Updated September 8
• iPhone 17 Air battery specs have leaked
• iPhone 17 Air could be more expensive than we first realized
• All iPhone 17 Air models could be eSIM-only — even those sold outside the U.S.
Update: Follow our iPhone 17 event live blog for all the big news as it's announced!
In less than 24 hours, we're likely to see the first new addition to the iPhone lineup since the iPhone Plus model made its debut three years ago. And the rumored name — the iPhone 17 Air — tells you exactly what Apple's planning for this particular model.
We've heard rumors of new Apple iPhone models that never materialized — remember the iPhone 16 Ultra, anyone? — but reports of an ultra-thin iPhone 17 model have been pretty persistent, dating back to when we though the device might be called the iPhone 17 Slim. Besides, all those iPhone 17 Air dummy units popping up didn't arrive out of thin air and there are even hints in the iOS 26 developer beta about a new model joining the iPhone lineup this year.
With Apple's iPhone event looming, we should find out if the iPhone 17 Air really does exist very soon. And thanks to all those rumors, we've got a pretty good idea of what to expect from the new model.
iPhone 17 Air cheat sheet: Biggest rumors
- The iPhone 17 Air would replace the iPhone 16 Plus in Apple's lineup
- The iPhone 17 Air is expected to be as thin as 5.65mm
- The device is tipped to have a 6.6-inch screen
- Dummy units show only rear camera
- Like the other iPhone 17 models, the Air would run on A19 silicon
- Battery size could be limited to 2,800 mAh, but a new technology could make the cell denser
- The Air may only be available in an eSIM version
- Pricing estimates range from $899 to $1,099
iPhone 17 Air: Expected price and release date
Don't spend much time wondering when you'll see new iPhones. Apple is holding its 'Awe Dropping' event on Tuesday, September 9, and iPhones figure to be the star attraction. We've got a guide on how to watch the iPhone 17 event this coming Tuesday. Given Apple's track record, an actual release could happen as soon as Friday, September 19.
As for what the iPhone 17 Air might cost, that's more difficult to say since the Air is a departure from the current lineup. For the past three years, Apple has featured four models — a standard iPhone, a slightly larger Plus model that costs $100 more, and two iPhone Pro models (a regular Pro and a larger, more expensive Pro Max).
For the iPhone 17 lineup, the standard iPhone is expected to stick around, as will the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max. So that would make the iPhone 17 Air something of a replacement for the Plus-sized iPhone.
Some sources think that the iPhone 17 Air will adopt the $899 starting price of the iPhone 16 Plus, which makes sense if that's the model the Air will replace. But other rumors claimed we're looking at a handset that costs more than the Pro Max — which currently starts at $1,199 for the iPhone 16 Pro Max. More recent reports suggest that we're actually looking at a $1,099 starting price for a model with 256GB of storage.
iPhone 17 Air: Design and display
As the Air/Slim name suggests, the most notable thing about this new iPhone model is likely to be how skinny it will be. We don’t have an actual measurement on that yet, but given its aluminum chassis is predicted to be “significantly thinner” we’re talking about a device that presumably greatly undercuts the 7.8mm depth of the iPhone 16.
Indeed, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman wrote back in June 2024 that this particular iPhone is set to be in “a new class of Apple devices that should be the thinnest and lightest products in the whole tech industry.” So perhaps the target will be something to eclipse even the 2024 iPad Air (6.1mm) or even the 2024 iPad Pro (5.3mm). At least one recent leak suggests the iPhone 17 Air could be 5.5mm at its thinnest point.
In a video of what appears to be an iPhone 17 Air dummy unit, Unbox Therapy compares the rumored device to other models. The dummy unit measures 5.65mm at its thinnest point, compared to 8.75mm for an iPhone 17 Pro Max dummy unit.
A photo claiming to show off dummy units for the iPhone 17 Air and the iPhone 17 Pro Max provides a visual aide on just how thin the Air could be. Stacked up against the Pro Max model, the rumored Air device looks a lot more slender.
Another two shows both phones side by side, and with the 17 Air inside a case. Even with the added thickness of the case, it seems as though the phone is still significantly thinner than the Pro Max.
