Apple To Make Major Compromises With iPhone 17 Air, As Thinner Design Brings Single Speaker, No mmWave 5G, But Includes Physical SIM Card Tray

Apple is gearing up to launch its highly anticipated iPhone 17 Air next year, transitioning away from the company’s conventional design language. The new size and form factor will appeal to many, and it could improve iPhone shipments solely based on the design alone, as per prior reports. A new report shared a handful of details related to the iPhone 17 Air, including its thin design and internals.

iPhone 17 Air is slated to be Apple’s thinnest iPhone ever, but it will make some compromises

According to a new report from The Information, Apple’s iPhone 17 Air prototypes are between 5mm and 6mm. While the exact dimensions are unknown at this point, the device is reported to be significantly thinner than the current models. However, the company is having a hard time bringing the device down to the level of the M4 iPad Pro models. It was previously reported that the company is having technical difficulties manufacturing the battery substrate for its ultra-thin iPhone.

The latest report also notes that Apple engineers are “finding it hard to fit the battery thermal materials into the device.” The iPhone 6 currently holds the record as the thinnest iPhone ever, but it appears that the company will break its own threshold next year. The report also highlighted additional changes to the iPhone 17 Air.

Besides the design, the iPhone 17 Air will feature a single earpiece speaker system, unlike two speakers on the rest of the lineup. The company’s decision to include a single speaker boils down to the thinner design, which makes sense as the company plans to redesign the internals as well. The current iPhone lineup features a second speaker at the bottom, but it remains to be seen if the company will compromise on the device’s volume.

Apple is compromising on other aspects of the slim iPhone’s design to ensure its thinness. For instance, the thin iPhone will only have a single speaker in its earpiece because there is no room for a second speaker at the bottom, which is standard in other models, one person said.

A major addition to the iPhone 17 Air will be a physical SIM card tray, which would be new for the company as the iPhone models sold in the United States come with only the eSIM option. The addition of the SIM card slot would be vital for the device’s expanded market, including China and some other regions. However, the company also plans to introduce only eSIM variants of the iPhone in additional regions.

“The Chinese telcos don’t support eSIM for mobile phones owing to the risk that this system would not allow the telcos to be able to verify the personal identity of each user,” said Edison Lee, head of Chinese technology, telecom and software research at Jefferies. “China is enforcing a real-name registration system for all mobile users, and thus the telcos don’t generally support eSIM except for Apple Watch and iPad.”

Lastly, the iPhone 17 Air is slated to launch with Apple’s custom 5G modem, which will reduce its reliance on Qualcomm. It was noted earlier that the chip’s performance will be sub-par compared to the modems offered by Qualcomm, but it remains to be seen how the real-world performance would translate.

However, Apple’s in-house modem doesn’t perform as well as Qualcomm’s. Its peak speeds are lower and its ability to stay connected to cellular networks is slightly less reliable, the person said. And Apple’s in-house modem lacks support for millimeter wave, a technology introduced in the iPhone 12 that allows for higher cellular speeds in certain areas.

Apple will launch the iPhone 17 Air alongside the standard models in the second half of next year. The device currently rests in its early production trial stage, but it has shifted from the proto-1 to the proto-2 developmental stage. We will share additional details on the device as soon as further information is available.