Apple’s upcoming flagship iPhone 17, set to debut next September, will reportedly feature an aluminum frame for the first time. This information comes from Wayne Ma of The Information.
According to Ma’s sources, the top portion of the iPhone’s rear panel will have an aluminum rectangular camera bump, moving away from the 3D glass design used in all models since the iPhone 11. The bottom half of the rear panel will remain glass to support wireless charging.
While there are no detailed descriptions of the new iPhones yet, this design shift is already being hailed as the most significant since the flat-edge redesign of the iPhone 12 Pro. However, the return to “non-premium” aluminum, after years of using surgical-grade stainless steel and titanium, seems like an unusual decision that Apple will need to justify to its audience. And frankly, it’s hard to predict how the company will pull that off.
Wayne Ma and The Information have a track record worth trusting—they were the first to share a drawing of the Apple Vision Pro years before its unveiling. That said, the iPhones set to launch in September 2025 are still in the later stages of development, where significant design changes are still possible.
