Apple’s Thinnest iPhone May Debut As iPhone 17 Air Later This Year

Apple’s rumoured slim iPhone may have received its official name. According to a report, it will arrive later this year as the iPhone 17 Air, a moniker that respects the nomenclature Apple has used for its iPad lineups for years. Although multiple rumours have also suggested ‘iPhone 17 Slim’ as a tentative name, a new term like ‘Slim’ may not resonate well with Apple’s existing products. The iPhone 17 Air will also reportedly pave the way for “future technologies,” including the first foldable iPhone.

Why iPhone Air?

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman noted in the latest edition of his Power On newsletter that Apple is using the ‘Air’ suffix to represent its thin iPhone, similar to the MacBook Air and iPad Air. The iPhone 17 Air will be roughly 2mm thinner than the existing iPhones, with previous rumours suggesting the thickness could be between 5.5mm and 6.25mm. That is about the same thickness as the M4 iPad Pro and much less than the latest iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro models. Another old rumour also claimed that the iPhone 17 Air will be thinner than the iPhone 6s — Apple’s thinnest model by far.

Sure, Apple may need to make several trade-offs to achieve the finesse it is known for. That means, as previous rumours have suggested, equipping the iPhone 17 Air with a single rear camera. The iPhone 17 Air may come with a 6.6-inch ProMotion OLED display, which has remained exclusive to the Pro models since the iPhone 13 Pro came out. It may feature a 48MP FaceTime camera and use Apple’s A19 chip. It will pack at least 8GB of RAM and support Apple Intelligence features, as well.

Harbinger of Apple's foldables?

The iPhone 17 Air, however, may not just be part of a random iPhone lineup shakeup. It will allow Apple to test the waters before its future foldable iPhones — and even iPads — become ready for launch. Gurman said the iPhone 17 Air could be “a testing ground for future technologies” since it will help the company understand the feasibility of a slim device. It will also likely use Apple’s first in-house 5G modem.