The iPhone 17's camera placement may not change radically

A close-up of the familiar iPhone camera triangle

3 Facebook x.com Reddit Rumor Score 🤔 Possibly

Last updated 3 days ago

A new leak claims that recent rumors of at least one iPhone 17 model switching to a horizontal camera array are incorrect.

The original rumor came from two sources who claimed to have knowledge of a horizontal camera array that would be introduced for at least one of the iPhone 17 models. The model was suspected to be the upcoming iPhone 17 Slim, whose thinner size is believed to present engineering issues.

According to tipster “Instant Digital” on Chinese social media site Weibo, there will be a redesign of the camera system, but only a minor one.

“My source told me that the appearance of the back panel has indeed changed,” Instant Digital wrote on Weibo (translated), “but the arrangement of the three cameras is still triangular, not horizontal as is currently reported online.”

Instant Digital also disputed other recent rumors that Apple would ditch titanium in the iPhone 17 Pro case. In this case, his or her argument was about marketing and how Apple would struggle to portray the change as an improvement.

This was clearly an opinion, not a scientifically based comment. However, it is implied that the dispute over the camera change is based on supply chain information.

That's better than “Instant Digital,” which only suggests what Apple will or won't do. But the leaker has a mediocre track record when it comes to leaking Apple information.

If he or she is right, we should start seeing leaked photos or CAD images soon. One of the horizontal bar rumors did include an alleged frame for the iPhone 17 Slim that included a horizontal cutout for the cameras, but we believe that this is a render.

The leaker who showed this cutout previously leaked what was claimed to be Apple's roadmap for iPad releases.