A strange camera glitch has been spotted on Apple’s iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17, where some users are noticing white squiggles and blacked-out patches appearing in their photos. The issue tends to show up under very specific conditions, particularly when bright LED stage lights are in play. Take note that the issue has arrived even before the latest iPhone 17 lineup has hit the shelves, and gladly the company has taken note of the issue.
Apple’s iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air cameras show white squiggles under LED lights, but a software fix is coming
Henry Casey of CNN Underscored reports that the problem became clearer during testing at a live concert, and he also shared images to show the issue. When the iPhone Air was used to capture shots, parts of the frame went dark while the rest of the area revealed odd, white squiggly lines across the image. He also noted that the issue did not persist in every photo, but it was often enough to be distracting and frustrating.
Casey describes the iPhone 17 Pro and Air camera issue as sporadic yet frustrating. He claims that about one in ten photos taken in that environment had “small blacked-out portions, including boxes and parts of white squiggles.” While the ratio is at the bare minimum, it could still ruin a perfectly good shot.
Apple has since confirmed the glitch, and explained that it happens “in very rare cases when an LED light display is extremely bright and shining directly into the camera.” The company further claimed that it is not a hardware flaw but a software bug, which we presume will be fixed in the next iOS 26.1 update. We have recently heard that the company is preparing to begin testing iOS 26.1, and the first beta will be released shortly.
Apple is very quick when it comes to fixing software-related issues on the iPhone, iPad, Mac, or any other Apple product, and we presume this time would not be different as well. However, the company has not shared any concrete details on when the issue will be resolved, but we can expect it in the very next update. Until then, iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air users may want to be cautious when snapping pictures in front of intense LED lights. We will let you guys know when the update is available for your supported iPhone, so be sure to stick around for more.