These iPhone 17 Air rumors make it seem awful
As cool as a super thin phone seems, maybe Apple should just stick with normal sizes instead
📱 A new report suggests the iPhone 17 Air might make some serious compromises
🔊 The phone could lose a speaker and a SIM tray in the name of thinness
📸 Other reports suggest the phone might only ship with a single camera
💰 It could be the worst value out of all the iPhone 17s we expect in 2025
Apple is expected to release its thinnest phone ever next year with the iPhone 17 Air, but all the rumors I keep hearing about doesn’t make it seem like a great device. The latest evidence of this comes from The Information, whose latest report indicates Apple might be making more compromises than we thought with this phone, all in the name of thinness.
For starters, The Information says that Apple is aiming to make the iPhone 17 Air somewhere between 5-6mm thin. That would make it much thinner than the current iPhone 16 at 7.8mm thin and even thinner than the thinnest iPhone ever, the iPhone 6, at 6.9mm. But because Apple is prioritizing an ultra-thin form factor so much, it could lead to more issues than we initially expected.
In its report, The Information says Apple might wind up removing the speaker on the bottom of the phone. Engineers are having a tough time fitting everything they need to in the phone to make it work, and it seems like the downward-firing speaker could be in the way. Apple will instead rely on the earpiece at the top for playing audio, which will undoubtedly be a worse experience than the current stereo setup on the most recent iPhones.
The iPhone 17 Air might also skip the physical SIM card tray. In the United States, we haven’t had SIM trays since Apple got rid of them in 2022 with the iPhone 14, but other countries still rely on them. For example, China is a market where you’re required to ship phones with physical SIMs, so the 17 Air might not even go on sale there if Apple doesn’t find a way to include the tray.
Speaking of SIM trays and cellular connections, The Information also says Apple might skip mmWave 5G on the iPhone 17 Air. The device is expected to use Apple’s in-house wireless modem which will include both Wi-Fi and 5G connections, but only sub-6GHz 5G is currently supported on the modem, according to rumors. While the lack of mmWave won’t be a dealbreaker since it’s hard to find mmWave connections as it is, it still means the phone will be missing a feature that competitors will likely call out in their marketing to undermine the power of the 17 Air (and the rest of the iPhone 17 series, for that matter).
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This report comes on the heels of other rumors pointing to the iPhone 17 Air shipping with a single rear camera and a relatively small battery, all in the name of having a super-thin iPhone for the first time in forever. Granted, the device will likely get an upgraded 120Hz display and 8GB of RAM for Apple Intelligence, but compared to other phones in Apple’s 2025 lineup like the iPhone 17 Pro, it’s hard to see the advantage of such a thin form factor when you’re giving up cameras, endurance, audio quality, and wireless capabilities.
By all accounts, the iPhone 17 Air might be the worst value out of all the iPhone 17s we expect. It’s unclear how much it’ll cost or whether Apple will position it as a more premium offering than the Pro series, but one thing’s for certain: you’ll get a lot more features for your money if you spend it on one of the Air’s slightly thicker siblings.
We’ll be tracking these rumors closely to determine whether the iPhone 17 Air will be worth your money when it ships later next year. Stay tuned.
Max Buondonno is a writer at The Shortcut. Follow him on X @LegendaryScoop.