Key Takeaways
- The iPhone 17 Air could also be Apple’s first main design overhaul because the iPhone 11.
- Potential points might embody bending, and an exorbitant worth for mid-level specs.
- All of that is based mostly on rumors that would shift earlier than a 2025 launch date.
One thing you are going to hear much more buzz about within the subsequent a number of months is the iPhone 17 Air, generally dubbed the iPhone 17 Slim. There’s all the time loads of hype round any new iPhone mannequin, even when it seems to be an incremental improve just like the iPhone 16 series. Nonetheless, the Air might be Apple’s first main design overhaul because the iPhone 11, trying in contrast to most smartphones, not to mention final yr’s fashions.
I am skeptical of how good the Air shall be for just a few causes. Keep in mind that these factors are all based mostly on rumors — I am absolutely anticipating some particulars to vary. I am additionally genuinely hoping that the product will succeed and break any doubt I might need, so that you would possibly virtually take into account it recommendation for Apple, assuming they’ve any room for modifications this late into the product cycle.
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1 Apple has a blended monitor report with skinny gadgets
The specter of a brand new Bendgate
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A decade in the past, Apple bumped into severe controversy (and authorized issues) when individuals found that the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus — particularly the latter — had been slightly too straightforward to bend. Should you weren’t paying consideration, you can even bend the telephones by sitting down with them in your pocket. It was a fairly potent deal-killer for a tool that price a number of hundred {dollars}. Courtroom paperwork later revealed that Apple had lengthy been conscious of the problem in personal, regardless of public makes an attempt to dismiss any complaints.
The specter of Bendgate looms within the background.
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You’d assume Apple would’ve discovered its lesson, however the firm’s obsession with thinness has created subsequent issues on a smaller scale. Primarily, I am considering of the 2018 iPad Professional, for which you could find loads of examples of bending on-line.
Apple appears to have made 2024 iPads slightly extra sturdy, however the specter of Bendgate looms within the background, and iPhones do not have individuals as enthralled as they used to. An argument with the iPhone 17 Air might steer 1000’s or hundreds of thousands of shoppers in the direction of Android telephones.
2 Thinness is getting precedence over specs
Individuals do not care that a lot about slim gadgets
You’d assume that the radically totally different model of the iPhone 17 can be the one with the very best specs, however that is not what rumors are saying. As a substitute, the Air is anticipated to switch Plus-model iPhones, sitting between the bottom iPhone 17 and the 17 Professional. Sure, the Air ought to have issues like an A19 processor, 8GB of RAM, and a 6.6-inch, 120Hz ProMotion show, however do not anticipate any greater than two rear cameras. It might have as few as one, in accordance with analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, though I personally doubt that except Apple equips it with variable zoom.
The consensus appears to be that Apple is hoping a slim design shall be a promoting level by itself. I feel Apple is overestimating how a lot that issues anymore — positive, many individuals shall be attracted by the brand new aesthetic, however most telephones are skinny sufficient to suit comfortably in a pocket today. I will wager that should you requested the typical individual, they’d take two-day battery life or a less expensive worth over thinness each time. However these aren’t acceptable concepts in Apple’s boardrooms, so right here we’re.
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3 The worth might be astronomical
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It has been claimed by The Information that the iPhone 17 Air might really price greater than the iPhone 16 Professional Max, which begins at an eye-watering $1,199. It is one other rumor I am cautious of, however sadly, I might see it coming true. Apple has lengthy focused a “premium” market, by which it actually means richer consumers are prepared to pay for pure luxurious. There is a motive the corporate even dared to ship the Vision Pro for $3,500 when the $500 Meta Quest 3 exists.
Some individuals have the disposable revenue to purchase telephones based mostly purely on aesthetics, however that is not most of Apple’s base, I can assure. iPhone improve cycles are getting longer, upwards of three years, and even then some individuals are shopping for older fashions to avoid wasting money. An Air costing as a lot or greater than a Professional Max would possibly arrive useless within the water.
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4 The iPhone 17 Air could also be shortly eclipsed
Why settle for compromises now when you are able to do higher by ready just a bit longer?
Cheap hypothesis by Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman means that the Air will finally change into the template for all iPhones. As soon as Apple solves pioneering design and miniaturization points — in different phrases, there will not be any must cost additional for mid-tier specs, and you’ll get Professional-level specs in an Air kind issue.
The Air might be a compromised middleground nobody requested for.
I name it affordable as a result of Apple adopted the very same template with 2017’s iPhone X. The following yr, we did not simply get the iPhone XS and XS Max, however an inexpensive different, the iPhone XR — a deal adequate that I went out and acquired one myself.
Gurman argues that we can’t see the Air design change into widespread till 2027, however even when it takes that lengthy, some individuals will understandably check out the Air’s specs and worth and determine they’d be higher off ready a yr or two. As issues are, rumors recommend the Air might be a compromised middleground nobody requested for, like a mediocre model of the iPhone X.
Hopefully, Apple will show me unsuitable.
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