Man goes to repair shop with an old 17 Pro, leaves with an 'iPhone18 Pro'

A viral video showed a repair shop giving an iPhone 17 Pro the Burgundy look of Apple's new iPhone 18 Pro. The clip sparked jokes about status and appearances, while the phone's hardware remained unchanged.Man goes to repair shop with an old 17 Pro, leaves with an ‘iPhone18 Pro’ (Photos: @iNikhilsaini/X)Apple’s latest iPhone launch has barely sunk in, and Indian phone markets already appear to have found a way to “upgrade” last year’s model.A viral video showed an iPhone 17 Pro being given an iPhone 18 Pro-style makeover, all it seemed to need was a burgundy panel and matching frame.Apple unveiled the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max at its September 9 launch event, with the new models retaining a broadly familiar design while bringing several hardware upgrades.The Burgundy finish, however, is among the most noticeable visual changes, making it particularly easy for the internet to turn the new colour into an upgrade joke. The latest Pro models also feature upgrades, including the A20 Pro chip, a 48MP Fusion main camera with variable aperture and improved battery life.The video was shared by X user Nikhil Saini, who showed what appeared to be an iPhone 17 Pro being “converted” into an iPhone 18 Pro at a phone repair shop. In the video, a man at the shop was seen carefully cleaning the customer's iPhone 17 Pro before getting to work on its exterior. He fitted a burgundy panel onto the back of the phone and then added a matching burgundy border around the device.Once the work was done, the iPhone 17 Pro looked remarkably similar to the new Burgundy iPhone 18 Pro, at least from the outside.The caption accompanying the video claimed that Indian markets had already started offering “18 series converter kits” for the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max, joking that the latest models could be in trouble “if the only major difference is the colour.”Watch the video here:It’s actually over for the 18 Pro and Pro Max. Indian markets have already started putting 18 series converter kits on the 17 Pro and Pro Max. If the only major difference is the colour, iPhone 18 series is in trouble #Apple pic.twitter.com/cRpDUN5XRz— Nikhil saini (@iNikhilsaini) September 10, 2026The clip had viewers laughing at the idea of turning an older iPhone into the latest model without actually buying one. One person simply commented, “Never fell for that one!”Another said people who cared more about showing off that they owned the latest iPhone than the technology itself would probably be tempted by such a makeover.“This is not a crisis of technology, but of appearances!” another viewer quipped.Of course, a new panel cannot magically give an iPhone 17 Pro the hardware inside an iPhone 18 Pro. But for anyone whose biggest concern is making the phone look like the latest model, this “upgrade” apparently takes considerably less than a trip to the Apple Store.- EndsPublished By: Yashna TalwarPublished On: Sep 10, 2026 13:05 IST