July 29, 2025 – Today, tech news outlet MacRumors posted an article revealing an intriguing development in the world of Apple products. It shared images captured outdoors by @Skyfops, which showcase what appears to be a prototype of the iPhone 17 Pro. The post on MacRumors stated, “An iPhone under development has been spotted in the wild,” and this tweet was later retweeted by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.
In one of the photos, a person wearing reflective sunglasses is seen holding an iPhone encased in a thick black protective shell. This shell is likely used to disguise the actual design of the iPhone 17 Pro when it’s being tested in public. The same person is also holding an iPhone 16 Pro with a label on its back. It’s speculated that this label might contain a data matrix code, enabling Apple to keep track of the employee – owned phones used for development purposes.
Previous reports have indicated that the back of the iPhone 17 Pro will feature a rectangular camera bump. The LED flash, rear – facing microphone, and LiDAR scanner are expected to be arranged vertically on the right side of this bump. In the photos, there seem to be circular cut – outs in the top – right corner of the device, which could potentially house the LED flash and LiDAR scanner.
