Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
'iPhone 17 Air' With Rear Camera Bar Allegedly Shown in Leaked Photo
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Not the first phone to do that. That design element reminds me of the Droid Razr all the way back from 2011.
But Apple doing that stretch window? Very inelegant design, and very unlike Apple, wtf. Also it's entirely possible that this is the regular 17, and not the Air variant.
Yeah. I don't get it.
My first iPhone was the iPhone 4. I was a happy PocketPC/Windows Mobile user prior to that and though I owned a lot of Apple products, I didn't see what the iPhone/3G/3GS did that my phones didn't already do.
But by the iPhone 4, the OS had been refined, the App store was a real phenomenon, and of course; the retina display and the incredible design that made my plastic HP iPaq feel more like a toy instead of a business tool.
I never felt that iPhone was too thick. I still own it, and once in a while it comes out of the drawer and I mess with it. And it still doesn't feel too thick. It just feels like all the compromises that come with crazy thin phones (smaller batteries, etc.) just don't seem worth it at all.
The only way I personally see this model being impressive is if they take the 16 we have now and managing to enhance it whilst simultaneously stuffing all that hardware into a 5.5mm chassis, but… we shall see in September.
Might as well just stick a Google logo on the back. Any kind of design imagination left Apple years ago.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
Apple Inc: less aluminum saves a bit per unit sold, less battery saves a bit per unit sold, less cameras saves a bit per unit sold, etc. Package all that subtraction at about "same great price" or perhaps higher and it fattens average profit per unit sold. Shareholders get to feed their families.
Last edited:
I’d be interested in an air. I find I don’t need the latest and greatest as I like a thinner phone. Plus I never use a case.
I would also welcome a bump across the top of the phone. Silly that when placing an iPhone down it isn’t level.
I would also welcome a bump across the top of the phone. Silly that when placing an iPhone down it isn’t level.
Brain drain is real- and all the remaining folks do is remix what came before. IF this is true, and that's a big IF, it would further solidify that notion. Surely Apple isnt so down on their luck that they cribbed from Pixel. I'll swap one of my two remaining 16 Pro Max out for a OnePlus instead if this is their brilliant idea
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
Acceptance will be followed by just subtracting the entire battery AND camera to a separate case (or probably selection of small-medium-large cases). Kick those 2 out and it can become iPhone "thinnest" as most of the depth is for those 2 things. Sell it at the "same great price" or higher and then turn around and roughly double the typical revenue when users select battery + camera cases they must buy for the thing to even function. Perhaps give them a proprietary port to connect so that only Apple cases can be sold until some lucrative licensing deals are put in place. That should yield "another record quarter" or three. 💰💰💰
What's the followup? Subtract the screen, frame and A-series chip so we can then pay "same great price" for an empty box... to then buy back all of the functionality that used to come inside the box as additional purchases.
Then what? Get rid of the box to please Mother Nature. We just give Apple money & get nothing back at all, which finally maximizes margin at 100%. Mission accomplished. Shareholder Nirvana achieved.
Last edited:
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
An original MBair Wedge shape approach might do that trick: thick enough at the camera end to flush mount the camera but thin enough at the other end to brag about "thinnest iPhone ever" at the big reveal.
Unfortunately, that would require perhaps two or three dollars of additional aluminum, perhaps a little more battery, etc. What do we think: Apple is made of money???
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
Optical physics are optical physics. If "thinner" or perhaps "thinnest" really matters to anyone, cameras have to get ejected... and battery too. Yes, such an iPhone wouldn't work without an add-on battery case (sold separately of course... and likely proprietary) but that's the path to a true "thinnest" phone. I just don't know anyone who genuinely wants thinnest... other than those 10-20 guys who find Apple right in all things no matter what Apple does.
Last edited:
Is it possible these are actually rear case designs for the pending SE?
I know the rumored thinner iPhone 17 will offer less interior space for hardware. But it seems weird - especially in this new(er) era of Spatial photos/videos - that they would offer yet another single-lens iPhone in addition to the SE. How does a single-lens strategy play nice with a Spatial photo/video strategy? Is Apple quietly walking away from Spatial already? Maybe this rumored thinner iPhone is the next SE.
And I know there's a lot of scuttlebutt about stacked camera orientation coming - which is fine. Contrary to the rumors, I hope that a stacked orientation runs along the longer side of the camera and not the shorter (top) side. The last thing we need is more vertically oriented videos. I put vertical videos up there with Comic Sans - an abomination. There's a reason why TV and movie screens are wider than they are tall - BECAUSE OUR EYES AREN'T STACKED! Our field of vision is wider than it is tall - which is why videos on wide screens feel more natural, comfortable, dynamic, real. In other words, vertical videos blow. 😜
I know the rumored thinner iPhone 17 will offer less interior space for hardware. But it seems weird - especially in this new(er) era of Spatial photos/videos - that they would offer yet another single-lens iPhone in addition to the SE. How does a single-lens strategy play nice with a Spatial photo/video strategy? Is Apple quietly walking away from Spatial already? Maybe this rumored thinner iPhone is the next SE.
And I know there's a lot of scuttlebutt about stacked camera orientation coming - which is fine. Contrary to the rumors, I hope that a stacked orientation runs along the longer side of the camera and not the shorter (top) side. The last thing we need is more vertically oriented videos. I put vertical videos up there with Comic Sans - an abomination. There's a reason why TV and movie screens are wider than they are tall - BECAUSE OUR EYES AREN'T STACKED! Our field of vision is wider than it is tall - which is why videos on wide screens feel more natural, comfortable, dynamic, real. In other words, vertical videos blow. 😜
Last edited:
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
One could conceptually hold this phone portrait to shoot landscape to avoid that problem. Those of us who know to rotate the phone seem to be in the minority. So perhaps just go with the way the world wants to shoot and adjust HOW it captures.
In software prompt, let user choose if they want to capture a portrait video or a landscape or spatial video. In all cases, they hold the phone in portrait.
To then watch what they shot in landscape, they rotate the phone to landscape because that would be the natural thing to do to see the full picture.
Else, I see nothing stopping the "abomination" as even when I teach people why they should rotate the phone to ultimately watch the video on their TVs, the very next thing they shoot is likely to be in portrait. It's a mass-user habit that seems towards unbreakable. So perhaps the rest of us should switch.
In software prompt, let user choose if they want to capture a portrait video or a landscape or spatial video. In all cases, they hold the phone in portrait.
To then watch what they shot in landscape, they rotate the phone to landscape because that would be the natural thing to do to see the full picture.
Else, I see nothing stopping the "abomination" as even when I teach people why they should rotate the phone to ultimately watch the video on their TVs, the very next thing they shoot is likely to be in portrait. It's a mass-user habit that seems towards unbreakable. So perhaps the rest of us should switch.
The iPhone 16 Pro (non-Max) is 60% larger than the iPhone 4 in terms of area. Much more in terms of screen* area. Also, I remember how great the iPhone 5 felt compared to the iPhone 4. Thinness and lightness make a difference.