Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iPhone 17 Pro Spotted in the Wild?
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
It seems like they tried changing the tone once in a while recently, seen it a couple times already, always with articles where there wasn't a lot to say except for the headline.
Feels more like an experiment than a slip.
Whenever I read criticism to online blogs, it feels like readers picture the writers as working in a Manhattan skyscraper, wearing fedoras and smoking cigars. Give these people a break already, this is a blog and not the New York Times. And the NYT itself now makes more money from little games than news so it's not a great time for any sort of press.
Plus, you're reading this for free. My suggestion is politely saying things like "Personally, I don't enjoy this new style". If you wouldn't say something to somebody's face, in real life, don't say it on the internet.
I wondered the same thing at first, but the layout actually makes sense once you remember what Apple’s after. Moving the flash/LiDAR/mic across the bar frees up a whole column inside the main camera pod: plenty of room for that thicker folded-tele lens and for larger sensors in the wide and ultra-wide. It’s the same trade-off DSLR shooters have made for decades—give optics the prime real estate and tuck the light somewhere else.
Apple’s already filed a couple of “spatially adaptive flash” patents that describe tiny lens-array/light-pipe optics which fan the LED’s beam across the whole frame even when the emitter is off to one side. Pair that with the usual Night-mode style burst (one frame with flash, one without, aligned via gyro and LiDAR depth) and most side-light artefacts disappear before the picture even hits the Photos app. Night mode, Deep Fusion and Photonic Engine already do heavier maths than that every time you tap the shutter.
At typical phone distances (0.5 - 2m) the remaining asymmetry is small; smaller than the lens-flash gap on a DSLR hot-shoe.
Then I'll be that sucker 😂. Who doesn't want a mini iPad mini that folds open into an iPad mini? I'll be opening and closing that sucker over and over again... it'll be the ultimate fidget gadget 😊.
Much more interesting are those Apple Smartglasses he’s wearing. Clearly an excellent oled screen with incredible resolution.
That bump out is next level!
The thing I’m curious about is the new modem Apple will put in and overall battery improvements.
The thing I’m curious about is the new modem Apple will put in and overall battery improvements.
Like I've said before, they might as well just make the whole phone camera bump thickness and actually use the space. A big block of solid material across the back doesn't help battery life, weight, or anything else.
OH MY GODDDDDD IT REALLY HAS ANOTHER BUTTON (top left)
For Job’s sake what are they smoking at Apple HQ
For Job’s sake what are they smoking at Apple HQ
It looks staged 😳
While the iPhone 17 Pro is not expected to launch until September, a prototype of the device has potentially been spotted in the wild. However, the mysterious device could be just about anything, so this might simply be a false alarm.
X account @Skyfops today shared two somewhat blurry photos of the mysterious device. The post was later shared by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
"I just spotted a test development iPhone in the wild," the post said.
Everything that we have wrote below is purely speculation.
In one of the photos, a person wearing reflective sunglasses can be seen holding what appears to be an iPhone inside of a thick black protective case, which might be intended to disguise the design of the iPhone 17 Pro in public. They are also holding what appears to be an iPhone 16 Pro with a sticker on the back of it, which could be hiding a data matrix code that allows Apple to track internal iPhones used by employees for development purposes.
What might make the disguised device an iPhone 17 Pro? Well, rumors indicate that the back of the device will have a rectangular camera bump, with the LED flash, rear microphone, and LiDAR Scanner expected to be vertically aligned on the right side of the bump. And in the photo, the back of the device seems to have circular openings in the top-right corner for what could be the LED flash and LiDAR Scanner. Your guess is as good as ours, though.
Gurman seems to think the photos might be the real deal. "This looks legit," he said. Or maybe he's just being sarcastic. Who knows.
Adding to the intrigue, @Skyfops said "the guy on the right was security and trying to go in front of the iPhone to hide it." Allegedly!
The user is located in Los Angeles, according to the account's bio.
Even if this really was an iPhone 17 Pro prototype in the wild, these photos do not really show anything that is not already rumored. But who doesn't love an old-school 2010-era rumor in mid-summer, as we count down the days to Apple's announcement?
Article Link: iPhone 17 Pro Spotted in the Wild?
It’s just “Click Bait” 🥴well, if that guy with those sunglasses is an Apple employee ... might not have that job much longer
these photos show way too little from what we allegedly "know" ...
It doesn’t look like a case over the phone, looks like an entire custom shell/housing probably 3D printed just to hold the complete innards of a 17 for testing. That’s why it’s so bulky.
I like the idea of a full width camera bump which may bring camera improvements as they can use the space to put right angled optics. Plus it will stop it wobbling on a table!
I like the idea of a full width camera bump which may bring camera improvements as they can use the space to put right angled optics. Plus it will stop it wobbling on a table!
It won’t, because the camera rings still stick out considerably. The bump being wider only reduces the wobbling a bit.
Is it "Bring Your Child to Work and Let Them Write an Article Day" at MacRumors?
MacRumors is the new TMZ. There hasn't been any innovation coming from Apple in a very long time. This place used to be strictly about Apple products, now they have Samsung Foldable articles, chargers etc. They'd have 0 articles if this was ACTUALLY about apple products and how they've innovated. Now it's just "this years iphone will have a different camera bump!!!!! INNOVATION!!!"