If you’re seeing white squiggles or small blacked-out patches in photos taken with an iPhone 17 Pro or iPhone Air, you’re not alone. A rare camera glitch is cropping up under very specific conditions, most notably when extremely bright LED stage lights shine directly into the lens. The quirk has surfaced even before the new iPhone 17 lineup officially hits stores, and Apple has acknowledged the problem.
During testing at a live concert, a reviewer observed that some shots from the iPhone Air produced dark areas alongside thin, white, wavy lines. The issue didn’t appear in every image, but it showed up often enough to be distracting—roughly one out of every ten photos in that lighting scenario.
Apple says the behavior can occur in very rare cases when an LED light display is extremely bright and pointed straight at the camera. The company confirmed it’s a software bug rather than a hardware defect, and a fix is on the way. The update is expected to arrive with iOS 26.1, with beta testing set to begin soon.
Apple typically moves quickly to resolve software-related hiccups across its devices, and this looks no different. While there’s no exact timeline, the next iOS update is likely to include a patch. Until then, iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air users should be mindful when shooting in front of intense LED panels or stage lighting to avoid spoiling a great shot.
Key takeaways:
– What’s happening: White squiggles and small blacked-out patches may appear in photos under very bright LED displays.
– Affected devices: iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air.
– When it occurs: Rare, but more likely at concerts or events with intense LED stage lights aimed at the camera.
– What Apple says: It’s a software bug, not a hardware issue.
– Fix timeline: A software update is planned, expected with iOS 26.1.
