New iPhone 17 leak suggests major design overhaul is coming soon

If Apple sticks to its regular annual schedule, we should see the new iPhone 17 series launch in September. For most of the last decade, the tech giant has used this month to unveil its flagship iPhone range, and rumours point to 2025 being no different.

As we creep closer to September, more leaks are appearing online that suggest Apple is making some bold design decisions for the iPhone 17, even if the phones themselves won’t really be too different.

The major new addition rumoured to be coming to the iPhone line up is the introduction of a fourth model that will be sold alongside the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max, with Apple said to be ditching the regular ‘Plus’ iPhone we’ve seen since the iPhone 14 Plus.

In its place will, the rumours say, come the iPhone 17 Air, a super-slim iPhone with one rear camera. According to leaker Majin Bu, the Air will be slightly larger than the iPhone 17 and 17 Pro but smaller than the 17 Pro Max, as seen in the below image:

These are dummy models of the alleged iPhone 17 series that claim to show off what Apple’s design for the phones could be, according to leaks. The iPhone 17, second from right, looks to have a very similar design to the iPhone 16, but all the other three models have a new camera island design at the top that stretches across the back of the phones rather than clumping in the corner.

This also places the flash and LIDAR scanners of the Pro models on the right hand side, and gives the iPhone 17 Air some visual distinction from the also one-camera iPhone 16e.

It could well be that Apple is changing the design here to give the phones some visual differentiation to encourage upgrades. All phone companies are struggling to provide consumers with meaningful year-over-year improvements, hence people are upgrading their phones less frequently.

But it’s the iPhone 17 Air that Apple will hope is the real shot in the arm for iPhone sales. Will an iPhone sold purely on its thinness win buyers over? If the leaks are accurate, it will only have one camera. Do people want the ultra-wide and telephoto of the Pro phones, or do they just want something new?

Samsung recently released a thinned-down Galaxy S25 Edge, but I found the phone’s battery life less than stellar. The £1,099 phone also doesn’t have a telephoto lens, unlike the £799 Galaxy S25.

It will be interesting to see how Apple positions and prices the iPhone 17 Air. If it costs more than the regular 17 but less than the 17 Pro, we could see major interest from Apple fans who want their phone to feel new.

Time will tell if people want thin phones, or if phone firms are simply running out of new ideas.