Apple might be stepping into bold new territory with the upcoming iPhone 17 Pro – and it’s all about what’s going on around the cameras.
According to a new leak, the iPhone 17 Pro could be the first iPhone to support swappable, custom camera module panels – decorative panels that you can pop on and off to change up the look of your phone.
With that, you and other Apple users might be allowed to go wild with various back-panel bling.
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The source of the leak is insider Majin Bu, who posted about the possible feature on X. They wrote: “Manufacturers of accessories have started producing original camera covers to fit the wider camera tray of the new iPhone 17 Pro”, sharing an image of four brightly designed panels.
At first glance, these four certainly look a bit out there.
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One’s got a Ripcurl logo, another is covered in comic book-style artwork, and all of them have precision-cut holes to fit the rumoured layout of the iPhone 17 Pro’s camera island. If it turns out to be legit, this could be one of the biggest visual overhauls we’ve seen in iPhone history.
If you’ve seen the leaked renders floating around online, the back of the 17 Pro shows off a huge, flat camera module. It’s not just there for dramatic effect — that extra space seems tailor-made for some customisation love.
On the left are the three main cameras, while a flash and an extra sensor sit on the right. As for the gap in the middle, that’s where these flashy new panels would snap in.
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How exactly they’ll attach is still a bit of a mystery. The camera section is raised, which could complicate things, but one X commenter suggested: “It would be great if the panels were magnetic.” We agree — magnets would make it stupidly easy to swap panels on the fly and ditch wasteful one-time-use skins.
This would certainly open up a lot of product possibilities: from limited-edition panels to collabs with artists or brands. It’s easy to imagine people mixing and matching designs like fashion accessories, and for companies, this could be prime real estate for slapping on a logo.
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Of course, all of this is still very much in the rumour stage. Apple hasn’t confirmed anything, and the smartphone itself hasn’t even been officially revealed yet.
But if this idea turns out to be the real deal, Apple might be gearing up to add a whole new layer of personality to the iPhone.
