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Here's How Thin the iPhone 17 Air Might Be
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This is the 16 vs the SE1 from Apple’s website. The SE1 uses the design of the 5s. There’s barely any difference in thickness, yet the weight is very different especially in actual use. This would point towards a smaller phone being a better solution to weight reduction than adjusting thickness, like you noted.
I just want them to drop the numbered scheme for the iPhones now. It's about time they just go by the year, like they do with other products.
Apple doesn't go by years on the other products, the media and consumers attach the years.
There is too much marketing tied up in the model numbers and having the next number. They aren't going anywhere.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
I'm hoping they just kick the battery out completely. It takes up most of the space inside, so that should let them thin it to the MAX until they jettison the screen too. Sure, it won't function but all we apparently really care about is "thinner."
The one thing that gets in the way of "thinnest" is still that dang camera and the nuisance of optical physics, so subtract it too. No camera = no more camera bump gripes. "We think you'll love it!"
Just think how much more profit there would be in selling us a battery & camera-less iPhone for the "same great price" and then selling us a battery case with camera options for maybe 2X-3X that? 💰💰💰
The way this trend progresses, I suspect we are going to eventually open a box and find only air inside: the iPhone "air" 4 minus the phone part.
Then we buy several add-ons to recreate what used to actually be in the box.And then to make mother nature happy, we just hand Apple the money for the next gen but don't even get a wasteful box.
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You should take a class in product packaging then you’d see that isn’t possible with devices today. Nobody wants small but bloated batteries.
For the love of God, stop making it thinner! People don't care, just give us longer battery life!!!
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
I suspect cases for this one will be buyers buying back the battery capacity substracted in support of "thinner." So that might be thinner phone with thicker case to hold a bigger external battery.
But the good news is: Apple could make such cases with 2 or 3 thicknesses of battery to still get to spin "thinnest phone", at the "same great price" (or probably higher) and then sell the towards essential cases for perhaps as much as 20%-50% of the phone price. Revenue per unit sold would be jacked feeding into "another record quarter." 💰💰💰
I say kick the camera module out to these cases too with good-better-best camera options so the case can be priced at perhaps as much as the phone or maybe a bit more for maxed battery + maxed cameras. Then, we can all pay TWICE as much for a phone to have the same features as PRO MAX now... but Apple gets the 5 minutes of "thinnest" spin.
We think you'll love it.
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Probably a brace similar to the M4 iPads. There’s no way apple would risk another bendgate.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
That's a consumer take. Seller take is...
Make it thinner with a less battery (for lower cost per unit).
Then sell them battery cases to buy back the battery capacity we used to put inside.
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"Apple is hoping a super thin design will entice people more than the iPhone mini and iPhone Plus models, neither of which has sold as well as the standard and Pro models."
It's painful to watch Apple being clueless. It seems they only see three options: make it smaller, make it bigger, make it thinner. And occasionally, remove/add a button.
Here's a novel idea: Make a great product, has this thought ever occurred to anyone at Apple?
The reason why the mini didn't work is because nobody wants an overpriced phone that runs out of charge faster than you can charge it. The reason the plus model doesn't sell as well as the pro is because it's already expensive and for just a little bit more you can get the pro, not the castrated version of the pro. So why get the plus?
Let them want what they want in silence. I'm all for that.
That's what you get from a bean counter driven product.
I'd rather have the opposite of this. Thicker with a reasonably sized screen. Almost like that one product they had a few years ago...
Apple obviously doesn’t believe people want devices with smaller displays, hence the reason the Mini was cancelled. I believe we as a society could use devices with smaller screens but their market research doesn’t seem to support this.
Interesting that the Samsung S25 Slim is rumored to retain all 3 of the back cameras and the iPhone Slim is dropping all but one. Samsung is surprising with their speed + innovation lately. The Ultra is one of the few phones to drag tech reviewers away from the iPhone-as-default.
Been thinking that the first version of this Slim iPhone would have made a much more appropriate launch in the iPhone 16 lineup, tacking on the rumored adjustable aperture camera and aluminum-back redesign as a taste of the future design language. Apple Modem. Still single-camera. Would generate consumer interest more than currently underwhelming AI features.
For the 17 slim they could aim to bring the cameras back in lockstep with Samsung + bring the new design language across the whole line. As-is, the 16 line has to be one of the most boring updates to the iPhone that Apple has made in recent memory. It is beyond me how they could launch Apple Intelligence, even late, without a vastly improved Siri as the headlining feature and not get eviscerated by tech pundits.
The 17 Slim will be fine, might even be my next, but leads to kind of a mixed value proposition.
Been thinking that the first version of this Slim iPhone would have made a much more appropriate launch in the iPhone 16 lineup, tacking on the rumored adjustable aperture camera and aluminum-back redesign as a taste of the future design language. Apple Modem. Still single-camera. Would generate consumer interest more than currently underwhelming AI features.
For the 17 slim they could aim to bring the cameras back in lockstep with Samsung + bring the new design language across the whole line. As-is, the 16 line has to be one of the most boring updates to the iPhone that Apple has made in recent memory. It is beyond me how they could launch Apple Intelligence, even late, without a vastly improved Siri as the headlining feature and not get eviscerated by tech pundits.
The 17 Slim will be fine, might even be my next, but leads to kind of a mixed value proposition.
Making the iPad thinner was more about weight than thickness. iPhone 5 taught me that I don’t like ultralight phones— the feel fragile and unsubstantial.
I’m failing to imagine any value this ‘thin’ phone has to offer, especially over the mini.
It’s apparent there are still people who want a smaller (mini) phone (myself included) but who has ever asked for a thinner phone? I like the idea of a thinner phone but not at the expense of it (1) being as large or larger than the current 16 or (2) with a camera bump.
I would be first in line to spend $1k for a new mini with no camera bump.
Thickness is much less of a concern than hugeness and bumpiness. You could also ditch the extraneous camera and action buttons, please.
It’s apparent there are still people who want a smaller (mini) phone (myself included) but who has ever asked for a thinner phone? I like the idea of a thinner phone but not at the expense of it (1) being as large or larger than the current 16 or (2) with a camera bump.
I would be first in line to spend $1k for a new mini with no camera bump.
Thickness is much less of a concern than hugeness and bumpiness. You could also ditch the extraneous camera and action buttons, please.
I'm not a fan of the sharp square/brick design, I can't wait for that trend to die and for the teardrop design to make a comeback, it's so much nicer ergonomically both in use and pocket:
I'll take the hand terminals from The Expanse, please.