Joe Rossignol
According to Korean publication The Elec (via 9to5Mac), next year’s iPhone 17 and the all-new “iPhone 17 Air” will not feature a 5x optical zoom lens.
The report says that the tetraprism camera system that enables 5x optical zoom will remain exclusive to the Pro models in next year’s iPhone lineup, meaning it will only be available on the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max.
Of course, given that the iPhone 17 Air is expected to be very thin, this is not surprising.
The iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max The tetraprism camera system has a “folding” design that allows it to fit inside the smartphones, offering up to 5x optical zoom and up to 25x digital zoom on those devices. The smaller iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 14 Pro, and iPhone 14 Pro Max are limited to 3x optical zoom.
The standard iPhone 16 offers up to 2x optical zoom, so the iPhone 17 should at least have the same. However, the zoom specs for the iPhone 17 Air are still unclear, as rumors suggest the device will only feature a single 48-megapixel rear camera.
Rumors about the iPhone 17 Air have been mixed so far. The device could be the thinnest iPhone ever made, but some of its specs are likely to lag behind the Pro models, making it a tougher purchase decision. In other words, if you want a cool new iPhone with a thin new design, you'll have to make some compromises.
There have been conflicting rumors about the iPhone 17 Air's design and specs, but most sources agree that it will have a display around 6.6 inches. In July, Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said he expected the device to have a standard A19 chip, Dynamic Island, a single rear camera, and an Apple-designed 5G modem.
That means the iPhone 17 Air will have a fairly large display, but the 6.9-inch iPhone 17 Pro Max will still be larger. With an A19 chip, the device will certainly be powerful, but the iPhone 17 Pro models will get the superior A19 Pro chip. A single camera would put the device on par with the iPhone SE in terms of photography.
Meanwhile, the iPhone 17 Air could be one of the first devices to feature an Apple-designed 5G modem, but it’s unclear whether it will have any obvious consumer benefits over the Qualcomm modems expected to be used in the iPhone 17 Pro models. Still, Apple’s cellular future will debut in this device, not the flagship Pro models.
It’s still early days, so we should learn a lot more about the iPhone 17 Air in the coming months.
Related Review: iPhone 17Tag: The Elec[ 102 comments ]
