What could be Apple's ambitious plan for the iPhone 17 series?

While the iPhone 16 series is still new to the market, rumors and speculations about the next generation of Apple smartphones, the iPhone 17 series, have been quite loud over the past month. The verbiage around Apple's upcoming iPhones mostly aims at one thing: The Cupertino firm wants to push the envelope with the iPhone 17 series. Interestingly, insider voices have recently confirmed these rumblings.

Almost a month before the official debut of the iPhone 16, we reported that Apple may want to keep some of its best innovations under wraps and use them in the 2025 iPhones. As a result of recent structural changes at Apple, Richard Dinh has become the VP of product design for the iPhone and related programs, as per Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.

In a memo to the engineering group, Apple's engineering head, John Ternus, described next year's iPhone 17 series as the "most ambitious in the product's history." Such an inflated claim makes us wonder what Apple might have kept under wraps for 2025.

According to previous reports, Apple wants to drop the Plus model from the iPhone 17 lineup and replace it with a Slim model. This is the most reliable information about Apple's next-generation iPhones to date, alongside other claims like 12GB of RAM for the Pro variants. Additionally, there is no question that the iPhone 17 series will be heavily dependent on AI capabilities with an improved and smarter Apple Intelligence.

Since no context is yet offered, it's hard to define what Ternus could mean by his "most ambitious" claim. However, reading between the lines, Apple could be preparing to finally launch a foldable or flipping iPhone to catch up with Samsung and Google. In April, Apple was spotted filing patents for an alleged multi-display phone, dubbed "User Interfaces For Devices With Multiple Displays." Though, the firm might still need to gain some technological uniqueness before launching a so-called iPhone Fold.

Another feature that could fulfill Apple's ambitious dream for the iPhone 17 series is its compatibility with AR and VR content, aligning with the company's recent plans to launch a cheaper Vision Pro headset to make it cater to a broader audience.