The iPhone 17 Air could be the biggest thing to happen to the iPhone since the release of the redesigned iPhone X back in 2017 – and it’s rumored to be coming out later this year.
Whispers suggest Apple isn’t holding back on its ultra-thin iPhone either, with a thickness said to beat not only Apple’s iPad Pro M4 but the iPhone 6, Apple’s thinnest iPhone to date, potentially making it one of the best smartphones around.
However, the ultra-slim design could come at a cost, with other sources suggesting a smaller-than-average battery and potentially only a single camera despite potentially having a higher price tag than the entry-level iPhone 17.
That said, here’s everything there is to know about the iPhone 17 Air right now, from the latest release date and pricing speculation to design and hardware leaks.
Last Updated: 1st August 2025 with new performance and battery rumors.
iPhone 17 Air at a glance
- Ultra-slim iPhone could replace iPhone 17 Plus
- 6.6-inch OLED screen with 120Hz refresh rate
- Said to measure 5.5mm thick
- Could only have a single rear-facing camera
- Expected to launch in September 2025
- Claimed to run a slightly less powerful version of the upcoming A19 Pro chip
- May have a smaller battery than the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge
iPhone 17 Air release date rumors
Multiple sources claim that the iPhone 17 Air will be announced alongside the rest of the upcoming iPhone 17 series sometime in 2025.
While Apple doesn’t tend to confirm its releases until much closer to the time, we can reasonably estimate that the iPhone 17 will be announced sometime in September, as this has been Apple’s preferred month for iPhone announcements for multiple years.
As it’s expected the iPhone 17 Air will replace the Plus model in the flagship collection, this suggests the phone is more likely to be announced alongside the rest of the iPhone 17 collection.
iPhone 17 Air pricing rumors
There’s no clear consensus when it comes to the potential pricing of the iPhone 17 Air.
At one end of the spectrum, The Information suggests that the ultra-slim iPhone could be more expensive than Apple’s current top-end iPhone 16 Pro Max, which starts at £1,199/$1,199, even though it won’t offer quite the same level of hardware as Apple’s pro-level iPhones.
That said, analyst Jeff Pu claims that the iPhone 17 Air will be a mid-tier iPhone that’ll essentially replace the Plus model in Apple’s current line-up.
That, coupled with a separate report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman claiming the price will be similar to that of the iPhone 16 Plus, suggests that the iPhone 17 Air could cost around £899/$899 – but we’ll have to wait and see for now.
iPhone 17 Air design and screen rumors
From the supposed branding, it’s clear that the iPhone 17 Air’s key focus is its size. Even though the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro aren’t exactly what most would consider overly thick and heavy, the iPhone 17 Air could blow them out of the water.
That’s because, according to The Information’s sources, the new iPhone should have a “significantly thinner” design with an aluminium chassis, apparently foregoing the lighter titanium frame of recent Pro models. That’s not up for debate generally, though there isn’t much consensus on the phone’s actual dimensions.
The most recent rumblings from the ever-accurate Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo suggest that the ultra-thin iPhone will measure in at around 5.5mm at its thinnest point. That’d make it the thinnest iPhone in Apple’s collection to date, over a millimetre thinner than the 6.9mm-thick iPhone 6, the current winner of the award, and around 30% thinner than the regular iPhone 16.
That thin design comes with compromises – which we’ll get to shortly – but the most immediately obvious is the apparent use of a single speaker on the bottom of the phone, compared to the two we’ve become accustomed to on Apple’s iPhone range.
That’s said to be paired with a 6.6-inch screen, which could offer a nice middle ground between the 6.2-inch screen of the iPhone 16 and the 6.9-inch iPhone 16 Pro Max, especially if the phone is to replace the current Plus model as rumored.
That’s what both Ming-Chi Kuo and analyst Jeff Pu believe anyway, with DSCC analyst Ross Young claiming that it’ll come in at a slightly smaller 6.55 inches.
Mark Gurman claims that Apple initially considered a 6.9-inch screen but reverted to a smaller 6.6-inch screen amidst fears that, coupled with a thin body, there could be issues with bending.
Back in March, Youtuber iDeviceHelp teamed up with leaker Majin Bu to share mockups of the iPhone 17 Air alongside the rest of the iPhone 17 line-up, supposedly based on internal documents. However, more recently, Majin Bu has shared photos and a video of the iPhone 17 Air handset.
In the X posts, we can see that the iPhone 17 Air is equipped with the Camera Control and Action Buttons of the iPhone 16 series, and retains the USB-C charging port at the bottom of the handset.
We can also see the camera bump which holds just a single lens, perhaps akin to the iPhone 16e. Most notably, throughout the X posts you can see just how thin it’s hoped for the iPhone 17 Air to be.
Additionally, Apple is rumored to finally expand the faster 120Hz refresh rate of the Pro models to the entire iPhone 17 line-up later in 2025, and that should include the Air model. There were whispers about the iPhone 17 possibly only having 90Hz support instead of the full 120Hz, but that’s not true of the Air model – apparently.
