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Google has funny response to those saying the new iPhone 17 camera bar steals from Pixel

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By Alan Friedman

Published: May 06, 2025, 1:00 AM

An iPhone 17 Pro render shows off the rumored rear camera bar expected on the model.

Those renders showing how Apple is supposedly adding a horizontal camera bar to the back of the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max have supposedly resolved some iPhone users' "Pixel envy." First, let's note that renders of the rear camera on the base iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Air don't look anything close to the rear camera bar on any Pixel model. Even the bars on the back of iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max renders require you to use your imagination if you want to consider them to be Pixel-esque.

Nonetheless, many have made the comparison and I have been guilty of this myself. Google has a response which it turned into the latest ad for its #BestPhonesForever series. These spots, created with Gumby-like stop-action animation, imagine a world where the Pixel and the iPhone are best friends. Fans of both phones love the ads even though, as you'd imagine in a series of ads created by Google, the iPhone is the device missing certain features. In fact, the iPhone comes off looking naive while Pixel is an all-knowing character.

The new ad is titled "Responding to the Rumors" and it starts with Pixel and iPhone hosting a podcast. The main topic is the upcoming redesign of the iPhone 17 line and all of the rumors that accompany such a major change. During the podcast, a headline from a tech blog appears on the screen stating, "iPhone 17 leaks look a lot like Google Pixel. A comment made by iPhone mirrors a thought that many Pixel fans have had in their minds since the iPhone 17 renders were first published. "Can you imagine me doing the same thing you did first years later," asks iPhone.

Then, iPhone brings up the time Google introduced Night Sight in 2018 followed by Apple's release of Night Mode for the iPhone a year later. Both features allow users to take viewable photos in extremely dark environments without using flash. And iPhone brings up Pixel's unveiling of Magic Eraser in 2021 which Apple copied with Clean Up last year. Lastly, both discuss the addition of widgets to iOS years after widgets were available for the first Pixel model back in 2016.

We look forward to seeing a preview for the Pixel 10 series during Google I/O to be held May 20-May 21st at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California. This year, the AP running the device will be the Tensor G5 built by TSMC using its third-gen 3nm process node (N3P). Unlike previous years, the chipset will be designed by Google from scratch.

While one has to suspend their connection with reality to say that the rumored clumsy looking iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max rear camera bars resemble the sleek camera bars on Pixel 9 models, Pixel does a good job reminding everyone of some of its recent features that were added by Apple for newer iPhone models.

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Alan, an ardent smartphone enthusiast and a veteran writer at PhoneArena since 2009, has witnessed and chronicled the transformative years of mobile technology. Owning iconic phones from the original iPhone to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, he has seen smartphones evolve into a global phenomenon. Beyond smartphones, Alan has covered the emergence of tablets, smartwatches, and smart speakers.

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