We can see this in these other images from Sonny Dickson. Note how the camera control button on the bottom of the right edge is thinner on the Air, presumably a necessary adaptation for the slimmed design.
And in these images from AppleTrack, we see how much thinner the iPhone 17 Air could be compared to the iPhone 16 Pro.
This thin frame for the iPhone 17 Air will reportedly support a 6.6-inch OLED display, which is only slightly smaller than the iPhone 16 Plus’ 6.7-inch panel. For more evidence of the iPhone 17 Air's existence, there's a wallpaper in the iOS 26 developer beta with resolution that would perfectly fit a 6.6-inch display.
The iPhone 17 Air might have other premium features to make it stand out, such as a smaller hole and pill-shaped cutout for Dynamic Island. That's made possible by Apple adopting a new "metalens" for the Face ID camera, a feature reportedly coming to every iPhone 17 model including the Air.
Recent iPhone Pro models have used titanium frames to distinguish themselves from the rest of the lineup. To that end, a report suggest only the iPhone 17 Air will have a titanium frame, while the iPhone 17 Pro models use other materials.
There's also the possibility that Apple could try an all-new design language with the iPhone 17 Air beyond just making it skinny. Some leaks show the phone with centered cameras, while others point to it using a Google Pixel-style horizontal bar spanning the whole width of the phone for its sensors (although the latter's been disputed by other sources). Apple's not tried either of these styles before, so it could be a good way to show off this phone as something different from other iPhones, but we aren't sure how good it really looks, at least in the renders.
Adding more substance to this rumor is a leak claiming to show a pair of iPhone 17 Air shells with a horizontal camera bar clearly visible on the back. These images came from the leaker known as Maijin Bu who successfully predicted the existence of the "Desert Titanium" colorway for the iPhone 16 Pro before it was announced. Majin Bu has since posted images of 3D-printed models to illustrate this more clearly.
As for iPhone 17 Air colors, the rumored options are currently black, white, light gold and light blue.
iPhone 17 Air: Cameras
There's another way Apple can make sure the iPhone 17 Air lives up to its name — it can reduce the number of cameras on the back of the phone. Camera sensors need a fair amount of space, and stripping back to just the essentials frees up Apple to reduce the overall size of its phone.
To that end, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believes the iPhone 17 Air will only sport a single 48MP rear lens, rather than the main and ultrawide camera setup found on the iPhone 16 Plus, with the telephoto camera remaining a Pro iPhone exclusive. This is the same approach Apple used with the iPhone 16e released earlier this year.
A 48MP main camera could pull double duty for zoom shots, allowing you to crop in on photos to approximate an 2x optical zoom. Apple has used that approach since the iPhone 15 adopted a 48MP main camera, and those zoom shots have compared well to ones shot with a dedicated telephoto lens in our testing.
For what it's worth, analyst Jeff Pu also backs the iPhone 17 Air to have a lone 48MP main camera, adding that the phone's front camera will be a 24MP sensor. That claim is consistent with rumors about the rest of the iPhone 17 lineup getting an upgrade from the current 12MP TrueDepth camera on iPhones.
iPhone 17 Air: Performance
Since the A18 and A18 Pro chipsets power the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro models, it stands to reason that the iPhone 17 lineup including the Air would turn to the A19 system-on-chip. Just how much of an advance the silicon will be is open to debate, though, as a report claims that Apple won't have a chip built on a 2-nanometer process until the iPhone 18.
if true, that means the A19 powering the iPhone 17 Air would be a 3nm chip like the A18. That would suggest modest performance gains are on tap.
A new report suggests the iPhone 17 Air may use an A19 Pro chipset, but that its silicon would have one less GPU core than the version that powers Apple's iPhone 17 Pro models.
Apple upped the RAM on its iPhone 16 models to 8GB — all the better to handle those new Apple Intelligence features on device. That's likely to continue with the iPhone 17 Air, as only the iPhone 17 Pro Max is expected to get a boost to 12GB of memory.
Other current iPhone 17 Air specs rumors apply to the entire iPhone 17 lineup. For instance, the phones coming out in fall 2025 are tipped to get an Apple-made Wi-Fi chip. This is different from the Apple-built C1 cellular modem that arrived with the iPhone 16e — apparently only the iPhone 17 Air will get that, while the other iPhone 17s are stuck with older Qualcomm-made modems.
