Leaker outlines why Apple iPhone 17 Slim may actually launch as the first iPhone Air
Rumours about Apple refreshing its iPhone lineup next year with a new model have been bubbling under for a few months now, having started in earnest from roughly early May. More recently, the likes of Ming-Chi Kuo asserted that the iPhone 16 Plus would be replaced by the iPhone 17 Slim, adding that it and the iPhone SE 4 would be the first smartphones that Apple equips with an in-house 5G modem.
According to FrontPageTech, the name 'iPhone 17 Slim' will not see the light of day. Instead, the YouTuber believes that Apple will borrow branding from its iPad and MacBook divisions to release the first iPhone 'Air'. Like the iPad Air and MacBook Air before it, the iPhone Air will feature a much slimmer housing than its Pro counterparts that could be a mere 5 mm thick. However, this ultra-thin housing would be offset by weaker hardware, including a single rear-facing camera and an Apple A19 chipset instead of the rumoured A19 Pro.
Moreover, the iPhone 17 Air is expected to feature less titanium in its frame than the iPhone 17 Pro or iPhone 17 Pro Max, as well as a 6.6-inch and 2,740 x 1,260-pixel display cut into by a familiar Dynamic Island. Consequently, the iPhone 17 Air may resemble the iPhone 15 Plus and iPhone 16 Plus from the front. Nonetheless, FrontPageTech claims that the first iPhone Air will arrive for $1,299, a huge uplift over the current iPhone 15 Plus.
Ultimately, Apple is over a year away from announcing the iPhone 17 series. As such, a lot could change between now and then. In the meantime, Apple is said to replace the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus (curr. $769.97 refurbished on Amazon) next month alongside new Pro models too. Incidentally, launch colours for all iPhone 16 models have leaked in the last few days through a series of hands-on images, details of which we have covered separately.
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