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iPhone 17 and 'iPhone 17 Air' Expected to Lack 5x Optical Zoom Lens
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6,6 inch is not an ultra portable phone, no matter how thin it is
So, feature phones? I don’t see Apple going that way for what I thought to be obvious reasons.
Un-Apple, hm. I get that sentiment, but I think it is very Apple‘y. Make the phone thinner than the camera can physically be, make the whole thing so thin people are like wow the rest of the thing is even thinner than that tiny camera.
Making the phone only as thin as the camera can be, that sounds much more un-Apple.
The iPhone Air as rumored (extra thin, single camera) would be an example. The mini was another example. Arguably the iPhone 5C. An extra thick iPhone with double the battery, or a heavy but foldable to near-iPad mini size, or a gaming-oriented iPhone with foldable physical controls, might be further examples.
More generally, iPhones with special features that only a minority will appreciate, but that keep the lineup exciting, and that addresses those who wish for such non-mainstream features, instead of only serving the middle of the bell curve.
I think it would make perfect sense. They have Macbook Air and iPad Air. Why not iPhone Air for those wanting better portability?
Just give it Pro features without Pro cameras and perhaps smaller battery to keep it slimmer, and you've got yourself a new model line.
I’m concerned about Apple’s new modem and its lack of real-world testing. Many Android devices use a feature called High-Power User Equipment (HPUE) to boost performance in poor or fringe signal areas. HPUE increases the device's transmission power to improve connectivity on certain frequency bands enhancing coverage and reliability.
I also would prefer 10x optical zoom.
I also would prefer 10x optical zoom.
ah I’m definitely not that type but I liked the small size, materials, and no camera bump.
That single camera could turn out to be more advanced than we expect with a mechanical aperture.
This is a good point. What’s the target for this iPhone ?
I don’t think it will be cheap (there is an SE for that… cheap the way Apple define the word “cheap”).
If you use 3X on an iPhone it is not a digital zoom but the crop of a real zoom. Different things in terms of quality.
Exactly ! The thickness doesn’t really affect portability.
Because being thin doesn’t mean being more portable, for a smartphone. Screen dimensions still are the main point about portability.
Would that make it better than two or three fixes lenses? The mechanism would be very small, too, considering you're dealing with light. Wouldn't surprise me if this is an SE replacement rebrand.
Maybe a re-marketing effort for an SE replacement? To what end? Well, this is Apple.
The most plausible use of the thinness has got to be a foldable in the usual Apple way of creating something refined, a quality foldable phone that’s thin when folded unlike the Samsungs.
But then by now there would have been news of foldable parts from suppliers and analysts like Kuo.
The Air just makes no sense at all alongside the SE 4 and the non-Pro iPhones.
You can, if you want, take the vibrancy out of your iPhone display. This works since iOS 17 and is supported on all iPhones running it, I believe.
Go to
Settings > Accessibility > Display and Text Size \/ scroll down to Color Filters > enable Color Filters.
More options will appear, select Greyscale and move the intensity slider to your hearts desire. Mine is currently at the minimum it can be (left), so max. colors, but it still removes the edge of the colors but sometimes I remove even more color.
I will attach screenshots of my Home Screen. Second is normal, first is with lowered vibrancy.
This is a Color Filter, so it will not impact screen recording of any kind. It works like Night Shift in that regard. That’s why I have to manually lower the vibrancy on the second screenshot, but it is a very close approximation to what it actually looks like with Color Filters enabled.
Hope that helps, it certainly did help me since the day I read about it almost a year ago here on MR :^)
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I have noticed 2X produced a 12 MP photo which I expected because it is a crop from the 1X lens.
But I tested with 3X and 4X and they also produced a 12 MP photo, which didn't make sense to me.
I also thought it would just crop it, but this is not what happened.
People want everything they can get. If you get a Pro and don’t have the Air features, software wise at least, people won’t be happy.
The market doesn’t change every year, the iPhone itself is a perfect example for that.
The 5c was a cheap shot at a „budget“ phone that didn’t work out. Last years phone in a worse housing is nothing anyone asked for and is not a feature. The Mini was a class in itself and not a feature phone, it was the same as the regular in smaller, it didn’t work out so Apple went the opposite direction and still is.
A phone twice as thick, with more processing power and something foldable on it would be a feature phone Apple won’t bother making for the time being, hand held gaming with iOS devices is definitely going ways but is nowhere where the RND for such a phone would seem feasible. Apple is not ROG.
I don’t see Apple developing hardware for only a single generation and not iterate on it for the next release of iPhones. So, I don’t see apple going the way of the feature phone and the 5c, Xr or SE don’t count as examples.
So you want a better Pro with fewer cameras. That’s not a feature phone.
What are Pro features? Pro Motion, camera modi and the like, USB 3 speeds, a better chip and a couple things I haven’t think of right now.
What you want is a lighter non Pro phone, that’s not a feature phone.
And the RND won’t be feasible for Apple. I don’t see people wanting such a phone more than the Mini iPhones, and we know how that journey went.