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With the iPhone 16 now out there, rumors give attention to the upcoming iPhone 17. This mannequin is predicted to be launched within the second half of 2025. One of many highlights of this era might 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 find out about this future telephone to date.
Launch date
If Apple follows the development, the brand new iPhone 17 lineup, together with the brand new iPhone 17 Air, must be launched in September this yr. If we dive a bit deeper, Apple will seemingly announce the iPhone 17 lineup in the course of 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 keeping with 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 outdoors China.
On this early manufacturing part, Apple must tweak the iPhone design and experiment with new supplies and tools to make sure that “tens of millions of iPhones will be produced a day throughout completely different areas with minimal defects.” This part will final till early subsequent yr.
Apple is already making iPhone 17 Air models in China because it enters the brand new product introduction part (NPI). The NPI part is chargeable 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 and not using a delay.
Slim or Air? What’s the identify of the iPhone Plus alternative
Rumors to date level to 2 completely different attainable names for the iPhone Plus alternative: Slim or Air. At first, Slim was the nomenclature utilized by leakers. Nonetheless, Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman believes Apple will seemingly name it “Air” as a result 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 not less than outsell the iPhone 16 Plus.
That stated, we’ll only know the name for sure once Apple reveals it in September. iPhone Air might be the interior nomenclature the corporate’s workers are utilizing, however not essentially the identify of the ultimate product.
iPhone 17 Air may 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 know the way the iPhone 16 Plus will promote, Cupertino could be planning a different approach for the iPhone 17.
Up to now, analysts don’t anticipate the iPhone 17 Air to be a hit, regardless that it’s anticipated to drive extra gross sales than the iPhone 16 Plus. As well as, Gurman believes there’s a greater motive 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 permit for foldable gadgets. To fold, iPhones and iPads might want to have our bodies and shows which might 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 will probably 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 may 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 attain this ultra-thin design, Apple should settle for a number of trade-offs, together with an eSIM-only choice. In addition to 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. Nonetheless, a Weibo leaker says all four iPhone 17 models will get these technologies.
This gadget is predicted to function the Motion Button, Digicam Management, and a single rear digicam, though some rumors counsel it would 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.
Specs
If Apple follows its acquainted development, the A19 household of chips will energy the iPhone 17 lineup. The Info says Apple is creating two new chips, the A19 and A19 Professional, with the latter utilizing a brand new TSMC expertise for improved effectivity. It appears these chips will proceed to make use of a 3nm manufacturing course of.
It’s unclear how a lot quicker they are going to 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 mannequin and the iPhone 17 Air. There’s a chance that even the regular iPhone 17 will get it.
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 is named C1. The corporate needs to rely much less on Qualcomm and Broadcom and ultimately create a chip that may 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 exchange Qualcomm’s Wi-Fi chips on the whole iPhone 17 collection later this yr.
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 gadgets.”
Battery
A rumor means that the whole 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 route, permitting you to detach the battery from the body. Every new battery will function its personal glue strip, and no present will probably be wanted throughout set up.
Whereas we imagine battery life will probably be a priority for the iPhone 17 Air, a brand new show element may 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 would enormously enhance its battery, even when it’s bodily smaller. Right here’s what we expect will be the secret sauce for solid battery life.
iOS 19 and Apple Intelligence options will probably be key for iPhone 17
Up to now, we all know that Apple has began creating iOS 19, which has a codename of Luck. It’s unclear what options will probably be included in iOS 19. Nonetheless, it’s attainable that Apple may revamp its look to give a more consistent design between iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. As well as, Apple Intelligence will proceed to play an enormous half in iOS for the foreseeable future.
By the top of 2025 or early 2026, we’ll get the all-new Siri with the flexibility to grasp context. These are a few of the options anticipated to be out there on the iPhone 17 fashions concerning Apple Intelligence and which might be out there in iOS 18:
- Writing Instruments: Customers can rewrite, proofread, and summarize textual content almost in every single place they write, together with Mail, Notes, Pages, and third-party apps;
- Picture Playground: Customers can create playful photos in seconds, selecting from Animation, Illustration, or Sketch. This app is constructed proper into apps like Messages and can be out there in a devoted app;
- Recollections in Images: Customers can create tales they wish to see simply by typing an outline. Apple Intelligence will pick the very best photographs and movies based mostly on the outline, craft a storyline with chapters based mostly on themes recognized from the photographs, and organize them right into a film with its personal narrative arc;
- Clear Up device: This Images app function can determine and take away distracting objects within the background of a photograph with out unintentionally altering the topic;
- Siri: Customers kind to Siri and change between textual content and voice to speak with Siri in no matter manner feels proper for the second.
- ChatGPT integration: If you really feel Apple Intelligence isn’t sufficient, you may permit ChatGPT to entry Writing Instruments and different options for a greater response.
Extra lately, Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman said iOS 19 will make Siri AI extra like ChatGPT. Nonetheless, this may take longer to happen. He stated that Siri can have new talents to entry consumer knowledge for contextual details about the consumer and management third-party apps through the brand new App Intents software program. Nonetheless, Gurman factors out that Siri isn’t getting a ChatGPT-like mannequin for these duties:
These upcoming upgrades will make Siri simpler to make use of on a day-to-day foundation, nevertheless it’s not the mind transplant that the service actually wants. Siri remains to be based mostly on an outdated infrastructure — AI fashions which were overtaken by the expertise utilized by ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini. Siri hasn’t but been rebuilt for the generative AI age, even when Apple is making an attempt to create the impression that it has.
Worth and storage
Rumors say Apple could be planning so as to add a 2TB tier for the iPhone Professional fashions, beginning with the iPhone 17. That stated, these might 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 may charge more for the iPhone 17 models. Up to now, we have now solely heard that the corporate wished to cost far more for the long run Air mannequin, almost definitely $1,299. Nonetheless, new rumors state that it gained’t be costlier 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.
Wrap up
That is every little thing we all know concerning the iPhone 17 Air to date. We’ll preserve updating this text.
