iPhone 17 Pro Rumors: Confirmed vs Speculative Features

All the latest iPhone 17 Pro rumors in one handy post: new design, 48MP cameras, A19 chip, vapor cooling, reverse wireless charging, and more.

Apple has officially scheduled its ‘Awe Dropping’ event for September 9, 2025, at the Steve Jobs Theater at its HQ in Cupertino. We have no idea yet whether this will stick to the rather sanitised pre-recorded video presentation that it had to adopt for the pandemic and seems very happy to persist with, or if we will get something a bit more live action and entertaining. 

What we do know is that this will mark the debut of the iPhone 17 lineup. And we think the following is going to happen too.

Confirmed Rumors (High Confidence)

Yes, we know that ‘confirmed rumor’ is a bit of a tautology, but we hope you get what we mean. This is the stuff that is being talked about in enough places by enough people that we are fairly confident that it will come to pass.

Performance & Hardware

It looks like the iPhone 17 Pro will be based around a new A19 Pro chip which will feature performance boosts across all criteria thanks to a new fabrication process. Nowadays that means more from the CPU, GPU, and Neural Engine. Apple isn’t expected to make the switch to TSMC’s next-generation 2nm fabrication process until 2026. It will also feature 12 GB RAM for the first time as opposed to the 8 GB in last year’s Pro model.

Cameras

There has been a lot of speculation about Apple ramping up the camera capabilities across the iPhone 17 range, and the Pro model is no exception to that. The phone is likely to boast triple 48 MP rear cameras, covering wide, ultra-wide, and telephoto, with an 8× optical zoom debuting on the Pro Max. The front camera gets a decent bump in spec too and will be upgraded to a 24 MP unit from the current top-end 12 MP.

Display & Design

A new anti-reflective and scratch resistant display coating is on the cards, which should be similar to the company’s optional extra nano-texture for the desktops and laptops (and latterly the M4 iPad Pro). There are new colors as well which are being touted as vibrant shades: Orange, Dark Blue, Black, White, and Silver.

Battery & Form Factor

It looks like the Pro Max will be slightly thicker than before, partly to accommodate a new battery. And, going the other way, the much-discussed iPhone 17 Air might jettison some of the newer funkier camera features to produce a model that’s only 5.5mm thick.

Speculative Rumors (Lower Confidence)

These rumors tend to be reported from a single source with little or no corroboration.

Performance & Hardware

A vapor chamber cooling system has been reportedly tested in prototypes, but it’s as yet unclear if this has made it to the final design.

Cameras & Video

Native 8K video support on the Pro Max has been suggested. Maybe that’s what the bigger battery is for?

Design & Form Factor

A horizontal camera bar may replace the traditional square bump. According to renders, the three camera lenses are still grouped in a square, but the flash and LiDAR sensor are moved to the right and the bar elongated to the full width of the phone to accommodate them. The frame material may also switch from titanium to aluminum, for reasons that no one can quite figure out just yet.

Charging & Connectivity

Reverse wireless charging has apparently been tested internally. This is one of those tipping point moments when you realise that phone batteries have become capacious enough that you can now charge other accessories from them. Apparently a slightly lower Apple logo than normal on leaked images is the proof of this one, which shows the level of fevered speculation surrounding these things. We’ll see…