Apple Developing 'Bold New' Pro Model For iPhone's Anniversary, Says Mark Gurman

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has watered down earlier reports that Apple was planning big changes to the iPhone 17 Pro.

In his most recent Power On newsletter, Gurman noted that the iPhone 17 Pro will not feature a "particularly bold" new design and the phone "isn't a major departure from current models". Rather, the new Pro will resemble the iPhone 16 Pro far more than was previously thought.

While the rear camera will appear "meaningfully different", the front of the iPhone 17 Pro will appear “quite similar” to the 16 Pro, Gurman wrote. This would imply that there will not be a smaller Dynamic Island cutout, which was the subject of early iPhone 17 Pro speculations.

Gurman went so far as to claim that the rumoured two-tone design will not be there too. "Some images online even show a two-tone design, with a dark-black camera block on top of a silver iPhone back. Those are, like many renders on the internet, not an accurate representation of what's to come," Gurman said.

"The iPhone 17 Pro won't have a two-toned back, I'm told. The camera area will be the same colour as the rest of the device. That speaks to the more gradual design changes that Apple is making," he added.

However, it does seem like the camera bar design will be there, spanning the width of the device and of the same colour as the iPhone 17 Pro's body. 

Gurman claimed that Apple is getting ready for a "major shake-up" in honour of the iPhone's 20th anniversary next year. The company is apparently developing a "bold new Pro model", alongside the first-ever introduction of a foldable iPhone.

"The company is preparing a major shake-up for the iPhone's 20-year anniversary, including a foldable version and a bold new Pro model that makes more extensive use of glass," Gurman wrote.

If this holds true, the device would finally fulfil famed Apple designer Jony Ive's original vision for the iPhone, which would "appear like a single sheet of glass".  

Apple's shift towards a thinner, glass design could be seen in the introduction of the iPhone 17 Air later this year marks, which is expected to be ultra-thin, and this design philosophy may be taken a notch up with both the glassy make and thinner dimensions of the 20th anniversary Pro model.