iPhone 17 vs iPhone 17 Air: how different will they be?
Apple’s successors to the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus seem to be on different paths, according to rumors
🍎 Apple is gearing up to launch its iPhone 17 series later this year
👀 The two base models will reportedly have a lot more differences than you think
📱 The iPhone 17 will be familiar to any iPhone 16 user, while the iPhone 17 Air is an entirely new device from Apple
📝 Here’s what we expect the phones to have in common - and the specs that’ll help them stand apart
The iPhone 17 series is expected to land this September, and over the past few months, we’ve been tracking all sorts of rumors and leaks that have revealed a great deal about the phones. While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are shaping up to be the best for power users, the two base models seem to be geared for entirely difference audiences.
The iPhone 17 is rumored to be a run-of-the-mill upgrade compared to the iPhone 16, complete with a nearly identical design and a new chip. Meanwhile, the iPhone 17 Air will be an entirely new phone compared to the iPhone 16 Plus. It’ll be the thinnest iPhone to date, tweak its camera system, ship with a new modem, and could be priced even higher than we expect.
There are a lot of rumored differences between the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Air. Here’s a breakdown of what we’re hearing and what we expect Apple to settle on come September.
iPhone 17 vs iPhone 17 Air: what we’re expecting, according to rumors
📱 Two different 120Hz screens. Apple will use two differently-sized screens for the iPhone 17 and 17 Air. Rumor has it that Apple will increase the size of the regular iPhone 17 from 6.1 inches to 6.3 inches, bringing it in line with the size of the iPhone 17 Pro’s screen. With the iPhone 17 Air, Apple is rumored to use a familiar 6.6-inch panel, which we saw on last year’s iPhone 16 Plus. Both phones will use OLED displays, come with Dynamic Islands, and are expected to support 120Hz refresh rates, a feature that almost every high-end smartphone has nowadays which Apple typically reserves for the iPhone Pro.
📐 Similar and thinner. The regular iPhone 17 won’t be changing much, according to rumors. Everything we’ve heard so far suggests the 17 will look just like the iPhone 16, save for the slightly larger size and (purportedly) thicker design to accommodate a bigger battery. The iPhone 17 Air will be more radical; Apple is expected to shave it down to around 5.5mm thick, which will make it the company’s thinnest phone to date. A huge visor is expected to sit at the top on the back of the phone to house the camera, while the earpiece is rumored to be the only speaker on the entire device. While it’ll still look like an iPhone at the end of the day, it’s certainly one of Apple’s more radical design changes in recent years.
📸 One less camera. A big difference between the iPhone 17 and 17 Air will fall in the camera department. The iPhone 17 Air is expected to ship with a single 48MP rear camera, according to rumors. Meanwhile, the iPhone 17 will have the same dual-camera setup that we saw on last year’s iPhone 16, with a 48MP main camera and an ultra-wide. There’s rumors that the ultra-wide could get an upgrade from 12MP to 48MP, which will be nice for iPhone 17 buyers. But for those who want to try Apple’s ultra-thin phone, you’ll need to learn to live with a single camera on the back.
👾 The same A19 chip. The entire iPhone 17 series will get a performance upgrade, and for the iPhone 17 and 17 Air, Apple is expected to include the rumored A19 chip. Over the years, the company’s A-series processors don’t generally get massive performance boosts year-over-year; the only chip that seems to get a noticeable jump is the Pro line, like the A18 Pro versus the standard A18. Regardless, the A19 will be give the two new iPhones better performance over the iPhone 16 series, which will come in handy as the phones get older.
🔋 Varying batteries. The A19 will also need to be good at efficiency because, holy cow, the iPhone 17 Air’s battery might be *super* tiny. We’re talking 2,800mAh or so, which is far smaller than most iPhones in recent years and nearly 1,000mAh smaller than what we expect in the iPhone 17 (around 3,600mAh). Apple will lean on iOS 26 and a new AI-powered battery optimizer to squeeze every ounce of juice out of it, but it’s hard to say whether it’ll be capable of lasting all day until we try it. At least for now, it seems like the regular iPhone 17 could be the winner in the battery department.
📶 Different modems. Apple is rumored to include its C1 5G modem in the iPhone 17 Air, while the iPhone 17 will come with a much more ordinary Qualcomm modem. The difference? C1 is Apple-built, meaning Apple has full control over its design and how it works in its devices. We tested it in our iPhone 16e review, and it wound up running more efficiently than the modems in our personal iPhones. However, it can’t connect to the ultra-fast mmWave 5G networks; the Qualcomm modem can, which means the iPhone 17 Air will likely be the only one in the entire lineup that’ll exclusively use sub-6GHz connections.
💰 The iPhone 17 Air could cost more. So far, all the rumors we’ve seen suggest the iPhone 17 Air will cost more than the regular iPhone 17. How much more? That’s hard to say, but we expect a price jump of around $100-$200, although it could be more or less by the time the phones actually go on sale. It looks like you’ll need to pay a premium for Apple’s thinnest phone ever.
📱 iPhone 17 coverage continues
We’ll be keeping our eyes on iPhone 17 rumors until it’s announced later this September. Subscribe so you don’t miss out!
Max Buondonno is an editor at The Shortcut. He’s 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.