iPhone 17 Pro case leak gives us a fresh look at the controversial redesign

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That is one big camera bar

iPhone 17 Pro renders.
(Image credit: Future)

We’ve all seen the renders and dummy units, showing off the, shall we say, “interesting” redesigns for the iPhone 17 series.

Those extended camera bars certainly are a choice, and those of you clinging to hope that they may all be elaborate fakes are about to be disappointed.

Leaker Sonny Dickson has shared some photos of what he claims are for iPhone 17 Pro. As everyone saw coming with the slew of design leaks earlier this year, these cases have very large cutouts designed to accommodate the iPhone 17 Pro’s enormous camera bar.

Renders have shown us that this elongated camera bar should still maintain the triple-camera lens we’ve seen since the iPhone 11 Pro. However, extra modules like the flash and LiDAR have been moved to the opposite side of the phone.

iphone 17 pro case leak by sonny sickson

(Image credit: Sony Dickson)

While it’s unclear why the camera bar is quite so large, it should at least offer some stability when you put your phone down. The unevenness caused by the camera bump always made the iPhone wobble, and I’ve always found that to be very annoying.

How other iPhone 17 models will change

From what we’ve seen so far, the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max should have a pretty similar redesign. The only real difference will be that the Pro Max is much larger, and usually has a few hidden features on the inside of the phone. But, from the outside, things should be looking much the same as the iPhone 17 Pro.

The regular iPhone 17 isn’t expected to change very much, if at all. Renders and dummy units already show off the same vertically-stacked camera layout as the iPhone 16.

So those of you that were only interested in the entry-level iPhone have nothing to worry about — you won’t have to deal with such a large camera bar.

CAD renders of the iPhone 17 series

(Image credit: Majin Bu on X)

Then there’s the iPhone 17 Air, which looks to have the same extended camera bar as the iPhone 17 Pro. However, the designs we’ve seen show off a much narrower bar, on account of the phone having a single camera lens.

I’m still not convinced of the iPhone 17 Air's look, but the fact it isn’t quite so enormous may work out in the phone’s favor. Especially if it’s as sleek as the rumors suggest it might be.

The iPhone 17 series isn’t due to arrive until sometime in September, but we’ll no doubt see plenty more leaks before that happens. In the meantime, you can check out our iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro Max and iPhone 17 Air hubs for all the latest news and rumors about the phones.

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Tom Pritchard
Tom Pritchard
UK Phones Editor

Tom is the Tom's Guide's UK Phones Editor, tackling the latest smartphone news and vocally expressing his opinions about upcoming features or changes. It's long way from his days as editor of Gizmodo UK, when pretty much everything was on the table. He’s usually found trying to squeeze another giant Lego set onto the shelf, draining very large cups of coffee, or complaining about how terrible his Smart TV is.

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