iPhone 17 Air could be Apple's thinnest iPhone yet, with a thickness of just 6mm

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The iPhone 17 range could introduce a redesigned iPhone with a thickness of just around 6mm, making it the thinnest iPhone ever. Here's what we know so far.

Three modern smartphones in yellow, silver, and green, angled diagonally, are displayed against a light blue gradient background.
The iPhone 17 Slim could be Apple's thinnest iPhone yet.



Well before the release of the iPhone 16 range in September 2024, rumors of an iPhone 17 Slim or iPhone 17 Air started popping up.

Apple reportedly wants to replace its existing Plus line with a redesigned iPhone 17 Slim, with a 6.6-inch display, ProMotion, and a single rear camera. The most noteworthy characteristic of the upcoming iPhone, however, is its thickness.

Relative to the current iPhone 16 Plus, which has a thickness of 7.8mm, the iPhone 17 Slim will allegedly feature a housing that's only 6mm thin. This would make the device thinner than any iPhone Apple has released so far, though not the thinnest Apple device ever. That honor belongs to the 2024 iPad Pro with the M4 chip, which is only 5.1mm thin.

As first spotted by MacRumors, analyst Jeff Pu believes this will indeed be the case. Pu has previously provided other details about the upcoming iPhone 17 Slim, saying in October 2024 that it would feature a 6.6-inch display.

Multiple sources, including analysts Ross Young, Ming-Chi Kuo, leaker Ice Universe, and others, have all reported that a similar device is in the works, giving more credence to the claim.

Apple could opt to use a titanium-aluminium alloy for the iPhone 17 Slim to prevent bending. The iPhone 6, currently still the thinnest iPhone ever made, was prone to bending in people's pockets, with some users even calling the phenomenon "bend-gate" at the time.

As for why the iPhone 17 Slim is not thinner than the iPad Pro, one rumor from October 2024 suggests that the battery is to blame. Apple is supposedly not using the newer battery technology it originally developed for the phone. This claim comes from a user with a mixed track record, though, so it should be taken with a grain of salt.

Apart from the altered dimensions, the iPhone 17 Slim is also expected to introduce a 24-megapixel front-facing camera. The device could also receive Apple's next-generation A19 chip with improved efficiency and thermal management, and a thinner motherboard made of resin-coated copper.

The iPhone 17 Pro, meanwhile, is expected to feature the A19 Pro chip, with TSMC's state-of-the-art 2nm technology and 12GB of RAM. The iPhone 17 lineup is expected to be revealed in September 2025.

Rumor Score: Possible

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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 13
    DAalsethdaalseth Posts: 3,249member
    Relative to the current iPhone 16 Plus, which has a thickness of 7.8mm, the iPhone 17 Slim will allegedly feature a housing that's only 6mm thin
    1.8mm thinner? That’s about 1/16th of an inch. All of that, and a limited camera just to gain 1/16th? Who TF would even notice let alone care? 


    williamlondonravnorodomcharlesn
     2Likes 0Dislikes 1Informative
  • Reply 2 of 13
    godofbiscuitssfgodofbiscuitssf Posts: 161member
    DAalseth said:
    1.8mm thinner? That’s about 1/16th of an inch. All of that, and a limited camera just to gain 1/16th? Who TF would even notice let alone care? 


    Anyone switching to it noticed something that's only ¾ the thickness of what they're currently using.  They'll get used to the "new normal", of course, but it's a substantial change.  It's the change people notice.

    retrogustomike1williamlondonchiamacgui
     5Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 3 of 13
    KT123kt123 Posts: 19member
    Wait till you see Tim making the rounds on morning talk shows touting the transformational capabilities of the iPhone Air then you too will realize you were wasting your time and money on Ozympic when you should be getting an iPhone Air instead.

    Suddenly you will notice a new spring in you step and the chicks will be all over you, that's how powerful it is, and it is only the beginning.
    muthuk_vanalingamapple4thewinbeowulfschmidt
     3Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 4 of 13
    M68000m68000 Posts: 931member
    KT123 said:
    Wait till you see Tim making the rounds on morning talk shows touting the transformational capabilities of the iPhone Air then you too will realize you were wasting your time and money on Ozympic when you should be getting an iPhone Air instead.

