Are you interested in seeing just how thin the rumored Apple iPhone 17 Air is going to be? An interesting image has been shared that appears to show Apple’s next big thing next to the Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max, and the difference between them is stark. If you’re not familiar with the 16 Pro Max, it measures 8.25mm thick, the same as the standard iPhone 16 Pro. In the photo, it appears the iPhone 17 Air is about half its thickness.
The two images originate from known mobile news leaker Majin Bu on X, but there’s no source beyond this. It appears they are stills from a video too, meaning more examples may be ready to share in the near future, something Bu had already teased. If the iPhone 17 Air is half as thick as the iPhone 16 Pro Max at around 5mm, it will be thinner than Samsung’s rival Galaxy S25 Edge, which is rumored to be around 5.8mm thick.
It’d also undercut the Tecno Spark Slim concept phone shown at MWC 2025, which has a 5.75mm thickness. Very few smartphones have ever broken the sub-5mm threshold for thickness, so we shouldn’t expect Apple’s phone to break this record, and recent leaks have placed the iPhone 17 Air at 5.5mm thick. It may still be able to claim the “world’s thinnest smartphone” title with this, which would certainly fit into Apple’s love of hyperbole in its marketing. It just won’t be able to add “ever” to the end of the statement.
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Other notable aspects seen in the images include the new camera module design, which borrows heavily from Google’s excellent visor-style design first seen on the Pixel 6 series. The Action Button is placed above the volume controls, just like its thicker siblings, but the Camera Control isn’t visible, but may just be covered up by the person’s hands holding the phone. The iPhone 17 Air in the still images will be a mockup created from leaked information on design and dimensions, and should’t be taken as the absolute final design.
Apple traditionally releases new iPhone models towards the end of the year, and we expect the iPhone 17 Air to join the rest of the iPhone 17 series at that time.
