'iPhone 17 Air' plans may be on thin ice — here's why

Apple is having trouble with battery sizes, apparently.
 By 
Alex Perry
 on 
An iPhone with a striking display amid dark shadows
iPhone 17 Air could be a slim chance now. Credit: Rokas Tenys / Shutterstock.com

Rumor has it that Apple is working on a thin next-gen device called iPhone 17 Air. However, new whispers claim that Apple is having trouble with it.

The source comes from news aggregator account yeux1122 on the Korean blog site Naver, per MacRumors. According to unnamed industry sources, the post speculates that Apple is struggling to produce the rumored “iPhone 17 Air” thin enough to match its name. The usual culprit? The battery size.

Apple is reportedly planning to use a 6mm-thick battery in the new, slimmer iPhone, which limits just how thin the device can actually be. It will likely be at least a few tenths of an inch thicker when you factor in everything else that goes into building a phone, too.


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As MacRumors noted, the thinnest iPhone to date was the iPhone 6, measuring 6.9mm thick. If this rumor is accurate, the iPhone 17 Air likely won’t be much thinner than that.

Of course, a rumor from a news aggregation account nearly a year ahead of the iPhone 17’s release should be taken with a grain of salt. But if there’s any truth to it, some might find the new slim iPhone a bit underwhelming.

Topics Apple iPhone

journalist alex perry looking at a smartphone
Alex Perry
Tech Reporter

Alex Perry is a tech reporter at Mashable who primarily covers video games and consumer tech. Alex has spent most of the last decade reviewing games, smartphones, headphones, and laptops, and he doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon. He is also a Pisces, a cat lover, and a Kansas City sports fan. Alex can be found on Bluesky at yelix.bsky.social.

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