    Suddenly you will notice a new spring in you step and the chicks will be all over you, that's how powerful it is, and it is only the beginning.
    LOL….  
    williamlondon
     0Likes 0Dislikes 1Informative
  • Reply 5 of 13
    fred1fred1 Posts: 1,156member
    3/4 the thickness, 2 times the price. That’s my prediction.
    DAalsethgrandact73
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  • Reply 6 of 13
    retrogustoretrogusto Posts: 1,155member
    Who would notice the difference? If you have a 1st-gen Siri Remote, compare it to your phone. Does one seem thinner? 
    That Siri Remote was 6.3mm, 5% thicker than what we’re talking about. 
    avon b7DAalseth
     1Like 0Dislikes 1Informative
  • Reply 7 of 13
    tundraboytundraboy Posts: 1,931member
    6mm is a bogus number if it doesn't include the camera lens island.

    edited November 2024
    williamlondon
     0Likes 0Dislikes 1Informative
  • Reply 8 of 13
    dutchlorddutchlord Posts: 300member
    Who cares? 
    williamlondon
     0Likes 0Dislikes 1Informative
  • Reply 9 of 13
    ravnorodomravnorodom Posts: 730member
    KT123 said:
    Wait till you see Tim making the rounds on morning talk shows touting the transformational capabilities of the iPhone Air then you too will realize you were wasting your time and money on Ozympic when you should be getting an iPhone Air instead.

    Suddenly you will notice a new spring in you step and the chicks will be all over you, that's how powerful it is, and it is only the beginning.
    I hope chicks can spot my 1/16 inch-less slim iPhone from a distance.
    macnavarra
     1Like 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 10 of 13
    kmareikmarei Posts: 218member
    How about an iPhone 17 fat. Thicker but double the battery life ?
    edited November 2024
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  • Reply 11 of 13
    jfabula1jfabula1 Posts: 210member
    kmarei said:
    How about an iPhone 17 fat. Thicker but double the battery life ?
    Maybe iPhone 17O (obese) w more battery capacity :-)
    fred1
     1Like 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 12 of 13
    charlesncharlesn Posts: 1,400member
    DAalseth said:

    1.8mm thinner? That’s about 1/16th of an inch. All of that, and a limited camera just to gain 1/16th? Who TF would even notice let alone care? 


    Exactly right. It's hilarious that the accepted shorthand description for the Slim has become, "Oh, it's just like the original Macbook Air." Ummmm... just NO. The original MBA was a friggin' jaw-dropping, engineering marvel when Steve pulled it out of the envelope. The Slim, as rumored, is a SLIGHTLY thinner iPhone... oh, and don't forget, you'll have to pay a premium price for the bragging rights to an iPhone that's 1/16th of an inch thinner, and accept a more limited camera, decreased battery life and a modem that doesn't support fast 5G. I have yet to hear a single thing about Slim that even suggests any sort of wow factor. Not to mention that Apple's history in pursuing more extreme thinness as a goal is not exactly covered in glory--from the "Bend-gate" iPhones, to MacBook Pros with butterfly keyboards and the Macbook 12" Retina. 
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 13 of 13
    muthuk_vanalingammuthuk_vanalingam Posts: 1,429member
    charlesn said:
    Exactly right. It's hilarious that the accepted shorthand description for the Slim has become, "Oh, it's just like the original Macbook Air." Ummmm... just NO. The original MBA was a friggin' jaw-dropping, engineering marvel when Steve pulled it out of the envelope. The Slim, as rumored, is a SLIGHTLY thinner iPhone... oh, and don't forget, you'll have to pay a premium price for the bragging rights to an iPhone that's 1/16th of an inch thinner, and accept a more limited camera, decreased battery life and a modem that doesn't support fast 5G. I have yet to hear a single thing about Slim that even suggests any sort of wow factor. Not to mention that Apple's history in pursuing more extreme thinness as a goal is not exactly covered in glory--from the "Bend-gate" iPhones, to MacBook Pros with butterfly keyboards and the Macbook 12" Retina. 
    I would like to address the "decreased battery life" part alone. Not sure why everyone in this forum thinks that reducing the thinness of the iPhone would lead to reduced battery life next year. The battery technology has moved forward after many years of stagnation with the arrival of Si/C batteries. In the android flagship phones, the battery capacity has breached the 5000mah barrier which was usually the norm until couple of years ago. Nowadays, 6000mah+ batteries have become normal in Android flagship phones from Chinese OEMs, without increasing the weight or thickness of the phones.

    And Apple would have got acces to that latest battery technology and decided to utilize it in next year iPhones after thorough testing. It is quite possible that Apple will reduce the thickness of the battery and still have the same battery capacity. And Apple marketing focusing so much on the titanium frame last year, it is quite conceivable that they brag how thin (and less weight) iPhones have become without sacrificing the battery life next year.
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
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