Apple iPhone 17 Air tipped to feature tiny battery even with silicon-carbon tech

The iPhone 17 Air is expected to launch this autumn as a rival to Samsung's recent Galaxy S25 Edge (curr. $1,099.99 on Amazon). For reference, the iPhone 17 Air will effectively replace the iPhone 16 Plus, for which Apple will offer no direct successor. While the iPhone 17 Air is reputed to be a few months away from being released, Majin Bu has published many of the device's key specifications well ahead of schedule.

According to the leaker, Apple has opted for a 7000 series aluminium alloy and silicon-carbon battery technology to minimise weight, unlike Samsung. As a result, the iPhone 17 Air is said to weigh 146 g, which would make it just 17 g heavier than the iPhone 6 despite featuring a much larger display. Also, this weight would see the iPhone 17 Air undercutting the Galaxy S25 Edge by about 10%.

Unfortunately, Apple is expected to include a circa 3,000 mAh battery capacity. If that is the case, then the iPhone 17 Air will launch with a 16% shortfall compared to the iPhone 16 Pro, even with a similar 120 Hz ProMotion AMOLED display. Currently, Apple is tipped to deliver the iPhone 17 Air with 48 MP primary and 24 MP front-facing cameras powered by an Apple A19 SoC and 8 GB of RAM packing its in-house 5G modem to maximise battery life.