Expect Apple’s latest iPhone to look slimmer when it debuts on Tuesday. The company is slated to unveil its thinnest iPhone yet at its annual product showcase, promoted with the title “awe-dropping”. The event will take place at its Cupertino headquarters in the Steve Jobs Theater at 10am PT.
Apple’s iPhone 17 lineup is expected to include standard, Pro, and Pro Max editions, along with a newcomer to the family, the iPhone Air. This newest edition of the iPhone is christened to be Apple’s lightest flagship phone to date in the lineage of its line of slim MacBook laptops, observers have predicted. Apple has not denied the reports of what’s to come.
Besides phones, Apple is planning to reveal the Apple Watch series 11 and an update to its AirPods earbuds. Rumors have it that the AirPods may come with live translation, which would bring Apple up to date with its competitor Google, which added the translation feature to its Pixel Buds years ago.
Apple is also expected to provide launch dates for its mobile and desktop operating systems, iOS 26 and macOS Tahoe.
Looming over the new product announcements are Donald Trump’s tariffs, which threaten to disrupt the iPhone’s complex global supply chain with large price hikes, particularly the steep levy on China that is still under negotiation. Consumers may be forced to shoulder the burden of increased costs if they wish to upgrade. However, CEO Tim Cook has so far dodged doomsday predictions of a $2,000 iPhone, shifting a major portion of Apple’s production to India from China and flying hundreds of tonnes of iPhones into the US ahead of the tariffs’ effective date.
Investors and iPhone owners alike will be watching for mentions of Apple Intelligence, the suite of features meant to bring generative AI to the iPhone that rolled out in October 2024 to mixed reception. Among last year’s announcements was a pledged overhaul of the virtual Siri that never materialized, a rare unfulfilled promise from Apple.
During a July earnings call, Apple chief executive Tim Cook said the company was “making good progress on a more personalized Siri” and promised a release next year. Apple has also reportedly engaged in talks with Google about using the latter’s Gemini AI models to revamp Siri, according to Bloomberg, much like how Google provides the search engine for Safari.
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Wall Street analysts have come to see Apple as lagging behind other Silicon Valley giants on artificial intelligence, particularly Google, which has already infused its flagship Pixel line of phones with features powered by AI.
