Apple’s upcoming iPhone 17 Air will closely match the configuration of the iPhone 17 Pro, reports claim, but there will be some slight differences. According to a new leak posted to Weibo earlier today, the iPhone 17 Air will boast one less GPU core than the iPhone 17 Pro. So, while the Pro model will ship with a 6-core GPU A19 Pro chip, the iPhone 17 Air will ship with a 5-core GPU A19 Pro chip.
The report doesn’t offer an explanation as to why, but the decision is likely tied to Apple’s efforts to improve thermal management for such a svelte device. Recall that the iPhone 17 Air will reportedly be just 5.5mm thick and, in turn, will be the thinnest iPhone that Apple has ever produced. As a point of reference, the thinnest iPhone to date is the iPhone 6, which was 6.9mm thick. It is worth noting that the 5.5mm measurement on the iPhone 17 Air doesn’t include the device’s protruding camera bump.
Will users experience any difference in performance?
If you’re on the fence between picking up the iPhone 17 Air or the iPhone 17 Pro, it’s likely you won’t notice any performance difference on account of one less GPU core. For most users who use their iPhone for basic tasks like messaging, video streaming, and browsing the web, the difference in performance will be impossible to observe. One less GPU core will only be an issue for users who routinely play graphics-intensive video games. Unless you’re a hardcore gamer, the iPhone 17 Air should be more than powerful enough.
It’s also worth noting that the leak claims the iPhone 17 Air will have shorter battery life than the iPhone 17 Pro. This, though, shouldn’t come as much of a surprise given that the device, by virtue of its incredibly thin design, will have a smaller battery.
As we highlighted a few days ago, Apple’s iPhone 17 Air is expected to come with a 2,800 mAh battery, putting it on par with the iPhone 12. But you’d be mistaken in thinking that battery life on the iPhone 17 Air will be a disappointment. Recall that the iPhone 17 Air will reportedly ship with the same Apple-designed C1 modem that debuted on the iPhone 16e. The C1 is more power efficient than Qualcomm’s modem, which is to say Apple can get away with the iPhone 17 Air having a smaller battery.
iPhone 17 specs and overall design
Despite Tim Cook noting a few years ago that Apple was going to “double down on product secrecy,” keeping iPhone leaks under wraps has proven to be impossible. Apple’s supply chain is simply too vast, and given the financial incentive to leak rumors to Apple’s ravenous fanbase, there’s simply a limit to what Apple can do to maintain product secrecy.
In light of that, we’ve seen a steady stream of iPhone 17 Air rumors trickle in over the last few months. Design-wise, the dummy model below provides us with a good look at what the final product will probably look like. The exceptionally thin design is apparent, as is the single camera lens on the back. While the camera setup might be a deal breaker for some, it stands to reason that anyone who wants Apple’s most sophisticated camera system would opt for the iPhone 17 Pro.
iPhone 17 Air Black looks so good pic.twitter.com/ovOTNUKEg6
— Majin Bu (@MajinBuOfficial) July 8, 2025
Aside from being incredibly thin, the device will also be remarkably light. According to reports, the iPhone 17 Air will weigh just 145 grams. To put that into context, it will even be lighter than Apple’s iPhone SE 2. As for other specs, the iPhone 17 Air will likely feature a 6.6-inch 120Hz ProMotion display and 12GB of RAM. Incidentally, the entry-level iPhone 17 models will feature 8GB of RAM. As a result, it’s fair to say that the iPhone 17 Air will be closer, performance wise, to the iPhone 17 Pro than to the base model iPhone 17. As a quick point of interest, this is the first year we’ll see an iPhone ship with 12GB of RAM.
As for a release date, rumor has it that Apple will hold its iPhone 17 launch event on Tuesday, September 9. Pre-orders will likely begin on September 12, followed by an official launch a week later on September 19.
iPhone 17 pricing
Historically, it’s been somewhat easy to predict iPhone pricing, as Apple has done a good job of keeping prices consistent year over year. For example, the entry level iPhone 16 was launched at the same price point as the iPhone 12. This year, though, it’s a bit more challenging to predict Apple’s pricing matrix due to President Trump’s seemingly ever-changing tariff declarations.
The consensus amongst analysts is that Apple’s iPhone 17 Pro pricing will be a bit higher than in years past. If, for example, an iPhone 17 Pro imported from China is subject to a 30% tariff, analysts anticipate Apple will pass most of the additional cost onto consumers as opposed to eating the entirety of the cost itself.
According to analyst Edison Lee, Apple will keep entry-level iPhone 17 pricing consistent, which is to say it will likely retail for $799. Lee also anticipates that the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max models will retail for $1,049 and $1,249, respectively. As a point of reference, the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max currently retail for $999 and $1,199, respectively. That’s a $50 price hike, but bear in mind that the entry-level storage on both iPhone 17 Pro models will reportedly start at 256GB. Currently, the iPhone 16 Pro has a base storage of 128GB while the iPhone 16 Pro Max has a base storage of 256GB.
The wild card in all of this is the iPhone 17 Air. It has no predecessor upon which to make any comparison, so any estimate is pure speculation. That said, it’s likely that the iPhone 17 Air will be priced somewhere between the entry-level iPhone 17 and the iPhone 17 Pro models. Therefore, it’s possible that the iPhone 17 Air will be priced in the $899 range.
