The iPhone 17 Pro Max has seemingly been caught on camera – and it could cost less than expected

- A short video seemingly shows an iPhone 17 Pro Max retail unit
- JPMorgan's pricing predictions suggest most iPhone 17 models won't cost more than their predecessors
- A third leak suggests the iPhone 17 Air could be the only model to lack a SIM card slot in the EU
The iPhone 17 series has been extensively rumored now, including numerous potentially leaked images and videos, but so far those images and videos have been limited to renders and dummy units. Now though, a real iPhone 17 Pro Max might have been filmed.
Reputable leaker UniverseIce has shared footage on Weibo (via GSMArena) that they claim is of a mass-produced version of the iPhone 17 Pro Max – in other words a unit that’s intended to be sold once the phone launches.
Of course, we’d take this with a pinch of salt, but this close to the phone’s September 9 launch it’s believable we’d be seeing it. Whether this is the real deal or just another dummy unit though, it looks a whole lot like what we’ve seen in earlier leaks, complete with a large, redesigned camera block.
Promising price predictions
We’ve also heard more about the possible pricing of the iPhone 17 series, and the latest news on that front is positive. According to a research note from JPMorgan, seen by 9to5Mac, the firm expects the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro Max to have the same prices as their predecessors.
That would mean a starting price of $799 / £799 / AU$1,399 for the iPhone 17, and of $1,199 / £1,199 / AU$2,149 for the iPhone 17 Pro Max. Though technically they’re only talking about US pricing here, so it’s possible prices will still be higher in other regions, even if this report is right.
The iPhone 17 Pro could be in for a price rise even in the US, but not a very big one, with JPMorgan forecasting a starting price of $1,099. That’s up from $999 for the iPhone 16 Pro, but it would apparently be paired with more storage, as the iPhone 17 Pro is said to start at 256GB rather than 128GB. If we see the same price rise elsewhere, then we could be looking at a starting price of £1,099 / AU$1,999.
Finally, they predict that the iPhone 17 Air will start at either $899 or $949. The former is the same starting price as the iPhone 16 Plus, which it’s expected to replace, so it could either have the same price or cost $50 more, meaning pricing elsewhere might be between around £899 / AU$1,599 and £949 / AU$1,699.
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We’d take all of this with a pinch of salt, but we hope JPMorgan is right about all this, since some earlier leaks pointed to price rises across the board.
Too slim for a SIM
Rounding out a trio of iPhone 17 series leaks, we’ve also heard from TechManiacs (via GSMArena) that while the iPhone 17 Air will be eSIM-only in the EU, the other iPhone 17 models will retain a physical SIM card slot. The reason being that the iPhone 17 Air is too slim to easily fit a SIM card slot in it.
That might not sound surprising, but another recent leak suggested that all iPhone 17 models in the EU – and likely therefore also the UK – would be eSIM only. Of course, if you’re in the US we fully expect them all to lack slots for a removable SIM card, as that’s been the case for a while there.
We’ll know exactly what the SIM situation is soon though, as the highly likely launch of the iPhone 17 series is now less than a week away.
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James is a freelance phones, tablets and wearables writer and sub-editor at TechRadar. He has a love for everything ‘smart’, from watches to lights, and can often be found arguing with AI assistants or drowning in the latest apps. James also contributes to 3G.co.uk, 4G.co.uk and 5G.co.uk and has written for T3, Digital Camera World, Clarity Media and others, with work on the web, in print and on TV.
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