Forget the iPhone 16 Pro, here’s why iPhone 17 Air is my next Apple upgrade
A super slim and lightweight iPhone 17 Air would finally give Apple fans something new
😮💨 The iPhone lineup is feeling rather stale after so many iterative upgrades
🤔 But the rumored iPhone 17 Air could make Apple’s device exciting again
🪶 A super slim, lightweight phone will appeal to many
👏 Apple has already shown it can create impossibly thin devices like the new iPad Pro
After leaving the Apple ecosystem behind after the whole “you’re holding the iPhone 4 wrong” debacle, I eventually returned when I decided to purchase an iPhone 13 Pro second-hand. You could say I’m not easily swayed by Apple’s annual upgrades, then, but the rumored iPhone 17 Air – and not the iPhone 16 Pro – has caught my attention.
With my iPhone 13 Pro’s battery’s maximum capacity dropping to 85%, I was quietly hoping the iPhone 16 Pro would deliver something worth splashing the cash on instead of being met with the usual memes and jokes about how nothing has changed yet again.
The greatest iPhone yet… again
But as remarkable as the iPhone 16 Pro appears to be –Apple can make the most incremental of improvements sound monumental) – there isn’t much for me to get excited about.
I’m very much a point-and-shoot photographer, so all the new camera and video tech is wasted on me. And I still think it will be another two generations until Apple can truly turn its iPhone into a viable gaming platform.
Apple already makes some truly beautiful devices, but it has played it safe with its iPhone lineup for years now.
Apple still isn’t ready to enter the world of foldables, either, despite the usual taunts from Samsung’s social media team. And as for Apple Intelligence: that’s a turn-off more than anything. I’m confident I can survive without the ability to generate custom emojis based on text prompts, thank you.
But the idea of a super slim, sleek, and eye-catching iPhone 17 Air? That’s something I can get on board with. Apple already makes some truly beautiful devices, but it has played it safe with its iPhone lineup for years now, summed up perfectly by the image below.
The iPhone 17 Air, like the first MacBook Air, would change that sentiment, as Apple has already shown it can create impossibly thin devices without sacrificing performance – just look at the new iPad Pro with M4 chip. It would also give Apple some breathing room so it can keep honing the foldable devices we know are coming by offering consumers something different in the meantime.
Will it bend?
A thin iPhone might bring back flashbacks to the bendgate controversy that plagued the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, but Apple has improved the iPhone’s durability significantly, and it no longer features an aluminum back.
Phones, in general, are far more robust than they were when the iPhone 6 launched, and enough time has passed that those who may have bent their phones all those years ago will have hopefully forgotten.
Hopefully, a stylish, slim iPhone 17 Air will join the usual suspects of devices next year and Apple gives me – and many others – a more tempting reason to upgrade.
Up next: Apple Watch 10 release date: an Ultra-level screen upgrade in a thinner design
Adam Vjestica is The Shortcut’s Senior Editor. Formerly TechRadar’s Gaming Hardware Editor, Adam has also worked at Nintendo of Europe as a Content Marketing Editor, where he helped launch the Nintendo Switch. Follow him on X @ItsMrProducts.
Makes me think I should wait too!