Apple may have settled on iPhone 17 Air as the name of the rumored slim iPhone expected this fall, reports Bloomberg's Mark Gurman in <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2025-01-12/apple-2025-plans-iphone-17-smart-home-hub-ios-19-ai-apple-watch-ipads-m5?srnd=undefined”>today On fact sheet. He writes that the phone will be “a testing ground for future technologies,” including technology that will lead to the company's first foldable devices.
The name wouldn't be surprising: both the MacBook Air and iPad Air were the thinnest versions of their lines when they were released. The iPhone 17 Air is expected to maintain this by being “about 2 millimeters thinner” than current iPhones. Gurman has written. Other recent rumors They've put it between 5.5mm and 6.25mm thick, which is close to the depth of the iPad Pro M4 and less than the thinnest iPhone yet, the iPhone 6.
Thinness isn't just a flex: realizing that will help Apple move toward future foldable iPads and iPhones, Gurman writes. And he says the phone could be one of Apple's first testing grounds for its in-house cellular modem, codenamed Sinope, after its debut in the iPhone SE this spring. This year's iPhone lineup is also expected to feature Apple-designed Wi-Fi/Bluetooth chips, though Gurman doesn't go so far as to say that includes the 17 Air.
