We’ve known for some time that the iPhone 17 Air will require compromises to pull off the ultra-thin design, but a new report yesterday suggests buyers may be sacrificing even more than we thought.
That Apple is willing to pare back the device so severely tells us a lot about the company’s thinking – and not just about this specific model …
iPhone 17 Air compromises
It’s long been reported that the ultra-slim model will have just a single camera.
Most notably, Kuo says the iPhone 17 Slim will have just one rear camera. Meanwhile, the iPhone 17 is expected to have a dual-camera design, while the iPhone 17 Pro models will feature three rear cameras.
That might not be considered a negative by everyone. There are plenty of people who dislike the look of the chunky camera module on the Pro models, as well as those who prefer the simplicity of a single camera.
I think the target market for the iPhone 17 Air may actually consider a single camera to be a plus point. First they swap the visual clutter of that imposing camera module with its three lenses for a much more minimalist single lens (perhaps also centered rather than offset). Second, they get a simpler usage experience. No decisions, just point and shoot.
We’d also heard that Apple was willing to compromise battery-life, though was struggling to execute its planned approach here.
Yesterday’s report pointed to two further compromises. First, a less capable wireless chip.
The iPhone 17 Air will be “among the first iPhones” to use Apple’s in-house 5G modem [that] doesn’t perform as well as Qualcomm’s. Its peak speeds are lower and its ability to stay connected to cellular networks is slightly less reliable, the person said. And Apple’s in-house modem lacks support for millimeter wave, a technology introduced in the iPhone 12 that allows for higher cellular speeds in certain areas.
The lack of mmWave capability is kind of irrelevant by this point: it’s clear that the technology hasn’t taken off. After the initial marketing benefit carriers got from being able to promise gigabit speeds, they quickly lost interest in the substantial infrastructure investment needed to roll it out at any meaningful level. But Apple being willing to offer a flagship iPhone with less reliable and slower standard 5G connectivity is more surprising.
Second, no physical SIM slot.
Finally, The Information says that Apple engineers haven’t yet found a way to fit a physical SIM card tray in the iPhone 17 Air.
As we noted at the time, that’s not a big deal in the US, nor many other countries where eSIMs have become the norm. But as things stand today, that would rule out selling the model in China, where a physical SIM slot is a regulatory requirement.
What this tells us about Apple’s thinking
All in all, Apple appears to be willing to make a surprising number of compromises just to get a somewhat slimmer iPhone model.
It itself, that doesn’t make much sense. While the model will for sure find its market, Apple could simply wait a year until it’s able to solve some of the difficulties it has encountered – battery life and mobile data reliability key among them.
The fact that it appears to be aggressively pushing forward with plans to launch the iPhone 17 Air despite the challenges suggest that the company isn’t viewing this as being about a single model. More likely it views this as the sleeker future of the iPhone.
Further support for this view can be found in a memo from Apple hardware chief John Ternus, in which he said that upcoming iPhone models were “the most ambitious in the product’s history.”
Top comment by Paul Neal
Yet, if you ask the majority of iPhone users what they want, they would still ask for more battery life. I think they're hoping a radical change in form factor will have the appeal that the Razr had 20 years ago, but I think those days are long gone; I'm doubtful there's much of a market for this, beyond YouTube influencers and the like.
Put all of this together and it seems to be this isn’t about one model in a line-up, but rather about taking the first step toward a new form-factor which will be rolled out across the entire iPhone range. The Air might have one camera, but Apple will be seeking to find less clunky ways to incorporate multiple cameras into something much more like the iPhone 17 Air casing.
A slimmer casing is also key to a future folding iPhone. Apple has so far resisted this trend, and I suspect that’s because it isn’t happy with the thickness and screen sacrifices required by existing models. But if it can slim down the case, then folding that slimmer unit in half gets us a more Apple-like device.
Essentially, this is Apple’s next iPhone X. A premium model which will initially sit alongside more conventional ones, but whose design represents the future of iPhone. Pushing ahead with this first new model suggests the company wants to reach that future sooner rather than later.
Render: Michael Bower/9to5Mac
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