Apple is going to debut its thinnest ever iPhone later this year, at just 5.5mm thin. While this new cutting-edge iPhone will have some compromises to shave nearly half the thickness of a normal iPhone, there’ll still be a number of features you won’t be compromising on. We’ll be delving into some of the pros and cons here.
Pros
#1: Display tech
Apple’s thinnest iPhone won’t be compromising on the display technology. It’s going to pack a 6.6-inch OLED display with LTPO, which’ll be a first for non-pro iPhones. This means that you’ll have a bunch of great display features, such as 120Hz ProMotion and always-on functionality. It’ll also be similarly large to the iPhone 16 Plus that it’s replacing.
#2: Price
Despite being a cutting-edge form factor, iPhone 17 Air is expected to retain the same sub-$1000 price point of the outgoing iPhone 16 Plus, according to multiple sources. This should mean that the iPhone 17 Air will come in around $899.
#3: Chipset
You might expect a much thinner iPhone to be compromised in performance. However, according to the latest rumors, the iPhone 17 Air is going to sport Apple’s A19 chip just like the rest of the iPhone 17 lineup. It’ll also offer 8GB of RAM for Apple Intelligence.
#4: MagSafe
After MagSafe was removed from the iPhone 16e, some had speculated that it wouldn’t be able to fit in the ultra-thin design of the iPhone 17 Air. However, recent dummy model leaks have revealed that MagSafe will continue to stick around on the iPhone 17 Air.
Cons
#1: Cameras
While iPhone 17 Air will still pack a flagship 48MP rear sensor, that’s all its going to get. iPhone 17 Air is sticking to a single camera setup. While the 48MP sensor will provide the versatility of taking 2x optical zoom shots, you won’t have the flexibility of an ultra-wide camera.
There also won’t be a native telephoto camera, although that historically. hasn’t been an option on non-pro iPhones. If you care about maximizing your smartphones camera, other iPhone 17 models will be a far better choice.
#2: Speakers
iPhone 17 Air will only feature one speaker, apparently. According to The Information, the device is too thin to fit a second speaker at the bottom. Instead, Apple will implement an enhanced earpiece speaker to make up for the shortcoming.
You’ll probably be better off using a pair of AirPods Pro for audio-listening, rather than using the built-in speaker.
#3: Connectivity
iPhone 17 Air will make the switch to Apple’s first in-house modem, the C1 chip. This means that the iPhone 17 Air won’t support mmWave in the US, something that the outgoing iPhone 16 Plus had supported. It also means that the iPhone 17 Air won’t support every cellular band that the iPhone 16 Plus had supported, although in real world testing, it doesn’t seem to make too much of a difference.
It’ll also likely remove physical SIM card trays worldwide, since the device is too thin to fit one. Previously, the physical SIM card tray was only removed from US iPhones. From The Information:
So far, Apple’s engineers haven’t been able to fit a physical tray for a SIM card in the thin device, according to two people working on the project and two others with direct knowledge of it.
This may be an issue for sales of iPhone 17 Air, as China still requires devices to support physical SIM cards.
#4: Battery life
Despite earlier rumors suggesting that iPhone 17 Air might not necessarily compromise on battery life thanks to high-density batteries and optimized silicon, newer rumors say otherwise.
iPhone 17 Air battery life will only be sufficient for around 60-70% of users, down from the typical 80-90%. This metric is based on Apple’s internal battery testing, which Wayne Ma from The Information reported on.
The test measures how many people can utilize the phone for a whole day without needing to recharge.
Apple may re-introduce a battery case for the iPhone 17 Air, helping all users get through an entire day of usage.
My favorite Apple accessory recommendations:
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