iPhone 17 “Air”: The thinnest iPhone reportedly has a promotion and good battery life 41 comments
Bild: Apple
The iPhone 17 “Air” isn’t official yet, the name is still unclear, and yet the rumors are now painting a good picture: the new model is to be the latest addition to the thinnest iPhone, and some features may be reduced accordingly. The promotion of the pros is to be preserved, in addition to the good battery life.
Newcomer from the front
Rumors of an iPhone 17 “Air” have been circulating since last summer, and now several analysts and journalists agree: Apple plans to present the next iPhone 17 in September. It will replace the previous larger model with an “Air” model. Bloomberg’s Marc Gurman describes a similar price of $900. The front should also see fewer changes: the Air will continue to rely on an unchanged dynamic island, while the display size will decrease slightly. This means the Air will be positioned between the iPhone 16 with a 6.1″ display and the iPhone 16 Plus with a 6.7″ display. The new model could therefore continue to replace previous buyers.
iPhone 17 Chip to Expect
The new iPhone 17 “Air” is also not expected to rely on the Pro chip, but only on the regular A19. It’s unclear how the two SoCs differ exactly; in the past, the base chip simply had fewer graphics cores. Therefore, efficiency remained comparable, with only performance suffering under full load. However, more users had to accept these cuts last year.
Pros Promote the Air
There are many more changes elsewhere, such as the display: Gurman reports a brief look back at the iPhone 17’s launch. The “Air” is expected to become the first non-iPhone with a display resolution of 120 Hz, enabling a refresh rate of 120 Hz. Apple has so far installed the technology exclusively in the MacBook Pro, iPad Pro, and iPhone Pro.
Battery life must remain good.
Battery life must also remain “on par” with current iPhone models, writes Gurman. So, don’t lose the “Air”‘s useful life. This should be possible, among other things, thanks to Apple’s C1 modem, which was already installed in the iPhone 16E and, thanks to a larger battery, achieved good battery life in the editorial team’s iPhone 16E test. The iPhone 17 “Air” is also expected to continue charging via USB-C; an iPhone without connections won’t be “Air”—although the company had planned for this, as Gurman writes.
Savings on SIM cards and cameras
Some features will then have to be eliminated: the SIM slot for the physical SIM card will have to make way for more space in the narrower housing, according to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo and Gurman. In the US, Apple has already taken this step with the iPhone 14. In Germany, the company only removed the SIM slot with the new iPad Pro with the M4 chip in May 2024. In this country, this decision could therefore spark more controversy.
Apple is also expected to plan for a single camera module, as with the new iPhone 16E, instead of the two in the previous Plus and the three in the Pro models. This step will also have to be space-saving, and users will be put off by a single 48 MP camera.
New design on the back
Gurman also talks about a “new industrial design” that’s supposed to move into the “Air” for the first time and is said to feature a new aluminum housing. With the changes coming soon to iOS 19, not only could the iPhone 17 Pro get a new back design, but also the newest member of the family. Apple, however, according to Gurman, plans to skip the changes to the iPhone 17 Pro this year, contradicting various rumors from other sources.
In other words, Apple’s Pro phones aren’t much different from what they did five years ago—and that will continue to be the case with this year’s crop.
Bloomberg 03/16/25
Thinnest iPhone Yet
These changes should then lead to a particularly thin model in the packaging: the height of the “Air” is not yet clear, but it should be thinner than the iPhone 6S. At 6.9 mm, the previous leader was the thinnest iPhone in history. The “Air” could set a new record at 5.5 mm, as Ming-Chi Kuo reported in January.
iPhone 11th Model (1st Gen) 11.6 mm iPhone 6 6.9 mm iPhone X 7.7 mm iPhone 16 7.8 mm iPhone 17 Pro Max 8.73 mm? iPhone 17 “Air” 5.5 mm?
FATER PROS AND REPORTS thanks to the “Air” technology
In return, Apple plans to make the new Pro models significantly thicker, according to the latest media reports. The “Air” could therefore appear even thinner compared to the new Pro models. In the future, the company also plans to venture into foldable devices with the help of the technology in the “Air,” which could be presented starting next year. Topics: Apple
iPhone smartphones Source: Bloomberg
Sarah tracks innovations in smartphones, evaluating their performance, design, and key features.
