Apple tries to sneak a disguised iPhone 17 Pro into the real world for testing

In what appears to be our first look at a pre-production 2025 iPhone model, an X subscriber with the username @Skyfops posted a tweet showing someone holding an iPhone 17 series model hidden in a thick black case that hides the camera bar on the back of the phone. According to the X subscriber, the photograph also shows a burly security guard who tried (but failed) to block the phone from being photographed.

Trying to figure out a more specific unveiling date, Gurman eliminated Monday, September 8th, and Friday, September 12th, since Monday and Friday events are usually not done by Apple. Thursday, September 11th, is out since Apple considers it in poor taste to announce new products on any anniversary of 9/11.

One photo shows a man wearing sunglasses and a hat (the hat is worn in the traditional manner) and in one hand is a recent iPhone Pro model while the disguised iPhone 17 is in his other hand. Even with the thick black case, you can tell that it is an iPhone 17 model with a camera bar because of the placement of the cutouts for the flash and LiDAR sensors. The cutout for the camera lenses indicates that the phone in the picture is an iPhone 17 Pro model.

You might remember that back in April 2010, an unknown iPhone model was discovered on the floor of a bar in San Jose, California. This was the iPhone 4, which not only had a much different design than the iPhone 3GS, but it was also put into a case so that no one could see what the phone looked like. Apple and other phone manufacturers resort to using such cases when they take a phone being tested out in the real world from being spotted, photographed, and placed all over social media.