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With the iPhone 16 now obtainable, rumors concentrate on the upcoming iPhone 17. This mannequin is predicted to be launched within the second half of 2025. One of many highlights of this era could possibly be the iPhone Air, because it appears Apple will no longer bet on a Plus model. Apple executives are calling the upcoming new fashions their “most ambitious” iPhones ever. Right here’s what we learn about this future telephone to this point.
Launch date
If Apple follows the pattern, the brand new iPhone 17 lineup, together with the brand new iPhone 17 Air, must be launched in September this 12 months. If we dive a bit deeper, Apple will seemingly announce the iPhone 17 lineup throughout the second week of September, with preorder availability to start that week and a launch seemingly set for the next week.
Which means the iPhone 17 Air launch date will seemingly be Friday, September nineteenth, 2025, following a preorder launch on September twelfth.
In response to The Info, Apple has began the manufacturing course of to make the regular iPhone 17 models in India. That is the primary time Cupertino started the manufacturing of a brand new iPhone line exterior China.
On this early manufacturing part, Apple must tweak the iPhone design and experiment with new supplies and tools to make sure that “thousands and thousands of iPhones will be produced a day throughout totally different places with minimal defects.” This part will final till early subsequent 12 months.
Apple is already making iPhone 17 Air models in China because it enters the brand new product introduction part (NPI). The NPI part is liable for bringing this iPhone’s idea to life with design validation and prototype testing.
As of Might 2025, Apple has completed the Engineering Validation Testing for at least one iPhone 17 model, as they’re scheduled to be launched with out a delay.
Slim or Air? What’s the identify of the iPhone Plus substitute
Rumors to this point level to 2 totally different attainable names for the iPhone Plus substitute: Slim or Air. At first, Slim was the nomenclature utilized by leakers. Nevertheless, Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman believes Apple will seemingly name it “Air” because of different profitable merchandise utilizing this identify.
Apple sees the “Air” technique as a tried-and-true winner, given its unprecedented success with the MacBook Air over the previous 15 years — to not point out the iPad Air. Shoppers will most likely nonetheless finally gravitate extra towards the iPhone Professional and Professional Max fashions, however the Air ought to at the very least outsell the iPhone 16 Plus.
That stated, we’ll only know the name for sure once Apple reveals it in September. iPhone Air could possibly be the inner nomenclature the corporate’s workers are utilizing, however not essentially the identify of the ultimate product.
iPhone 17 Air might trace at future foldable iPhone
Since Apple launched the iPhone 12 mini, it has struggled to discover a marketplace for the distinctive variations of its common iPhone fashions. The corporate has seen low gross sales of the iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 13 mini, iPhone 14 Plus, and iPhone 15 Plus. Whereas we have to understand how the iPhone 16 Plus will promote, Cupertino is likely to be planning a different approach for the iPhone 17.
To this point, analysts don’t anticipate the iPhone 17 Air to be successful, regardless that it’s anticipated to drive extra gross sales than the iPhone 16 Plus. As well as, Gurman believes there’s a greater purpose why Apple needs to fabricate this smartphone:
The iPhone Air additionally serves as a testing floor for future applied sciences, together with ones that might enable for foldable units. To fold, iPhones and iPads might want to have our bodies and shows which can be as skinny as attainable — and the Air is a step towards that.
Show and design
The iPhone 17 Air is expected to have several design changes, a very powerful of which is a thinner physique. Rumors level to a tool between 5.5 mm and 6.5 mm thick. South Korea’s Sisa Journal stated this gadget can be 6.25mm thick, which might make it the thinnest iPhone ever. A Chinese language leaker believes this iPhone can be 5.5mm thick with a maximum thickness of 9.5mm on the camera module.
If these rumors are true, this gadget can be around 20% thinner than the base iPhone 16 fashions and 25% thinner than the iPhone 16 Professional. Top insider Ming-Chi Kuo additionally believes Apple might make this gadget at round 5.5mm. A studio made a concept video of what this iPhone could actually look like. Ultimately, this design was additionally highlighted because the most likely official look for this device. You possibly can even see a 3D-printed version of it.
To realize this ultra-thin design, Apple should settle for a number of trade-offs, together with an eSIM-only possibility. Apart from that, analyst Jeff Pu expects this gadget to function a 6.6-inch OLED show. It’s unclear if it’s going to feature ProMotion and Always-On Display as the iPhone 17. Nevertheless, a Weibo leaker says all four iPhone 17 models will get these technologies.
This gadget is predicted to function the Motion Button, Digital camera Management, and a single rear digicam, though some rumors recommend it’d get two. One other attainable change is that the titanium frame will be available for this iPhone only.
As well as, there’s something weird about this device that may frustrate designers.
