The iPhone 17 Air is expected to be Apple’s thinnest iPhone ever. Reports suggest it could be just 6 mm thick, a significant reduction from the iPhone 16 Pro’s 8.25 mm thickness. This sleek design might make the phone more comfortable to carry, even with a case.
Despite its thin profile, the iPhone 17 Air is rumored to have a larger 6.6-inch OLED display compared to the iPhone 16 Pro’s 6.3-inch screen. It may also feature a ProMotion display with a 120Hz refresh rate for smoother visuals. The new model could be lighter too, weighing under 6 ounces compared to the iPhone 16 Pro’s 7.03 ounces.
This would make it even more portable and easy to handle. Another potential change is a smaller cutout for the Dynamic Island. This would give the display a more seamless look when the feature is not in use, enhancing the phone’s visual appeal.
Under the hood, the iPhone 17 Air is expected to have Apple’s new A19 chip. While it will use the same 3nm process as the A18, the A19 promises better performance and power efficiency. This could lead to longer battery life despite a smaller battery.
These rumored features suggest the iPhone 17 Air will be a noteworthy upgrade over the iPhone 16 Pro.
Thinnest iPhone ever with A19 chip
For many, it may be worth waiting for its release in 2025 rather than buying the current model now.
The iPhone 17 Air’s thin design is made possible by a new in-house modem from Apple. This modem will debut in the iPhone SE in spring 2025 before coming to the Air model later. Developing the modem was challenging at first.
Early prototypes were too large, ran hot, and weren’t power-efficient enough. But Apple hired engineers from Qualcomm and improved its development practices to overcome these hurdles. “Apple’s in-house modem system will debut next spring, according to people familiar with the matter,” one source claims.
The company is now confident in its modem plan. However, the modem in the iPhone 17 Air is rumored to be less powerful than the one in the iPhone 16 Pro. In lab tests, Apple’s first modem reaches download speeds of about 4 gigabits per second.
That’s slower than the top speeds of non-mmWave Qualcomm modems. But real-world speeds for both modems are usually much lower. So customers may not notice a difference in day-to-day use.
The focus for the iPhone 17 Air seems to be its ultra-thin design rather than raw modem performance.
