iPhone 17 Lineup Could See Some Design Changes Compared to iPhone 16 Series

iPhone 17 series is expected to land in the second half of this year and include the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Slim, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max models. There have been a bunch of rumours about the iPhone Slim aka iPhone 17 Air model in the past few months. A new leak has now surfaced that suggests the new iPhone 17 series might see revamped design, compared to its predecessors. Apple is said to bring back curved edges with the new lineup. 

Tipster Fixed Focus Digital on Weibo hints that the iPhone 17 lineup could see some design changes from the current iPhone 16 family. The tipster states "the key is that the connection area between the Deco of the fuselage and the back shell is a slope instead of a step" (machine translated from Chinese). This indicates that Apple has changed the design of frame for the new handsets and it may feature rounded sides.

It is uncertain if the rumoured design change could apply only to the base versions of the iPhone 17, Pro models, or all variants. The current iPhone 16 series features flat sides with rounded edges. The curved sides could improve the in-hand experience. Apple used curved sides for its old iPhone models including iPhone 6.

iPhone 17 Design Changes Rumours

This is not the first time we have heard about the design changes of the iPhone 17 series. In December last year, a leak indicated that the iPhone 17 Pro models could get a Pixel-style camera layout. Leaked renders showed a horizontal pill-shaped cutout for the camera module.

Another leak claimed that the iPhone 17 Pro models will have an aluminium frame rather than titanium. The iPhone 17 Pro models are rumoured to be powered by Apple's A19 Pro chip alongside 12GB RAM, while the standard iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Slim/Air could run on an A18 or A19 chip with support for 8GB RAM.