Recent iPhones released in the U.S. have only supported eSIMs while models sold in other parts of the world have allowed you to use physical SIM cards. But the iPhone 17 Air may depart from that, as the phone is rumored to be an eSIM-only device no matter where it's sold.
iPhone 17 Air: Battery life and charging
Battery rumors for the iPhone 17 Air have now surfaced, and things don't sound too good. Initial leaks claimed that the phone would have a meager 2,800 mAh battery — 1,100 mAh less than the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge, but subsequent reports have raised the size of the battery.
The latest report, based on Chinese regulatory filings, have the iPhone 17 Air relying on either a 3,036 mAh or 3,148 mAh, depending on whether the phone uses a physical SIM or eSIM. For context, that same report lists the standard iPhone 17's battery size as 3,692 mAh.
There are rumors that Apple will employ a new silicon carbon battery, which should help boost battery density by as much as 15%. However, if the capacity rumors are true this probably won't matter much. It just means that Apple didn't need quite as much space to fit the battery in.
Bloomberg's Gurman has suggested that iPhone 17 Air battery life will be "on par" with other iPhone models, which is encouraging given how well the entire iPhone 16 lineup performed on our battery test. The thinking seems to be that the more power-efficient C1 modem and an A19 processor that improves power draw will help make up for any limitations on battery size that the iPhone 17 Air faces.
While there's rumors about reverse wireless charging coming to the iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max, it's unlikely to happen with the iPhone 17 Air.
iPhone 17 Air: Software
iOS 26 is the new version of Apple's iPhone software, with a release date slated for later this year — most likely right before the new iPhones land in stores if Apple holds to its usual release pattern. (What happened to iOS 19, you're asking? Apple changed the naming convention to now use years instead of version numbers.) iOS 26 will almost certainly come pre-installed on the iPhone 17 Air.
Thanks to a WWDC 2025 preview and subsequent releases of developer and public betas, we've gotten a look at the Liquid Glass interface that's now appearing on all Apple software. It features translucent menus, rounded controls and a glassy look. It's the biggest change to the iPhone's interface in a dozen years.
But don't let the attention to the interface overhaul distract you from new features on the iPhones, specifically some Apple Intelligence tools that will be available to the iPhone 17 Air. These include AI-powered Call Screening, a live translation feature that works across multiple apps, and improved Visual Intelligence capabilities. Besides those new AI tools, you'll also see changes throughout the iPhone's current built-in apps, plus the arrival of a new Games app.
iPhone 17 Air: What we want to see
Slim is clearly in with phone makers, as Samsung has already released a Galaxy S25 Edge model of its own. So how does Apple top the competition with an iPhone 17 Air? We've got a Galaxy S25 Edge vs. iPhone 17 Air comparison that addresses potential differences, but here's what we want to see in Apple's super-slender model.
Solid battery life
As we noted, the worry about any super-thin design is that battery capacity will inevitably suffer. Even with a more efficient chipset, we wonder if the iPhone 17 Air would be able to last as long as the Plus model it's replacing. Any step back would run counter to the battery life gains Apple made with the iPhone 16 lineup.
Decent photography
With the iPhone 17 Air tipped to have a single 48MP camera, this model could lack the flexibility of other iPhones, which rank among the best camera phones you can buy. A recent survey indicated that shoppers are put off by single camera devices, which might be bad news for the Air's prospects.
We’re hoping that the iPhone 17 Air can still produce great photos, especially in low-light conditions.
Plenty of storage
If the iPhone 17 Air is as expensive as some early rumors suggest, then Apple really had best not be planning to scrimp on the onboard storage.
The base iPhone 16 Pro Max comes with 256GB of storage, but all other iPhone models among Apple's current flagships start at 128GB. That's not going to cut it for a phone with a premium price tag.
iPhone 17 Air: outlook
At this point, it's pretty clear that Apple has an iPhone 17 Air in the works. And the September 9 event should provide the last word on the subject.
Even with all the rumors that have emerged, we're still eager to find out more about this would-be model and what special features it might have beyond just being a thinner phone. And of course, we want to find out just what Apple is going to charge for what sounds like a pretty future-facing phone.
