There are images of the rumoured iPhone 17 series circulating online, and the most interesting model among these four is the iPhone 17 “Air”. It is the slimmest of the four phones. We do not know what Apple will call it, but the rumour is that it will be called the iPhone 17 Air. For sake of ease of reference, I will refer to it as the iPhone 17 Air. It is an exceptionally slim iPhone, almost as slim as the buttons on the sides of the phone. It is fair to say that this is the most interesting of the four iPhone 17 models.
Overall, the comments online have been mixed; some users are mesmerised by how thin the phone is, while others state that no one asked for a thinner phone. There are also comments on how the phone is not really thin as the camera module because at the back of the phone protrudes quite a lot. Whether you like it or not, or whether you are in the market for a slimmer iPhone or not, we are getting this iPhone around September.
iPhone designs have become a bit stale and the last few iPhones have had a very similar design. Apple loves to tout “brand new design” in all their keynote presentations around September, but the designs have been very similar. This iPhone Air looks unapologetically like an iPhone yet it does push the boundary in terms of how thin it can get. Apple has to push the design to greater extremes if it is to stay relevant. The iPhone is the most successful tech product, but Apple should not be sitting on its laurels; pushing the device to get better is how you stay on top. Of course, you can’t come up with a great new design every year; a minor refinement every year is okay as long as there are teams working on the next big thing.
Talking about the next big thing, the rumour is that Apple is working on a foldable iPhone hoping to release it in the next couple of years. If Apple is to release a foldable phone, the rumoured foldable can’t end up being as thick as two iPhones today. When folded it has to be pocketable, and the way to get there is to make one side of the foldable as thin as possible, so when folded up, it doesn’t end up being too thick or bulky. So Apple has to experiment with thinner designs, not just in their laboratories but out in the real world. I think this iPhone Air is an early experiment and is not necessarily the next big thing.
One of the popular comments I’ve seen online is that the iPhone Air isn’t truly slim due to the protruding camera, and that there’s little point in making the body of the phone slim if the camera doesn’t sit flush with the back of the iPhone. The problem with this argument is that if the phone were to be as thick as the camera, it would be uncomfortable to use. While a larger battery could be accommodated and you would get great battery life, it would compromise the ease of use that the iPhone is known for. So make the camera flush then, you say? This will severely impact the quality of the camera. There is a reason that the camera on phones (not just iPhones) now tend to not stay flush with the back of the phone. It’s physics, camera optics need space in there to get their job done. It’s always a trade-off between thinness and the quality of the pictures produced by the camera.
Another argument is that people typically put a case on their phones, so why not make the phone thicker? If a thinner case is found, the phone would still feel slim in hand. Personally, I do not like to use cases on my phones, but I would happily opt for a thinner phone. Also, I think this phone already exists, it’s the iPhone 16e.
I have been upgrading my iPhone every year, always choosing the model with the best camera. However, this year, I am seriously considering this iPhone if the camera turns out to be good enough; it doesn’t have to be the best. Hopefully, the camera quality will not be greatly affected, the display will still have 120Hz, the battery life will not suffer too much, and Bendgate doesn’t make a comeback. The iPhone Air may not be the ideal phone for everyone, but Apple needs to push the iPhone design to become thinner and better, and I believe that is what Apple is going for.
