iPhone 17 Air's Extreme Thinness Demoed in New Video

[MacRumors]

Apple plans to release an all-new super thin iPhone this year, debuting it alongside the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max. We've seen pictures of dummy models, cases, and renders with the design, but Lewis Hilsenteger of Unbox Therapy today showed off newer dummy models that give us a better idea of just how thin the "iPhone 17 Air" will be.

The iPhone 17 Air is expected to be around 5.5mm thick (with a thicker camera bar area), making it the thinnest iPhone to date. With the iPhone 17 Pro models rumored to be around 8.725mm thick, there will be a notable difference between the iPhone 17 Air and the rest of the iPhone 17 models.

Hilsenteger was impressed by the thinness of the iPhone 17 Air, speculating on whether it would bend because of the minimal casing. Rumors suggest that Apple will use a titanium and aluminum chassis for the iPhone, with the aim of ensuring it's strong enough not to bend. Back in 2014, Apple dealt with "bendgate" after some users found that the iPhone 6 Plus started bending from being tucked inside a pocket. Hilsenteger's YouTube channel even went viral after he did one of the original iPhone 6 bend test videos.

Apple also decided to keep the display size to 6.6 inches because of fears that a larger display would make the iPhone 17 Air too susceptible to bending. Originally, Apple wanted to use a 6.9-inch display, which would put sizing on par with the iPhone 17 Pro Max. That Apple tweaked display size during development suggests it took the potential for bending into account while creating the super thin iPhone.

Hilsenteger also questioned what the iPhone 17 Air's battery life will be like because of the thinness of the design, but Apple is eliminating features like extra camera lenses in order to ensure enough room for the battery, as well as using a more efficient Apple-designed C1 modem and optimizing through software. Battery life is expected to be on par with current iPhone models.

More on what's expected from the iPhone 17 Air models can be found in our iPhone 17 Air roundup.

Article Link: iPhone 17 Air's Extreme Thinness Demoed in New Video

 

[The Cockney Rebel]

That Pro looks ugly.

 

[emmab2006]

bend gate 2.0 here we come...

 

[DigitalAR]

I feel like Apple is painting themselves into a corner.

Their phones are either super thick now or gonna be super thin. And their thin one is going to get really
Really hot during usage.

It feels like they lost sight of what people really need.

 

[Capeto]

Jony Ive must be proud

 

[DoogH]

bend gate 2.0 here we come...

I would assume they’ll use titanium beams like they do currently.

 

[con2apple]

I would assume they’ll use titanium beams like they do currently.

you're carrying it wrong.

 

[BigJohno]

bend gate 2.0 here we come...

I'd have to imagine at least ONE person at Apple said "think it could bend"? We don't see bend gate on the new iPad pros...

 

[TechRunner]

"Thin" wouldn't convince me to pay the asking price. The specs would have to be beyond mid-range for me to be interested.

 

[ab2c4]

Being that thin and with the flat sides and sharp edges I can't see how it will be comfortable to hold.

 

[con2apple]

The iPhone 17 Air is expected to be around 5.5mm thick (with a thicker camera bar area), making it the thinnest iPhone to date. With the iPhone 17 Pro models rumored to be around 8.725mm thick, there will be a notable difference between the iPhone 17 Air and the rest of the iPhone 17 models.

And now let's look at the real numbers, please. Including the huge camera bump, which most protective cases can no longer cover.

The iPhone 16 Pro, for example, is 1.3 cm thick. That's five millimeters more than officially stated. Or, to put it another way, fifty percent thicker than the marketing hype that MacRumors parrots every year.

 

[Scoob Redux]

This is the result of having a corporate spreadsheet guy in charge of Apple - he has no idea what constitutes a "good" product. The Ive-instilled mantra that "thinner is better" lives on, with no evidence that anyone wants a thinner phone or that it enhances usability in any way. On the contrary, a thinner phone is harder to hold, easier to drop, and holds less stored energy (i.e. battery). Thinness is a solution in search of a problem.

 

[AppleofyourI]

How about a phone without buggy software. No one cares about making their few mm thick phone thinner.

 

[Shalev Lazarof]

Finally, Apple returns to the thin and light mindset, elegant designs. enough with the function over form trade offs with those chunky, heavy bricks.

 

[Zmmyt]

That’s ½ a foldable.

 

[UltimaKilo]

bend gate 2.0 here we come...

That was the first thought I had too.

 

[con2apple]

Being that thin and with the flat sides and sharp edges I can't see how it will be comfortable to hold.

With a case that's almost as thick as the camera bump, it will fine. You don't want your status symbol to get scratched, do you? After all, you'll have to trade it in for the next status symbol next year.
That's why you should put your €800 device in a cheap plastic cover.

/s

 

[Biro]

And the camera lens still extends past the camera bump. Great job.

 

[v0lume4]

I think the only solution to battery life is a silicon carbon battery. They could manage to not take too big a hit on the total capacity. But I don't if those can be produced at the scale necessary for Apple yet.

 

[DHagan4755]

This seems reminiscent of SNL. Maybe Apple will hire Will Ferrell to do an ad for it.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Can’t we just have one small phone, please?

 

[geta]

All I see is a huge camera hump.

 

[jicon]

Look... can I have a three year old phone that can have battery last a day? I don't know what problem a thin phone is solving... but I can certainly make some keen guesses on what frustrating usability issues it will introduce.

 

[Hajj.david]

Definitely getting the Air, I want a thin and light phone I dont need max power, I dont need crazy cameras, I hate carrying my current pro max. I am never more than 30 seconds away from a charger so I dont care about insane battery life.

 

[bodonnell202]

It will be interesting to see how the battery life is. If they can get battery life around what the current 16 gets I think most people will be happy with that and won't see the battery life as a compromise.