The iPhone 17 Air is coming this year to supplant the iPhone 16 Plus because the Plus model has been the worst-selling iPhone since its introduction. Whether this will do any better remains to be seen, but one thing’s certain: Apple wants to shock the world with its thinness.
According to a new report from famed purveyor of Apple-related rumors Ming-Chi Kuo, the iPhone 17 Air, at its thinnest point, will be just 5.5mm thick. That is incredible.
This is the iPhone 16 Plus that the iPhone 17 Air will be replacing
It wouldn’t be the first time Apple pulls something like this off. The latest 13-inch iPad Pro is an impossible 5.1mm thick. The iPhone 17 Air won’t be able to match it, probably because it’s much smaller on the two other axes, but it still gets very, very close. If this rumor is accurate, of course.
We’ve most recently heard that the iPhone 17 Air would be 6.25mm thick, which is also impressive, but way less so. Then again, a rumor from November pegged its side profile at between 5mm and 6mm, and this is slap bang in the middle of that.
Kuo also mentions that the iPhone 17 Air likely won’t have a physical SIM card slot at all, relying solely on eSIM due to the ultra-thin design. That may pose problems in China where the market “currently does not promote phones that only support eSIM”, Kuo writes.
He also expects the iPhone 17 Air to have a high price and some downgraded components, again, due to the thinness. We’ve already heard that the device could go with one single rear camera as if it’s an iPhone SE. But it certainly won’t cost as little as the next one of those, that’s for sure.
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