iPhone 17 Air preview: everything we know so far about Apple's impossibly thin phone

September has become synonymous with new iPhone launches – and this year’s announcement could see the arrival of an entirely new model.

Rumours are rife that Apple is preparing to launch a new ultra-thin iPhone, much as Samsung has done with its new Galaxy S25 Edge.

So just how thin could it be? And what compromises might Apple have to make to achieve it? We’ve combed through all the latest speculation and summed it up for you below.

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iPhone 17 Air: Release date speculation

Until the iPhone 17 Air (a pretty solid prediction for what it will be called given the use of the ‘Air’ name in Apple’s other products) is officially announced, any suggested release date is purely speculation. Having said that, you can practically set your watch by Apple’s iPhone launch schedule, so we can at least attempt to narrow it down somewhat.

Five of the past six iPhone launch events have happened in the first half of September (between the 7th and 14th), with only 2020’s iPhone 12 coming later due to disruption caused by the Covid pandemic that swept the world in that year.

With reports suggesting that Apple will start to split its launches across two periods, and with this being a new entry into the iPhone range, it could be that the Air model is held back for 2026 – but the expectation is that this new spring window will be for cheaper models such as the iPhone 16e.

iPhone 17 Air: Price predictions

It’s fair to assume that the Air would slot into the iPhone range in the same way that the iPad Air and MacBook Air fit into their respective product line-ups: right in the middle.

That will leave the iPhone Pro (and its larger Max variant) at the top of the range, with the Air coming in slightly cheaper, and the standard iPhone remaining as the most affordable option of the most recent generation. A cheaper 17e model would be unlikely to appear until further down the line (possibly as part of the aforementioned spring release).

In terms of actual prices, specific numbers would be pure speculation right now, particularly given the uncertainty caused by recent tariff changes in the US. Donald Trump has recently threatened to charge Apple a 25 per cent tariff on any iPhones sold in the US that are made outside the country (Apple has recently shifted production of the majority of its US-bound phones from China to India).

When the iPhone 16 launched last year, prices were generally the same as they were for the iPhone 15 (in Australia they actually went down), but it wouldn’t be a surprise to see them rise this time round.

As a rough guide, here are the prices for the current iPhone range:

iPhone 17 Air: Design and build

The Air name implies lack of weight rather than thinness, but ever since Steve Jobs unveiled the original MacBook Air by removing it from a manila envelope the main selling point of Apple’s Air products has been just how impossibly skinny they are.

Various rumours have the iPhone 17 Air pegged to measure between 5mm and 6.25mm thick, but, with a camera bump expected to be part of the design, chances are it won’t be a uniform thinness from top to bottom.

Wherever in that spectrum it might land, it would still be the thinnest iPhone ever made, a title that’s currently held by the 6.9mm iPhone 6, and around 2mm thinner than the current iPhone 16 Pro (above).

The iPhone 6 was released more than a decade ago, though, and handsets have increased in size since then as manufacturers have had to find space for bigger screens, more capable cameras, and higher-capacity batteries to power them.

It seems inevitable that some compromises will have to be made to achieve such a slimline chassis. The suggestion is that a titanium-aluminium alloy will be used to keep the weight down to around 145g.

iPhone 17 Air: Display

There are some minor disagreements when it comes to the rumoured size of the iPhone 17 Air’s screen, with some saying it will be a 6.6-inch OLED and others suggesting it will come in at a slightly larger 6.7-inches.

The former would put it in between the current iPhone Pro Max and the standard iPhone (above). This works in terms of its position in the range – but, with such a small margin between the two, either would seem equally plausible.

What most reports do agree on is that it will have 120Hz ProMotion display technology and offer an always-on mode, with a Dynamic Island to house the Face ID sensors. Some analysts, however, disagree on whether that will remain unchanged from the iPhone 16 range.

Jeff Pu has suggested that the Dynamic Island could be made smaller on the Pro Max, but Ming-Chi Kuo believes that it will remain “largely unchanged” across the entire iPhone 17 line-up.

There have also been some speculative suggestions that the iPhone 17 Air could use an entirely new screen technology in order to achieve the necessary thinness. Back in October 2024, DigiTimes reported that Apple would be one of the first companies to buy screens that use TDDI technology, which combines the touch and display layers. Sounds ideal for a new super-thin iPhone, right?

iPhone 17 Air: Specs and features

Each new iPhone generation comes with a new chip to power it – and the iPhone 17 Air is expected to be no different.

Apple will introduce its new, more powerful A19 processors with the iPhone 17 range and as usual it will comprise two different chips: the A19 and A19 Pro. The iPhone 17 Air is expected to pair 8GB of RAM with the standard A19, which makes sense for a couple of reasons.

First, the Pro version of the chip tends to be reserved for the Pro version of the phone (the clue’s in the name), and with the slim chassis meaning there is less room for the battery – one leak suggests it will have a capacity of just 2800mAh – a less power-hungry chip would be required to make it last as long as possible between charges.

That might sound paltry – for context the battery inside the new 6.7-inch Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge, which measures 5.8mm thick, is 3900mAh and lasts about a day – but there are multiple reports that Apple will use a new type of higher-density silicon-anode battery technology to make it last longer than the raw numbers would suggest.

There is a suggestion that a case with a built-in battery will also be available, but surely even the most ardent Apple fan wouldn’t buy a phone that’s USP is thinness and then make it fatter with a case.

The iPhone 17 Air could also see a couple of changes in terms of connectivity. For starters it’s expected to ditch the physical SIM tray in favour of an eSIM. That might seem like a minor change but it will help to free up more crucial space within the chassis, while it could also be the only model in the iPhone 17 range to use Apple’s own C1 modem, which is currently found only in the 16e (above).

iPhone 17 Air: Cameras

The biggest compromise looks to be made when it comes to the iPhone 17 Air’s camera.

Smartphone buyers have grown accustomed to handsets with multiple lenses crammed onto the back, but a recent video posted on X by known leaker Majin Bu shows just a single camera on the back of the iPhone 17 Air.

Most Apple tipsters expect this single camera to be a 48MP job, the same as you currently get on the iPhone 16 Pro, with a 24MP one on the front.

iPhone 17 Air: Early verdict

We’re still a little way away from the expected reveal of the iPhone 17 Air, but with every new leak a clearer picture of what it could look like is starting to appear.

While the exact dimensions won’t be known for certain until it is made official at Apple HQ, it seems certain that we’ll be shown the thinnest iPhone ever made. But will it come at the expense of its camera capabilities and battery life?

We should know for sure in early September.

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