iPhone 17 Air could ditch these 5 Pro features in favor of an ultra-thin design

Following the report of the updated iPhone 17 Pro, InformationWayne Ma details Apple’s efforts to release the ultra-thin iPhone 17 Air next year. According to the journalist, Cupertino will remove several features to make this innovative iPhone so thin.

Ma reports that iPhone 17 Air prototypes are 5 to 6 millimeters thick, which could possibly make them thinner than the iPhone 6 released a decade ago. Although the iPhone 16 is 7.8mm thin, this could make the iPhone 17 Air as thin as the new iPad Pro M4.

Unfortunately, not everything is so good. Apple will have to sacrifice a few important features to achieve this ultra-thin design. For example, Information says Apple engineers are “difficult to fit the battery and thermal materials into the device,” meaning Cupertino will likely have to add a smaller battery to this iPhone.

Additionally, the iPhone 17 Air’s single speaker could be a major compromise. According to Ma, “iPhone will only have one speaker in the earpiece because there is no room at the bottom for a second speaker, which is standard on other models.”

The journalist also confirms another rumored change: the iPhone 17 Air will have a “large camera bump in the center.” However, forget about one of the most widely used iPhone camera features: optical zoom.

While Apple’s own 5G modem is expected to be available with this iPhone, that chip doesn’t perform as well as Qualcomm’s. The report says it’s more efficient, but it won’t be as fast, and it will lack a feature that some US users benefit greatly from – mmWave 5G technology, which Apple’s upcoming processor won’t have.

Finally, Apple engineers couldn’t figure out how to add a physical SIM card tray to the iPhone 17 Air. While iPhone users in the US are used to this, Apple will have problems, at least in China, where phones must be sold with a SIM card. Without this market, sales of the future iPhone might not be as attractive as they could be.

Wrap

Taking all this into account, I wonder if these trade-offs are worth it for a completely new iPhone design. I still think Pro users will continue to buy Pro phones, while regular iPhone users won’t be inclined to pay extra for this new design. So, who could this new iPhone be for?