š± The iPhone 17 Air just leaked in new renders
š It looks a lot like the Google Pixel with a huge camera bar
šø Despite the camera bar, thereās still a single rear camera
š The phone is expected to debut this September
Weāve been tracking all of the iPhone 17 Air rumors lately, and the latest involves a set of renders that allegedly reveal the design of the phone from practically every angle.
FrontPageTechās Jon Prosser has posted a YouTube video showcasing the renders, and it reveals a phone that looks like some combination of an iPod touch, an iPhone 16 Plus, and a Google Pixel, all thanks to its huge camera bump on the back. It appears Apple will be leaning in a Google direction with its next generation of phones; the iPhone 17 Pro is also expected to get a massive camera bump thatās around twice as chunky due to its three rear cameras.
The iPhone 17 Airās camera bump will be relatively thin in comparison (aligning with previous leaks), but itāll still be a massive change for Apple. Itās a rarity for the company to take such obvious inspiration from its competitors, so having a camera bump of this magnitude feels a bit out of place for the tech giant.
Regardless, the bump not only aligns with previous rumors weāve heard, but also helps to justify the thin profile. Appleās entire goal with the iPhone 17 Air is to make it really thin, so thin that itāll become the thinnest iPhone ever. Rumors suggest itāll be around 5-6mm thick, which is far thinner than the 6.9mm iPhone 6 from 2014. In order to accommodate the limited vertical space, it seems like Apple will be relying on a massive camera bump for the single 48MP sensor on the back.
Prosserās leak doesnāt confirm whether the iPhone 17 Air design will look like this, but heās been accurate in some previous leaks, so take this with a grain of salt.
The rest of the iPhone 17 Air will be some level of interesting. Itās expected to include a big 120Hz screen, Appleās in-house Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip, a single speaker grille for the earpiece, a smaller battery than previous iPhone Plus models, and no mmWave 5G support. In exchange, youāll get Appleās thinnest phone yet, which will need to be quite impressive to forgive all these shortcomings.
Max Buondonno is Editor at The Shortcut. Heās been reporting on the latest consumer technology since 2015, with his work featured on CNN Underscored, ZDNET, Newsweek, TheStreet, and more. Follow him on X @LegendaryScoop and Instagram @LegendaryScoop.