Apple is set to release a new kind of iPhone later this year, and a recently released video shows us exactly what to expect of the iPhone 17 Air.
Prominent tech YouTube channel Unbox Therapy has posted a first-look peek at the design of the iPhone 17 Air, and how it compares with today’s models.
Thinness is its USP. And while we’ve heard rumoured dimension figures for the phone’s thickness before, seeing the iPhone 17 Air side-by-side with the standard model puts the potential appeal of this new line into sharper focus.
The YouTuber received non-functional iPhone-shaped blanks from a Chinese manufacturer, which it claims represent the proportions of the phones Apple will launch — most likely — this September.
In the iPhone 17 Air dummy, the phone’s casing is barely any thicker than its side buttons.
“That feels futuristic,” was Unbox Therapy’s first reaction on picking up the handset, swiftly followed by raising concerns over whether such a thin phone will be dramatically less resilient than a standard iPhone.
Early reports on the phone’s dimensions suggest it will be 5.5mm thick, although the iPhone 17 Air’s camera housing will stick out further than that. And Unboxed Therapy’s own tool puts the phone dummy at 5.6mm thick.
The phone has just a single rear camera, and appears to be slightly taller than the standard-series iPhone. One neat, and sensible, potential way to actually use the iPhone 17 Air will be to put it in a slimline protective case and end up with a phone roughly as thick as a standard iPhone is case-free.
It’s expected to have a 6.6-inch screen, sitting between the current sizes of the 6.3-inch iPhone 16 and 6.9-inch iPhone 16 Pro Max. Apple reportedly considered making the iPhone 17 Air a 6.9-inch whopper, but dropped down following concerns about how bend-resilient the phone would be.
This is why we’ll have eyes on another YouTube channel, JerryRigEverything, following the iPhone 17 Air’s launch. Its presenter, Zack Nelson, is well known for his torture testing of popular consumer tech devices, including attempting to bend them with his bare hands — sometimes successfully.
Apple is likely to unveil the iPhone 17 Air alongside new iPhone 17, Pro and Max models. We won’t know the exact date until, most likely, a few weeks beforehand, when the invites are sent out.
