We've known for a while that the iPhone 17 Air would require compromises to maintain its super-thin design, but a new report published yesterday suggests that buyers may be sacrificing even more than we thought.
That Apple is willing to trim the device so significantly tells us a lot about the company's thinking – and not just about this particular model…
iPhone 17 Air Compromises
It's long been reported that the super-thin model will have just one camera.
Specifically, Kuo says that the iPhone 17 Slim will only have a single rear camera. Meanwhile, the iPhone 17 is expected to feature a dual-camera design, while the iPhone 17 Pro models will feature three rear cameras.
This may not be considered a drawback for everyone. There are many people who don’t like the look of the massive camera module on the Pro models, as well as those who prefer the simplicity of a single camera.
I think the iPhone 17 Air's target market might actually consider the single camera a plus. First, they trade the visual clutter of that massive triple-lens camera module for a much more minimalist single lens (possibly also centered rather than offset). Second, they get a simpler user experience. No faffing around, just point and shoot.
We've also heard that Apple was willing to sacrifice battery life, though it's had a hard time implementing its planned approach here.
Yesterday's report pointed to two additional trade-offs. First, a less capable wireless chip.
The iPhone 17 Air will be “one of the first iPhones” to use Apple’s internal 5G modem, [which] isn’t as good as Qualcomm’s. Its peak speeds are slower, and its ability to stay connected to cellular networks is a little less reliable, the source said. And Apple’s internal modem doesn’t support millimeter wave, the technology introduced in the iPhone 12 that delivers faster cellular speeds in certain areas.
The lack of mmWave capabilities doesn’t matter at this point: It’s clear the technology hasn’t taken off. After the initial marketing benefit that carriers got from being able to promise gigabit speeds, they quickly lost interest in making the significant infrastructure investments needed to deploy it at any meaningful level. But Apple’s willingness to offer a flagship iPhone with a less reliable and slower standard 5G connection is even more surprising.
Second, there’s no physical SIM card slot.
Finally, The Information reports that Apple engineers haven’t yet figured out a way to fit a physical SIM card tray into the iPhone 17 Air.
As we noted then, that doesn’t matter much in the US and many other countries where eSIMs have become the norm. But that would currently rule out the model being sold in China, where a physical SIM card slot is a regulatory requirement.
What This Tells Us About Apple's Thinking
Overall, Apple seems willing to make a surprising number of compromises to get a slightly thinner iPhone model.
On its own, this doesn’t make much sense. While the model will certainly find its market, Apple may simply wait a year until it can iron out some of the issues it’s faced with, including battery life and mobile data reliability.
The fact that it seems to be aggressively pushing ahead with plans for the iPhone 17 Air despite the challenges suggests that the company doesn’t see this as the only model. Rather, it sees it as a sleeker future iPhone.
Further support for this view can be found in a memo from Apple hardware chief John Ternus, in which he said that future iPhone models are “the most ambitious in the history of the product.”
Best comment from Paul Neal
Still, if you ask most iPhone users what they want, they'll still ask for more battery life. I think they're hoping that a radical change in form factor will have the same appeal as the Razr did 20 years ago, but I think those days are long gone; I doubt there's much of a market for it outside of YouTube influencers and the like.
View all comments
When you put it all together, it doesn't seem like this is about a single model in the lineup, but rather the first step toward a new form factor that will roll out across the entire iPhone lineup. The Air may have a single camera, but Apple will be looking for less bulky ways to fit multiple cameras into something more like the iPhone 17 Air’s body.
A thinner body is also key to a future foldable iPhone. Apple has resisted this trend so far, and I suspect it’s because it’s frustrated with the thickness and screen sacrifices required by existing models. But if it can make the body thinner, then folding that thinner unit in half would give us a device that feels more like Apple.
This is, in essence, Apple’s next iPhone X. A premium model that will initially sit alongside more mainstream ones, but whose design represents the future of iPhone. The promotion of this first new model suggests the company wants to get to that future sooner rather than later.
Render: Michael Bower/9to5Mac
