iPhone 17 leak theory.

We are about 40-ish days from new iPhones being announced, and we got presumably our first look at a test unit out in the wild. From what is visible, the hardware matches what the rumors have mentioned for months, with an elongated camera bump with the flash and LiDAR sensor further away from the camera lenses.

A recent tip given to MacRumors also suggests a new Camera Control button which I didn’t believe initially, but could still be a feature:

The tipster claimed to be familiar with an iPhone 17 Pro commercial that is allegedly being produced by a film company that has publicly listed Apple as one of its clients. […]

The tipster revealed three alleged iPhone 17 Pro features that have not been rumored previously:

• An upgraded Telephoto lens with up to 8× optical zoom, compared to up to 5× optical zoom on the iPhone 16 Pro models. The lens can apparently move, allowing for continuous optical zoom at various focal lengths.

• An all-new pro camera app from Apple for both photos and videos. This app would compete with the likes of Halide, Kino, and Filmic Pro. It is unclear if the app would be exclusive to the iPhone 17 Pro models.

• An additional Camera Control button on the top edge of the devices, for quickly accessing the camera and related settings. This would complement the Camera Control button on the bottom-right edge of all iPhone 16 models.

Could this additional Camera Control button exist exclusively as an iPhone 17 Pro Case? The iPhone 17 Air is expected to have a case with extended battery capabilities for days when you just need that extra power, so why not a more Pro-oriented case for days when you’re expected to really push the camera to its limits?

It doesn’t seem out of the blue to have a dedicated case that has additional camera controls. Apple did have a battery case for the iPhone 11 models that included a Camera button.

iPhone 11 Smart Battery Case.