iPhone 17 Air rumors: release date, specs, and how thin it'll be
Apple is releasing its thinnest phone ever in 2025, and we've learned a lot about it ahead of its release date
š± Apple is rumored to release the iPhone 17 Air later this year
š¤ The device will be Appleās thinnest phone yet
šļø Itās rumored to have less powerful specs than the upcoming iPhone 17 Pro
ā It might wind up replacing the iPhone 17 Plus
š Hereās what we know about the mysterious phone
Apple is shaking things up in 2025 with a brand-new iPhone.
That sentence might apply to any given year, but this year especially, it means something extra significant. The company is set to introduce an ultra-thin iPhone which many have dubbed the iPhone 17 Air. Itāll be Appleās thinnest phone ever - even thinner than 2014ās iPhone 6 - and its primary goal will be grabbing the publicās attention with flashy hardware since software features like Apple Intelligence havenāt excited people the way Apple hoped.
Hence, an ultra-thin iPhone with a weird list of specs is born. We anticipate this phone to come out later this year along with the rest of the successors to the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro. Hereās what we know about this oddball device that could wind up being a big deal, even bigger than the Galaxy S25 Edge seems to be.
iPhone 17 Air rumored release date and price
š See you in September. The iPhone 17 Air will be announced at Appleās September 9 āAwe droppingā event, alongside the regular iPhone 17, the iPhone 17 Pro, and the iPhone 17 Pro Max. We predict the phone will go up for preorder a few days later on September 12, then launch on September 19, if history is any indication.
š° Probably less than a Pro. There have been conflicting reports about the price of the iPhone 17 Air. The Information said that the phone would start at $1,299, while The Wall Street Journal seems to think itāll cost less than $1,000. Based on other rumors weāve seen, Iād guess that the 17 Air will cost less than the iPhone 17 Pro since itās supposed to succeed the iPhone 16 Plus, which starts at $899.
iPhone 17 Air design and rumored thinness
š The thinnest iPhone yet at 5.5mm. The iPhone 17 Air is rumored to be the thinnest iPhone that Apple has ever shipped. Famed industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reported recently that the device will be just 5.5mm thin, which is noticeably thinner than Appleās current thinnest phone, the 6.9mm iPhone 6. Itās slightly thicker than the 5.1mm M4 iPad Pro, which makes it one of Appleās thinnest products of all time. This measurement lines up with previous rumors that suggested the device would be around 5-6mm thick and roughly 25% thinner than iPhone 16. Another rumor suggests the phone will be around 9.5mm at its thickest point due to the camera bump. Itāll beat the Galaxy S25 Edge by 0.3mm.
š Wait, is that a Pixel? As far as what the iPhone 17 Air will look like, itās been a bit hard to guess since thereās been a lot of speculation. Some reports claim itāll have centered cameras on the back, while others suggest a Google Pixel-like camera visor to fit the sensor and retain the slim form factor. Leaker Maijin Bu, who correctly predicted the āDesert Titaniumā iPhone 16 Pro color, shared images of what they claim to be the 17 Air, while FrontPageTech also shared renders that include a huge camera bump. Maybe thatās what itāll look like?
š± A big screen with ProMotion. The iPhone 17 Air is expected to come with a 6.6-inch OLED display, which is a tenth of an inch smaller than the iPhone 16 Plus. Where the biggest change comes into play is the refresh rate. Apple is expected to expand 120Hz ProMotion to the regular iPhone 17 and 17 Air this year after keeping it exclusive to Pro phones since 2021. That means everything you do on your phone - whether itās scrolling through social media, opening apps, or dragging and dropping files - will look a whole lot smoother.
šø Only one camera and one speaker. The iPhone 17 Air is only expected to come with one camera on the back due to its form factor. Apple will reportedly include a 48MP sensor on the back with a 24MP selfie camera on the front. In addition, there might only be one speaker on the phone: the earpiece. This doesnāt sound great for those who need beefy cameras and speakers on their phones, but I suppose thinness is the name of the game here, and Apple seems to want to do whatever it takes.
š¶ No SIM slotā¦ anywhere. Another compromise the iPhone 17 Air will make to retain its thin form factor is the SIM card slot. While Apple hasnāt offered one on the iPhone in the United States in a couple years, in other markets, you can still get a physical slot and not have to rely on eSIM. Thatāll change with the 17 Air, which isnāt expected to come with one in any international market. That could pose a problem in China where physical SIMs are the law of the land for smartphones.
iPhone 17 Air rumored specs
šļø The same chip as iPhone 17 Proā¦ with a catch. While the iPhone 17 Air isnāt technically a Pro phone, rumors say Apple will include the upcoming A19 Pro processor in it like the iPhone 17 Pro. However, the GPU wonāt be as powerful, which means graphics performance will be below what youāll get on Appleās highest-end devices.
š A small-ish battery is likelyā¦ With a thinner phone comes thinner components, and weāve been hearing that the iPhone 17 Air will include a smaller battery than what we have now. So far, rumors are suggesting itāll be just 2,900mAh, which is around 1,000mAh less than what we expect other iPhone 17 models to include.
š ā¦ but battery life might not suck. Despite the small size, the battery in the iPhone 17 Air might not be terrible. Appleās new C1 5G modem, which debuted in the iPhone 16e, comes with 25% improved efficiency over other modems that Apple has used in the past. C1 is expected to come to the entire iPhone 17 lineup, which means the 17 Air might actually manage to last a full day. Apple is also expected to lean on the new Adaptive Power mode in iOS 26 to maximize endurance.
š Appleās in-house Wi-Fi chip. The iPhone 17 Air will reportedly serve as a testing ground for Appleās next in-house chip, which combines Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth into a 3-nanometer form factor. The rest of the iPhone 17 series could also adopt the chip, but it seems most likely to land in the 17 Air since three separate chips would take up a lot of space. Itāll also aid in efficiency like the C1, but itās unclear how big an impact itāll have.
š¤ Apple Intelligence ready. The iPhone 17 Air will, of course, be fully compatible with Apple Intelligence. Apple is expected to include 8GB of RAM on the device which is enough to handle all of the AI features that Apple has rolled out thus far, plus all the future ones like the companyās redesigned Siri and new Visual Intelligence tools.
iPhone 17 Air coverage continues
Weāll be keeping our eyes on iPhone 17 Air rumors until itās announced later this year. Weāll also be updating this guide with new rumors as they roll in, so be sure to bookmark it and subscribe to The Shortcut so you donāt miss anything.
Max Buondonno is an editor at The Shortcut. Heās been reporting on the latest consumer technology since 2015, with his work featured on CNN Underscored, ZDNET, How-To Geek, XDA, TheStreet, and more. Follow him on X @LegendaryScoop and Instagram @LegendaryScoop.