Apple could be planning a big change in our habits with the release of its new iPhone 17 Air.
L’iPhone 17 is the next high-end smartphone planned by Apple. The firm is also planning a brand new model: the iPhone 17 Air. The latter would be thought of as a thinner version than the basic iPhone, but at the expense of some performance.
According to Apple device analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the iPhone 17 Air could well put an end to SIM card slots. This would force users to use a digital SIM, a process widely used in some countries.
However, this information should be taken with a grain of salt. Ming-Chi Kuo is used to spreading rumors and leaking information about Apple devices. However, the analyst does not have a 100% success rate and sometimes he is seriously wrong in some of his predictions. In addition, the digital SIM is still only slightly democratized in France, which leaves doubt about the end of a SIM card drawer for the iPhone 17 Air here.
A thinner design for the iPhone 17 Air
This slimmer variant of the iPhone 17 is expected to fall between the standard iPhone 17 and the Pro variants in terms of price. Apple is betting big on sales of this new format. The American brand certainly wants to relaunch the variants after poor commercial success on the Mini and Plus models. “The idea is to sort of create a thinner version of the iPhone, something that sits between the iPhone 17 and the iPhone 17 Pro. The most relevant comparison is probably to the MacBook Air ago more than a decade, which sat somewhere between the base MacBook and the MacBook Pro”explains Mark Gurman, journalist at Bloomberg.
From a design point of view, the Iphone 17 Air (sometimes called “Slim”) will be thinner than a standard iPhone. It would have a 6.6″ screen, larger than the 6.3″ iPhone 17 but smaller than the 6.9″ iPhone 17 Pro Max. It will share technical specifications and it could have the cameras positioned in the center and not on one side of the phone. This new iPhone 17 Air could boost sales for the American firm. What the Plus or mini models did not achieve. According to the first rumors about it, the iPhone 17 Air would be “the thinnest iPhone ever created” by Apple.
A new design for the iPhone 17
The classic iPhone 17 would not be left behind in terms of design either. According to first production units spotted on social networks, the basic version of the iPhone 17 would have a new camera module placed entirely on the edge of the device and would extend from one edge to the other of the smartphone. This is reminiscent of Google’s Pixel phones.
Towards a rising price for the iPhone 17?
Unless there is a major turnaround and new features not yet announced, we do not think that the iPhone 17 will see its price increase compared to previous generations. The prices charged in France would therefore be as follows:
- iPhone 17 : from €969
- iPhone 17 Pro : from €1229
- iPhone 17 Pro Max : from €1479
Then comes the question of the iPhone 17 Air. If several sources have already mentioned that its price could be between the classic iPhone 17 and the Pro version, we must keep in mind that the miniaturization of components is an expensive process. Reducing the size of such a device would surely cost Apple more than increasing it since it would be necessary to completely review the place and arrangement of the components. It would therefore not be impossible that the iPhone 17 Air ends up costing more than the Pro versions.
What release date for the iPhone 17?
If Apple sticks to its usual ways, the iPhone 17 will be officially revealed during a keynote conference in early to mid-September. Traditionally, these announcements take place on a Tuesday and it would therefore be logical to bet on an officialization on Tuesday September 9 or 16, 2024. The iPhone 17 should then be officially available in the days that follow.