Apple admits the new iPhone cameras have a rare glitch

Dec 20, 2025

The new iPhones will be released on Friday, but select early reviewers are already testing them, and CNN Underscored has identified a "rare" camera glitch. (Mashable's reviews are still in progress and coming soon.) In a review of the new ultra-thin iPhone Air, CNN Underscored reported that glitches occurred while taking photos at a concert with both the iPhone Air and iPhone 17 Pro Max cameras.

"I also noticed an odd imaging problem at this concert, where one out of every 10 or so photos taken on the iPhone Air and iPhone 17 Pro Max have small blacked-out portions, including boxes and parts of white squiggles from the big LED board behind the band," reads the review. Pictures from the review show black boxes appearing in multiple photographs from a concert.

SEE ALSO: The first iPhone 17 Pro Max reviews are in: What the early testers are saying

Apple acknowledged the camera glitch in a statement to CNN Underscored, saying that it can occur in rare cases "when an LED light display is extremely bright and shining directly into the camera." In addition, Apple told CNN Underscored that the problem will be solved in an upcoming software update.

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Apple didn't provide any information on the timing of the promised software update, so if you're planning on ordering the new iPhones, use caution when taking photographs around large LED displays and lights. That's good advice for any phone, as LED lights and lasers generally don't play well with camera sensors.