Apple is expected to announce the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro devices this coming September which means they're not much more than a month away. But the latest rumors all center around what comes next, with the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro the talk of the town. And then, of course, there's the iPhone 17 Slim.
It isn't unheard of for iPhones to be leaked more than a year apart from their unveiling but things look particularly interesting when we look at the 2025 models. Rumors of a Slim model sitting atop the iPhone 17 Pro Max and the loss of the Plus model from the lineup already made 2025 an interesting year for iPhone buyers, but a new report adds further spice to proceedings with the suggestion buyers might not need to pick up the iPhone 17 Pro or iPhone 17 Slim to get a key feature.
The 120Hz ProMotion display is a big selling point for the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max right now, allowing for a smoother scrolling experience and buttery-smooth gaming when playing titles that support high frame rates. However, a new leak suggests that buyers of the 2025 iPhones will be able to choose the standard iPhone 17 and still enjoy the ProMotion feature, removing one reason for people to stump up the cash for one of Apple's best iPhones. And then there's the always-on display, too.
Not-so-Pro
The news comes via MacRumors after a Weibo post by Ice Universe, a leaker that has a history of sharing information about pre-release iPhones. The leak via Apple's machine translation, says that an "LTPO panel introduced for the first time in iPhone [17] (causing 120Hz variable refresh rate and the possibility of supporting AOD).
An LPTO panel can dynamically adjust its refresh rate from 1Hz to 120Hz, allowing for a smoother experience when compared to traditional iPhone displays that top out at 60Hz. However, the ability to slow the refresh rate all the way down to just 1Hz is also a key aspect here, allowing for the always-on display that really makes features like StandBy so useful.
This alone could be enough to allow some Pro-level buyers to ditch the handset and choose a standard iPhone 17 next year, although those who want a display of around d the 6.7- or 6.9-inch display size will still need to go for the iPhone 17 Pro Max or Slim — the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro are both stated for 6.3-inch panels.
There will of course still be other reasons for people to choose the higher-end iPhones, though. Better cameras and larger screens are a given, while it's likely that the better models will sport a new A19 Pro chip with improved performance, too.
All of that being said, the iPhone 17 Slim does seem to be something of an oddity, based on this leak. If the leak is accurate, it'll use the standard A19 chip and a dual-camera system while also being the most expensive model of the lineup with a price of around $1,299. The reason for that price is thought to be a completely new, extremely thin design. Whether that price will be justified given the seemingly downgraded chip and camera array remains to be seen, however, and I'm far from convinced at this point.
For now, I expect to be buying an iPhone 17 Pro Max in September 2025. Unless Apple surprises everyone and (finally) comes up with a foldable iPhone instead,
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