- An iPhone 17 Air has been rumored for a while
- It'll apparently shave 2 mm off the iPhone 16 Pro
- Apple's own modems will be smaller
There's been plenty of talk around a potential iPhone 17 Air (or iPhone 17 Slim) model next year – replacing the iPhone 16 Plus, apparently – and now we've got details on just how thin this upcoming handset could be.
According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, who tends to know what he's talking about when it comes to Apple information, the iPhone 17 Air is going to be around 2 millimeters (0.08 inches) thinner than the iPhone 16 Pro.
Considering the iPhone 16 Pro is only 8.3 mm (0.33 inches) front to back, that's quite a serious reduction – knocking off some 24%. It would be Apple's thinnest iPhone yet, beating the iPhone 6 from 2014 (6.9 mm or 0.27 inches).
The slimming down is due in part to Apple's expected switch to using its own modem in next year's iPhones, rather than using chips from Qualcomm. It's a rumor we've heard before, and which Gurman has now mentioned again.
Chipsets and screens
We'll see the new Apple modem in the iPhone SE 4 first of all, according to Gurman – that is tipped to arrive in March 2025. After that, it'll show up in the iPhone 17 models, with an improved version set to be ready in time for the iPhone 18 in 2026.
Apple is even planning to use its own modem chipset to add cellular connectivity to Macs and the Apple Vision Pro, according to the report – but that's unlikely to happen before 2026, as the technology needs to be further developed.
As for the iPhone 17 Air, previous leaks suggest it's going to do without a physical SIM card slot to keep it as thin as possible, while it might also introduce a screen that's thinner and more efficient compared to the current iPhone displays.
All of this thinning down will eventually help Apple in the development of its first folding iPhone, according to Gurman. That device looks unlikely to launch before 2026 at the earliest – but it is now reportedly on the way.
