Next year, Apple should launch a new iPhone 17 Air that is clearly different, favoring aesthetics with an ultra-thin design. Inspired by the design of the iPad Pro 2024, the first iPhone “Air” would not be as thin as hoped. Apple may indeed be struggling to achieve its goal, according to a new supply chain report.
Apple would not have achieved its initial objective
According to the leaker eyes1122 on NaverApple’s ability to make the iPhone 17 Air truly thin depends largely on battery design. Initially, Apple aimed to use a next-generation battery with an advanced internal substrate to achieve an extremely thin profile. However, the company reportedly faced several challenges, including high component costs, manufacturing consistency issues, and technical limitations, which led to a review of the battery design. As a result, the iPhone 17 Air would be around 6mm thick, although there’s no information on how that compares to Apple’s initial vision.
For comparison, the current iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus are 7.8 mm, while the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max peak at 8.25 mm. For reference, Apple’s thinnest iPhone to date is the iPhone 6 at 6.9mm, and the iPhone 6 Plus at 7.1mm. The best student obviously remains the iPad Pro M4, which has reached new heights with only 5 mm thickness, the most compact product to date.
Even though the iPhone 17 Air is not as thin as Apple initially hoped, it will be noticeably thinner than the iPhone 16 series. Additionally, Apple is not expected to stop at the dimensions of the iPhone 17 Air to give it a more premium and differentiating appearance. Moreover, the American brand will have to hit hard, because Samsung has already planned to launch a very thin Galaxy S too.
An innovative range in 2025
To find out more, you will have to wait until September 2025, the official presentation (and release) date of the iPhone 17 range. On the menu, customers can expect a smaller Dynamic Island, a 120 Hz screen on all models or even new features on the camera side, in particular on the telephoto lens which would increase to 48 megapixels.
