iPhone 17 Air design renders leak, showcasing big camera bump
Did someone say "Google Pixel but with iOS?"
📱 The iPhone 17 Air just leaked in new renders
👀 It looks a lot like the Google Pixel with a huge camera bar
📸 Despite the camera bar, there’s still a single rear camera
📅 The phone is expected to debut this September
We’ve been tracking all of the iPhone 17 Air rumors lately, and the latest involves a set of renders that allegedly reveal the design of the phone from practically every angle.
FrontPageTech’s Jon Prosser has posted a YouTube video showcasing the renders, and it reveals a phone that looks like some combination of an iPod touch, an iPhone 16 Plus, and a Google Pixel, all thanks to its huge camera bump on the back. It appears Apple will be leaning in a Google direction with its next generation of phones; the iPhone 17 Pro is also expected to get a massive camera bump that’s around twice as chunky due to its three rear cameras.
The iPhone 17 Air’s camera bump will be relatively thin in comparison (aligning with previous leaks), but it’ll still be a massive change for Apple. It’s a rarity for the company to take such obvious inspiration from its competitors, so having a camera bump of this magnitude feels a bit out of place for the tech giant.
Regardless, the bump not only aligns with previous rumors we’ve heard, but also helps to justify the thin profile. Apple’s entire goal with the iPhone 17 Air is to make it really thin, so thin that it’ll become the thinnest iPhone ever. Rumors suggest it’ll be around 5-6mm thick, which is far thinner than the 6.9mm iPhone 6 from 2014. In order to accommodate the limited vertical space, it seems like Apple will be relying on a massive camera bump for the single 48MP sensor on the back.
Prosser’s leak doesn’t confirm whether the iPhone 17 Air design will look like this, but he’s been accurate in some previous leaks, so take this with a grain of salt.
The rest of the iPhone 17 Air will be some level of interesting. It’s expected to include a big 120Hz screen, Apple’s in-house Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip, a single speaker grille for the earpiece, a smaller battery than previous iPhone Plus models, and no mmWave 5G support. In exchange, you’ll get Apple’s thinnest phone yet, which will need to be quite impressive to forgive all these shortcomings.
Max Buondonno is Editor at The Shortcut. He’s been reporting on the latest consumer technology since 2015, with his work featured on CNN Underscored, ZDNET, Newsweek, TheStreet, and more. Follow him on X @LegendaryScoop and Instagram @LegendaryScoop.
