It feels like the floodgates have opened with new iPhone 17 Air dummy models. Hands-on videos and frequent new photos have stirred a lot of excitement. Here are three reasons I expect the iPhone 17 Air to be a massive hit for Apple.
#1: Ultra-thin new design
This one’s a bit of a no-brainer.
iPhone 17 Air’s defining feature, no doubt, will be its ultra-thin design.
The new model is expected to be just 5.6mm thick—easily the thinnest iPhone ever.
iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max, by comparison, are 8.25mm each.
And the even thicker iPhone 17 Max (or Ultra, perhaps?) will be a whopping 8.75mm thick.
It’s one thing to read dimensions, and another to hold the iPhone in your hand, as recent hands-on videos have proven.
Once the iPhone 17 Air is out, and users hold it in their hands, I expect ultra-thin will go from, “That’s nice” to “Must have.”
#2: 6.6-inch ‘just right’ display size
Apple is introducing a brand new screen size with the iPhone 17 Air.
Its 6.6-inch display will fall perfectly between the two current Pro sizes of 6.3 and 6.9 inches.
In theory, this could give it a ‘just right’ feel. Not so big that it always requires two-handed use, but not so small that it feels cramped.
I typically prefer smaller iPhones because one-handed use is crucial for me.
While 6.6 inches sounds big, I’m optimistic that the 17 Air’s thinness will make the larger screen size a non-issue.
#3: Feels like the future
For many, the iPhone has started to feel a little stagnant in its evolution.
New features are introduced each year, cameras keep getting better, but the basic look and feel of the iPhone is arguably dated.
It’s very similar to what things were like before the iPhone X debuted back in 2017.
Like that futuristic new model, the iPhone 17 Air is poised to win users over simply by feeling like the future.
That kind of feeling is hard to put on paper with feature comparisons. To be sure, iPhone 17 Air will fall behind Apple’s 17 Pro line with certain features: cameras, battery life, and more.
But I have no doubt that many users will gladly accept those sacrifices for a taste of the future today.
iPhone 17 Air: wrap-up
We’ve been hearing rumors about the iPhone 17 Air for a while now, and my sense was that excitement around the device had settled down after a while.
But the latest batch of hands-on videos and side-by-side comparisons have changed that.
iPhone 17 Air expectations have grown much higher once again, and I expect that to only continue into the fall after the official unveiling.
Apple could truly have a massive hit on its hands, with the iPhone 17 Air wowing customers like the original MacBook Air did back in the day. Bring on September.
Do you expect to buy an iPhone 17 Air? Let us know in the comments.
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