'iPhone 17 Air' With Rear Camera Bar Allegedly Shown in Leaked Photo

[MacRumors]

A leaker known as "Majin Bu" today shared an alleged image of a component for the rumored, ultra-thin "iPhone 17 Air" model.

The blurry, pixelated image shows a pair of rear iPhone shells with a pill-shaped, raised camera bar along the top. On the left side of the bar, there is a circular cutout that appears to be for a single rear camera. On the right side of the bar, there appears to be an LED camera flash and a tiny microphone hole. The ultra-thin "iPhone 17 Air" is the only iPhone 17 model that is expected to have a single rear camera, so the shell could be for that device.

The fourth-generation iPhone SE is also expected to have a single rear camera, but an elongated camera ridge has not been rumored for that device.

In the world of AI-generated photos, and counterfeit iPhones, we do not know if this image shows the actual "iPhone 17 Air." Sometimes leaks like these end up being real, but in many cases they end up being fake. Skepticism is warranted.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1881695823618301990

Majin Bu accurately revealed the "Desert Titanium" color name for iPhone 16 Pro models seven months before the devices launched, but some of his information has been wrong, including a rumor about an iPad 11 being imminent in 2023.

An elongated camera bump has been rumored for both the "iPhone 17 Air" and iPhone 17 Pro models, so perhaps this alleged design change will be coming to the entire iPhone 17 lineup. Apple is expected to announce the iPhone 17, the "iPhone 17 Air," the iPhone 17 Pro, and the iPhone 17 Pro Max in September.

There are already some Android phones with a camera bar, such as Google's Pixel 9.

According to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the "iPhone 17 Air" will measure just 5.5mm at its thinnest point, which would make it the thinnest iPhone ever. Apple does not include the rear camera bump in its iPhone dimensions.

Due to its ultra-thin design, the "iPhone 17 Air" is expected to have limited specs, including only a single rear camera, a single speaker, no SIM card slot worldwide, and an A19 chip instead of the more powerful A19 Pro chip. Of course, the device will also be equipped with a smaller battery than other iPhone 17 models due to size constraints.

Other rumored features include a 6.6-inch OLED display with a Dynamic Island, Face ID, 8GB of RAM for Apple Intelligence support, and more.

Bookmark our iPhone 17 roundup to stay up to date with more rumors over the coming months.

Article Link: 'iPhone 17 Air' With Rear Camera Bar Allegedly Shown in Leaked Photo

 

[levitynyc]

Is anyone asking for thinner phones?

 

[abatabia]

I doubt this very highly.

 

[usersince86]

I personally like the bar design; if nothing else, it would make it easier to read your phone when it's on a table by elevating the top part a bit.

 

[Piggie]

No No.

You can't have a bar across the back like a Pixel (which I'm fine with)
but then, have an additional lens bump on top of the bar. That would be just plain dumb.

 

[MudPipes]

I can understand the need to maybe make the top back thicker to maybe accommodate the new 24mp front camera? But there's something strange about it looking so close to a pixel 9 and that flash placement doesn't make much sense to me other than trying to add some sort of visual balance. 🤷‍♂️

 

[kiensoy]

They need space for the FaceID components if it's really that thin, so housing them in there as well makes sense. Looks like a Pixel clone tho lol.

 

[Johnny London]

Thinness will be followed by foldability ?

 

[Wanted797]

Disappointing if true.

 

[Sixteengigabytes]

Absolutely not.

 

[EugW]

 

[TheColtr]

ehh ill stick with my 15 Pro Max if thats a real leak

 

[Regret]

I think it looks alright but I’m questioning its practicality since it just looks like a waste of space. At lest throw in a LiDAR sensor or something to add to the build and make up for the lack of other cameras despite its alleged high price.

 

[Misterioso]

I was really hoping the iPhone 17 Air/Slim/Thin would be the thinnest they could make it..... without a camera bump.

 

[EugW]

ehh ill stick with my 15 Pro Max if thats a real leak

??? The 15 Pro Max and the 17 Air are rumoured to be completely different model tiers.

 

[ApplesAreSweet&Sour]

They need space for the FaceID components if it's really that thin, so housing them in there as well makes sense. Looks like a Pixel clone tho lol.

I hate how much that makes sense:

They'll promote it as "thinnest iPhone ever" because that's what the middle and lower parts of the chassis/body will actually be.

But then to get all the front-facing cameras and Face ID components and rear-facing cameras to fit this "thinnest ever iPhone", the measurements on the top part be just as thick or thicker than on any previous iPhone.

"Thinnest iPhone ever. Thickest iPhone camera bump ever. iPhone 17 Air."

Oh, I hate this idea. Hate it, hate it, hate it. 🥲

 

[hoodafoo]

Looks like a generic Pixel!

 

[BornAgainMac]

Maybe the camera needs to be a separate device. iPhone Air could just have a flat camera.

 

[Disgruntled_Scot]

Yuk

 

[LoveToMacRumors]

About time for a redesign, last redesign was in the iPhone 12…

 

[krull1015]

Looks like a pixel knockoff…
Honestly, other than marketing what’s the point in an iPhone Air?

 

[hoodafoo]

Is the source Japanese? I see all the fun bits pixelized

 

[Chungry]

That's very derivative, I hope this isn't it. Pixel did it better

 

[bigcstyle4]

Something tells me this whole “Air” model that’s been talked about will just be the actual iPhone 17. Especially with “limited specs” like they’re saying.

iPhone 17 (this one)
iPhone 17 Pro
iPhone 17 Pro Max (should just call it Ultra)

 

[klasma]

In case it’s not obvious, these are two different sizes. So it’s not just the iPhone Air. I’m not generally against the bar design, but these look quite ugly.