Easy battery removal tech coming to iPhone 17 Pro, report claims

Apple’s 16-series iPhones launched as recently as last month, but the rumor mill never stops spinning. We’re already getting plenty of leaks and tips about the updates and new features coming to the next generation of iPhone in 2025—or in this case, existing features coming to a wider range of handsets.

This fall, Apple introduced a new space-age battery adhesive on the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus… but not the 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max. The adhesive “debonds” when an electrical current is applied, which makes it easy to remove the handsets’ batteries when you want to, but also means they’re held securely in place when you don’t. (We explain the tech in a separate article.) This is obviously helpful because the battery is one of the most likely to wear out and need to be replaced and easy removal helps make the repair simpler.

Given how appealing that sounds, it makes sense that Apple would want to offer it on as many phones as possible–and particularly the premium models. And sure enough, the leaker Majin Bu yesterday claimed, based on “the information I have been able to get,” that the entire iPhone 17 lineup will get the new adhesive tech.

It might seem odd that Apple would limit a new feature to the cheaper versions of the iPhone 16, when it very clearly wants to upsell customers to the Pro models. But this isn’t entirely unprecedented for new features which the company views as experimental. The budget 10th-gen iPad got a landscape-orientation FaceTime camera years before its more expensive siblings, but while we now view that as unquestionably an improvement, Apple may not have been so sure it would be positively received at the time. Similarly, there are rumors that next spring’s low-priced new iPhone SE will get the benefits of an in-house 5G modem before any other iPhone. It sounds like an odd strategy, but it minimizes the risk of a high-priced premium model running into unexpected problems.

For all the latest news and rumors about next fall’s launch, check out our regularly updated iPhone 17 superguide. And if you’d rather not wait that long, make sure you get the best possible price on the current range with our in-depth guide to the best iPhone deals.