifications?
But for my money, the whole things doesn't do much to allay fears that Apple has simply run out of space to innovate the design of the iPhone. Countless memes have poked fun at the brand over the years, depicting its design teams adding an extra camera lens and calling it a day. This time around it looks like they might... stretch the camera bump to the end of the device and thus make the entire device look weirdly unbalanced in the process? Cool!
And we've already heard other strange design rumours regarding the 17 Pro line up. According to some reports, the 'Pro' line up will ditch titanium this year and instead feature an aluminium body like the standard model.
Of course, it's too soon to pass judgement on anything to do with the iPhone 17 line up. These designs might turn out to be pure fiction. Or, Apple might give us enough marketing bluster to make them seem sensical. And hey, since the iPhone 16 launch wasn't exactly inspiring, we're certainly open to new ideas at this point.
