At the end of last year, I wrote that the Google Pixel 9 Pro was the best-looking phone of 2024 and the only Android-powered device that could tempt me away from my beloved iPhone. Well, perhaps Apple felt the same way (or at least recognized the threat), as the company is reportedly bringing a Pixel 9-style design to the iPhone 17 line in 2025.
Specifically, the iPhone 17 Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max are tipped to sport a rear camera module that stretches across the entirety of their respective rear panels, similar to the pill-shaped camera module on the Google Pixel 9 Pro.
Admittedly, the three-camera array on the Pro models will continue to look distinctly iPhone-like (at least according to recent CAD renders of the upcoming phones). Still, there’s no denying Apple’s source of inspiration for the rear panel on the iPhone 17 Air (just look at it!).
Google, too, is acutely aware of the iPhone’s potentially imminent design shake-up. The company recently poked fun at Apple for “doing the same thing [we] did first” in a lighthearted video posted to its Made by Google YouTube channel. Although we’ve heard no official word from Apple as to what the iPhone 17 series will look like, the consensus among tipsters is a surefire sign that big design changes are on the way.
Suffice it to say, this is good news for Pixel-appreciating iPhone fans and terrible news for Google. As I wrote in that aforementioned article, “I’m a huge iPhone fan, and even I found myself looking twice at the Pixel’s flat aluminum sides, frosted glass rear panel, and perfectly sized pill-shaped module.”
If, as rumors suggest, the iPhone 17 Air gets its own pill-shaped module, I’ll no longer have a reason to look twice at the best Pixel phones.
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They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but if the company imitating you sells over 100 times more smartphones, that flattery might as well be a vial of arsenic. Google may well be flattered by Apple’s apparent appreciation for its design nous, but trust me, a Pixel-style iPhone is not a good thing for the future of Pixel phones.
Of course, Google can’t do all that much about Apple’s plans for the next iPhone except playfully call out the potential similarities between it and the Pixel 9 Pro – but let’s not pretend like Android manufacturers haven’t pinched ideas from Apple.
Samsung, many of the Chinese brands (see the new Oppo Find X8 Pro and Honor 400 Lite), and Google itself (not least with the Pixel 9 Pro!) have all been influenced by Apple in recent years, so it’s only fair that Apple occasionally dips its hand in their ideas bag, too.
At least in my view, there’s nothing wrong with this constant exchanging of ideas – I’ve written at length before about why I think Samsung, for instance, is right to take inspiration from Apple’s iPhone design. There’s no shame in playing to a winning strategy.
So, if Apple does decide to implement a Pixel-like design on at least one of its upcoming iPhone 17 models, I’m all for it. I may be in the minority for thinking so – Apple fans recently branded the rumored design shift as “so ugly” – and Google certainly won’t be happy about it. But if it makes for the best of both worlds? Count me in.
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axel.metz@futurenet.com (Axel Metz)