Lastly, it appears Apple canceled a show function that iPhone customers would have liked, an anti-reflective coating.
Specs
If Apple follows its acquainted pattern, the A19 household of chips will energy the iPhone 17 lineup. The Info says Apple is growing two new chips, the A19 and A19 Professional, with the latter utilizing a brand new TSMC know-how for improved effectivity. It appears these chips will proceed to make use of a 3nm manufacturing course of.
At this second, it appears the iPhone 17 Air would be the just one with the A19 chip, because the common iPhone 17 would possibly nonetheless rock the A18 processor.
It’s unclear how a lot sooner these new chips can be, though Neural Engine cores will seemingly be a precedence as Apple plans to enhance Apple Intelligence features. Whereas it was first rumored that only the iPhone 17 Pro Max would get 12GB of RAM, Apple will provide it for the opposite Professional fashions and the iPhone 17 Air. There’s a chance that even the regular iPhone 17 will get it.
BGR‘s Chris Smith believes the RAM bump means Apple will unveil better AI features soon.
Connectivity
Analysts Ming-Chi Kuo and Jeff Pu imagine Apple will use a proprietary Wi-Fi modem for the upcoming iPhone 17 Air, which we now know known as C1. The corporate needs to rely much less on Qualcomm and Broadcom and finally create a chip that can function mobile, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth applied sciences in a single silicon.
Apple’s current C1 chip supports Wi-Fi 6 and regular 5G speeds. Dependable analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says the corporate plans to interchange Qualcomm’s Wi-Fi chips on the complete iPhone 17 sequence later this 12 months.
The analyst writes: “My newest business survey signifies that every one new 2H25 iPhone 17 fashions will function Apple’s in-house Wi-Fi chips (vs. solely the slim iPhone 17 will undertake Apple’s C1 modem chip). Past value discount, the change to in-house Wi-Fi chips will improve connectivity throughout Apple units.”
Battery
A rumor means that the complete iPhone 17 lineup will function the same battery glue tech that Apple used for the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus.
As proven by iFixit, all it’s worthwhile to do to take away the battery from the chassis is apply a low-voltage present. The battery will come off like magic. The process additional improves the repairability of the iPhone 16, making battery replacements even simpler. The method solely works in a single path, permitting you to detach the battery from the body. Every new battery will function its personal glue strip, and no present can be wanted throughout set up.
Whereas we imagine battery life can be a priority for the iPhone 17 Air, a brand new show element would possibly assist Apple improve the battery life of the iPhone 17 Pro models while increasing durability. As well as, if Cupertino uses its C1 chip on the iPhone 17 Air, it’d vastly enhance its battery, even when it’s bodily smaller. Right here’s what we expect will be the secret sauce for solid battery life.
A brand new Apple Intelligence function is likely to be liable for bettering the iPhone 17 Air’s possibly poor battery life, as the corporate additionally works on a Good Battery Case accent.
iOS 26 and Apple Intelligence options can be key for iPhone 17
In the course of the WWDC 2025 keynote, Apple previewed iOS 26. With the primary betas, we might take a look at one of many key options which may make the iPhone 17 Air battery even higher. With Adaptive Energy, Apple says that “when your battery utilization is larger than standard, iPhone could make small efficiency changes to increase your battery life, together with barely decreasing the show brightness or permitting some actions to take a bit longer.”
Among the many new options, customers will have the ability to reap the benefits of a brand new redesign referred to as Liquid Glass. That stated, experiencing this rumored gadget is likely to be even higher with a complete new UI.
Apart from that, Apple is improving Apple Intelligence features with Reside Translation, onscreen ChatGPT consciousness, Genmoji tweaks, and way more.
Worth and storage
Rumors say Apple is likely to be planning so as to add a 2TB tier for the iPhone Professional fashions, beginning with the iPhone 17. That stated, these could possibly be the attainable storage choices:
- iPhone 17: 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB
- iPhone 17 Air: 256GB and 512GB
- iPhone 17 Professional and 17 Professional Max: 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB
A rumor says Apple might charge more for the iPhone 17 models. To this point, we’ve heard that the corporate needs to cost far more for the long run Air mannequin, which might value $1,299. Nevertheless, new rumors state that it received’t be dearer than the Professional fashions. That stated, this iPhone’s worth would vary between $899 and $1,299. Nonetheless, the iPhone 17 could be 9% more expensive due to Trump’s tariffs.
A latest Wall Road Journal report reveals that the entire iPhone 17 lineup might get a price hike. Cupertino needs to make use of these new options as the primary purpose for the brand new units’ larger value.
Wrap up
That is all the things we all know concerning the iPhone 17 Air to this point. We’ll maintain updating this text.
