by Juli Clover
For the last several months, we’ve been hearing rumors about a redesigned version of the iPhone 17 that Apple might call the iPhone 17 “Air,” or something along those lines. It’s going to replace the iPhone 17 Plus as Apple’s fourth iPhone option, and it will be offered alongside the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max.
We know the iPhone 17 Air is going to be super slim, but there have been mixed rumors on just how thin Apple will be able to make it. Rumors have coalesced around 6mm, though in a recent report, reliable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said that he expects the iPhone to measure in at about 5.5mm.
At 5.5mm, the iPhone 17 Air will be the thinnest iPhone to date, a title currently held by the 6.9mm iPhone 6 that came out in way back in 2014. 5.5mm would be approximately 30 percent thinner than the iPhone 16, which measures in at 7.8mm thick, and 33 percent thinner than the iPhone 16 Pro models, which are 8.25mm thick. 
It won’t be too far off from the 12.9-inch iPad Pro that Apple came out with last year. The new iPad Pro is also super thin, measuring in at 5.1mm. It’s Apple’s thinnest device to date, in fact.
Apple is hoping a super thin design will entice people more than the iPhone mini and iPhone Plus models, neither of which has sold as well as the standard and Pro models. Apple discontinued the 5.4-inch iPhone mini option after the iPhone 13 mini, and the iPhone 16 Plus will apparently be the last “Plus” iPhone.
Kuo says the iPhone 17 Air will be 5.5mm at its “thinnest point,” so it sounds like we can still expect a camera bump. Apple is planning for a single 48-megapixel rear camera, with the company opting for just one lens because of space constraints in such a small chassis.
Some of the early rumors about the iPhone 17 Air suggested it would be more expensive than the Pro models, but it doesn’t sound like that’s going to be the case. It will be a mid-tier model in size and functionality, featuring a 6.6-inch display and an A19 chip that won’t be as quick as the A19 Pro expected for the iPhone 17 Pro models. It’s also going to sport Apple’s custom modem chip, which won’t offer the fastest mmWave 5G speeds.
While Kuo has targeted 5.5mm, it is worth noting that Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman said in December that the iPhone 17 Air will be 2mm thinner than the iPhone 16 Pro models, which would actually put it at 6.25mm. 5.5mm will be closest to the iPad Pro, but even at 6.25mm, it will be the thinnest iPhone to date.
The iPhone 17 Air is expected to launch alongside the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max in September of 2025. More information on what to expect from the entire iPhone 17 lineup can be found in our dedicated roundup.
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