iPhone 17 Rumors: Everything We Could See With Apple’s Next Flagship Device

The iPhone 16 is still only a few months old, but that doesn’t stop the rumor mill from increasing speculation about Apple’s next devices. There’s already been a lot of buzz about what we might see with the next iPhone, likely called iPhone 17, next fall, from a thinner version of the flagship handset to a new screen with a higher refresh rate on basic models.

Here’s what analysts are predicting about the iPhone 17 lineup, which is expected to be announced around September 2025 – but it’s never too early to speculate.

A thinner iPhone

One of the biggest rumors concerns a possible “Slim” iPhone, a thinner version of Apple’s flagship device that would replace the iPhone Plus option. It could feature a 6.6-inch display, making it slightly smaller than the iPhone 16 Plus and iPhone 16 Pro Max but still larger than the base model, according to analysts Jeff Pu and Ming-Chi Kuo.

The thinner phone could also feature an aluminum-based frame, Pu and Kuo each suggested. This wouldn’t be a big step, since Apple added a polished aluminum finish to the Apple Watch Series 10.

Making a device lighter will require making hardware compromises, and that might include the phone’s camera. It’s possible that this version of the iPhone 17 will only have one main camera, Kuo speculates, dispensing with the ultra-wide and 5x telephoto lenses that have been staples of Apple’s high-end iPhones for years. That would put the slim iPhone in the same camp as the $429 iPhone SE when it comes to cameras, as that phone also only has a single rear camera. The good news, however, is that the iPhone Slim’s selfie camera could use a boost; we’ll talk about it later.

As for what’s inside, the iPhone 17 Slim will likely feature an A18 or A19-branded chip, Pu suggests. This would match the chip in the base iPhone 17. It could also include 8GB of RAM and, potentially, an Apple-developed 5G modem.

It remains to be seen what the battery capacity might look like. A thinner build generally means less space for the battery and, by extension, potentially a compromise on battery life. Hopefully that’s not the case here, but we’ll have to see.

Higher refresh rate across the board

Rumor has it that all iPhone 17 models will feature a 120Hz display, boosting the non-Pro models from their current 60Hz refresh rate. This could be a welcome change, as the gap between the Pro and non-Pro refresh rate is surprising; When Apple launched the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus with a 60Hz display, there was an outcry from people expecting more in 2024. This rumored update could remedy that.

Camera upgrades

This is not an iPhone version without a camera upgrade. The biggest rumor so far is that the selfie camera on all iPhone 17 models, including the Slim, will be upgraded to 24 megapixels, Pu reports. That’s a decent improvement over the iPhone 16 line’s current 12-megapixel front-facing camera, although it’s important to remember that more megapixels doesn’t automatically mean better photos. Still, given that people are increasingly relying on their front-facing cameras to take selfies and record videos for TikTok and Instagram, this is certainly a welcome step forward.

Other possible features

While the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Slim, and iPhone 17 Pro are all rumored to have an aluminum design, Pu suggests the iPhone 17 Pro Max will retain a titanium frame. Additionally, the iPhone 17 Pro Max could have a narrower Dynamic Island, thanks to a smaller Face ID sensor. Dynamic Island on other iPhone 17 models would remain the same size, Pu says.

We’ll continue to update this article as new rumors surface, so be sure to follow along.