For months, rumors have been circulating that Apple will be changing the camera modules on this year"s iPhone 17 series. Previous leaks suggested that Apple could introduce a horizontal camera module, similar to Google Pixel phones. The same has been claimed about Apple"s slim phone, the iPhone 17 Air.
Now, some CAD renders of the iPhone 17 series have been shared on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), which suggests that the previous claims about a camera module change could be true. Reliable leaker Sonny Dickson shared the CAD renders on X commenting, "Everyone seems to be sharing the same iPhone 17 CAD, so I thought I"d share the ones I"ve seen."
As per the CAD renders shared, only the vanilla iPhone 17 will stick to the vertical camera module, the same as the one on the iPhone 16.
Another image shows the design of the iPhone 17 Air, a slim phone from Apple rumored to replace the "Plus" model.
It features an elongated pill-shaped camera module on the back with a single camera, anticipated to be a 48MP shooter—the same one found on the iPhone 16.
Shifting over to the iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max models, these are the models that are shown to have received the most dramatic camera module design changes. The Pro models are reportedly moving away from the triangular camera module housed inside the square bump—well sort of.
The renders show that the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max will feature triple cameras aligned in a triangular pattern. However, this time, they are housed inside a rectangular, pill-shaped camera module that spans the device"s width. While the triple cameras are placed in their usual position, the LED flash, mic, and LiDAR sensor are now positioned to the far right.
For now, there is no explanation available on why Apple has decided to adopt (if true) this camera model design. Also, since these are based on rumors, we would advise you to take it with a pinch of salt.