However, there’s a difference between a 120Hz refresh rate and a ProMotion display. Apple’s ProMotion tech offers LTPO smarts that allow it to dynamically refresh between 1-120Hz, allowing for a more responsive swiping experience while also being battery friendly. It’s also what powers Apple’s always-on display mode.
Newer rumors claim that the iPhone 17 Air will have a 120Hz refresh rate, but not a ProMotion screen. That means that the iPhone 17 Air could feature a consistent 120Hz refresh rate.
Technicalities aside, it’s said to be combined with ultra-slim bezels to maximise the screen experience, and if The Information is to be believed, it could even have a smaller Dynamic Island. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman backs up the claims, suggesting bezels similar in thickness to the iPhone 16 Pro models, along with the aforementioned 120Hz refresh rate.
iPhone 17 Air performance rumors
A recent report from Fixed Focus Digital on Weibo claims we can expect the iPhone 17 Air to sport an A19 Pro chip, although this comes with some caveats.
While you may assume this means the iPhone 17 Air will be as powerful as its Pro and Pro Max counterparts, Fixed Focus Digital does stipulate that the chip will have a 5-core GPU instead of a 6-core. This would mean the iPhone 17 Air will likely result in a slightly lower graphics performance to the Pro series.
However, it’s worth keeping in mind that this rumour directly contradicts others we’ve heard, with Ming-Chi Kuo claiming the iPhone 17 Air will run on the A19 chip instead, much like the entry-level iPhone 17.
Interestingly, it’s also believed that the iPhone 17 Air will only offer eSIM compatibility worldwide, with no traditional SIM tray available in any region. That has been the case for all models of iPhone since the release of the iPhone 14 in the US, but in most other regions, you get a combination of eSIM and physical SIM.
iPhone 17 Air camera rumors
Unlike the two cameras you get with the iPhone 16 and the three cameras you get if you opt for a Pro model, the iPhone 17 Air is said to feature just a single camera – the 48MP Fusion camera present in the iPhone 16, according to the latest online whispers.
However, there may be more to the story. While leakers and analysts like Ming-Chi Kuo have confirmed the existence of a single camera, recent design leaks suggest that the iPhone 17 Air could have a Pixel-esque camera bar on the rear. If there’s only a single camera, what does the iPhone 17 Air need all that additional space for?
There is said to be an improved selfie camera, likely a 24MP snapper, along with an improved six-element lens – though that’s also supposedly slated for the rest of the iPhone 17 collection, so it’s not exclusive to the new Air model.
In March, X user OreXda shared a supposed spec sheet for the iPhone 17 Air, which included one contradicting (and slightly disappointing) spec. As we’d already heard from other tipsters, OreXda claims the iPhone 17 Air will have a single 48-megapixel rear camera.
However, this leak also describes a 12-megapixel selfie camera – that’s half the resolution of the 24-megapixel front camera we’re hoping to see on the iPhone 17 series. That said, every current iPhone from the iPhone 16e through the iPhone 16 Pro Max carries a 12MP front camera, so we wouldn’t expect it to be a bad camera by any means.
This spec sheet also suggests that the iPhone 17 Air will start at 128GB of storage. While it isn’t a surprise that Apple isn’t offering expandable storage, 128GB is lower than the base level available on the current iPhone 16 Pro Max and will likely leave you relying on cloud storage to keep all your photos, files and messages backed up if you opt for the lowest level of storage.
iPhone 17 Air battery rumors
According to Instant Digital on Weibo (via MacRumors), the iPhone 17 Air is rumoured to sport a measly-sounding battery capacity of just 2800mAh. That’s not just lower than most of the best smartphones, but it’s even smaller than the Samsung S25 Edge’s 3,900mAh cell.
While this might not be the news we wanted, considering the Air is rumored to be just 5.5mm thick, it’s not particularly surprising. Plus, it’s not all doom and gloom as Instant Digital continues to promise the handset will achieve a full day of battery life, thanks to the Adaptive Power Mode tool in iOS 26.
Mark Gurman also remains optimistic about the iPhone 17 Air’s battery life, as he’s not only suggested that the handset will offer power “on par with current iPhones” but has also claimed Apple will provide optimisations to help improve battery life.
These battery optimisations notably include the use of high-density silicon-carbon batteries, which has been claimed by Weibo user WhyLab (via NotebookCheck). As silicon-carbon batteries have improved energy density levels, they are deemed a great choice for thin phones as they can increase capacity without increasing the thickness.
Alongside silicon-carbon batteries, it is also expected the iPhone 17 Air will sport Apple’s new C1 modem, which made its debut on the iPhone 16e and is hailed as the “most power-efficient modem ever on an iPhone.”
Opinion
Trusted Take: What we think the iPhone 17 Air needs
The iPhone 17 Air is an exciting prospect, taking us back to a time when thin really was in – but in a world where we’ve now got versatile cameras, top-end performance and all-day battery life, are we ready to trade that all in for a slimmer iPhone?
I’ve got my doubts, but it’ll also depend on how Apple frames it; it could do well as a ‘Plus’ replacement, mimicking the Air’s half-way-house offering between the regular iPhone and the Pro models as the iPad Air does, but I doubt it’d garner interest if it’s more expensive than the (more capable) Pro Max.
