Yesterday gave us our best look yet at the upcoming iPhone 17 Air, in the form of a highly realistic dummy model shown alongside the iPhone 16 Pro.
Apple will doubtless employ a whole range of superlatives to describe the look of the device: thinnest, slimmest, sleekest … and it will of course be the
To be fair, we will.
I’m absolutely not the intended market for the device. Given that camera capabilities are the reason I tend to upgrade every year, I’m not going to be downgrading to an iPhone with only one. I’m also of the view that the phone won’t look quite so impressive once owners have done what 99% of them are going to do – add the thickness of a case – so for me the key USP of the device is diluted within seconds of taking it out of the box.
But … I’m as big a sucker for slim and sleek technology as anyone. The dummy looks absolutely beautiful, and I’m sure the real thing will too. I won’t be buying one, but I’ll certainly be casting admiring glances in its direction, and visiting an Apple store to give one the maximum permitted number of appreciative strokes before security intervenes.
I do think the iPhone 17 Air represents another step in Apple’s continued evolution toward that vision of the single slab of glass, and I fully expect the company to be attempting to slim down the rest of the line-up as much as possible over time without compromising on specs.
But I think there’s a far more important reason Apple is making this phone. An ultra-sim iPhone is a nice-to-have in the current form factor, but it’s an absolute necessity for another step in the company’s plans: a foldable iPhone.
It’s when you fold an iPhone in half that the slimness will really come into its own. If Apple were to make an iPhone Fold with each half having the same thickness as the iPhone 16 Pro, that’s a really chunky device. Double the thickness of an iPhone Air, however, and you have something much more appealing.
So as much fuss as Apple will make about the awesome aesthetic appeal of this year’s slimmest phone, and as happy as it will be to see a lot of people spend a lot of money on an iPhone with a somewhat modest spec, the real function of the device is as a stepping stone toward the iPhone Fold we’re expecting to see next year.
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Photo: Sam Kohl
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