iPhone 17 Air will reportedly have three missing features

Following on from the release of the iPhone 16e, Apple is set to further shake up its smartphone lineup later this year with the iPhone 17 Air — an incredibly slim handset estimated to be somewhere between 5.5mm and 6mm thin. That not only beats the 7.8m iPhone 16, but also the previous thinness champion of iPhones: the 6.9mm iPhone 6.

To get quite that svelte while still maintaining decent battery life, the phone is rumored to have at least three features cut, which may make the phone a hard sell for some people. But having considered the known cuts, I’ve realized I’m fine with all of them.

To be clear, this is purely hypothetical at the time of writing. Unless my iPhone 14 Pro has a nasty accident between now and September, I won’t be queueing outside the Apple Store on day one. Nonetheless, here’s why I consider none of the proposed cuts a big deal for me personally.

iPhone 17 Air cut #1: No more SIM cards

This one is kind of a no-brainer for American readers. Apple has removed physical SIM card trays from its handsets since the iPhone 14, so the fact that the iPhone 17 Air also won’t have one is no big deal.

But last year The Information reported that the move to eSim-only handsets internationally would start with this year’s handsets, and the iPhone 17 Air seems like a likely candidate, given space is at such a premium.

This would once have worried me. I still use a physical SIM card in my iPhone, and given I occasionally review other devices, being able to easily move over to Android is something I value.

But when I discovered the ease of applying temporary international eSIMs to my iPhone on a trip to Turkey last year, I was sold. No more faffing about with temporary physical SIMs or relying on spotty hotel WiFi: count me in.

iPhone 17 Air cut #2: Just a single speaker

The same Information report noted that the iPhone 17 Air would have just a single speaker in the earpiece, removing one from the bottom edge that you get on current iPhones. This means you’ll lose the stereo sound experience offered by current models.

This elicits little more than a shrug from me. For me, the iPhone speaker is just for putting a call on speakerphone if I want more people to hear it or need to be hands-free. If I’m listening to music or a podcast, then I’ll use my headphones — handset speaker sound quality is just tinny and annoying without, even on the best phones.

In fact, as I see it, this might have one positive upside. If the iPhone 17 Air’s weaker sound leads to fewer people obnoxiously skimming noisy TikTok videos without headphones on public transport, then that’s a win in my (somewhat judgemental) book.

iPhone 17 Air cut #3: A single camera lens

This is clearly the most controversial cut, and one I’m surprised that I’m okay with. The iPhone 17 Air is tipped to have just a single camera, like the iPhone 16e.

I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve used the ultra-wide lens, so losing that is no bother. But when I opted for the iPhone 14 Pro, the main selling point over the regular model was the fact it packed a 3x telephoto lens. Yet I’ve been surprised by how little I’ve used it over the last two years, and in truth, I’d happily sacrifice it for a lighter handset with a less busy design.

Add to that the fact that recent iPhones’ 48MP pixel binning leads to pretty good 2x optical zoom shots, and I’d be happy if the iPhone 17 Air did the same.

The iPhone 17 Air upgrade I care about

Thankfully, the one thing that would prevent me from picking up a non-Pro iPhone is set to be removed this year. For the first time, all iPhones will have a 120Hz ProMotion display, according to various reports.

It’s pretty shallow, but as I’ve written before, a 60Hz screen would be a dealbreaker for me. Whenever I have to turn my iPhone to low-power mode, I always find the jerky animations really uncomfortable to look at. No doubt I’d get used to it if that were all my phone was capable of, but frankly, I’d rather not — and that would make the iPhone 17 Air a non-starter for me.

Air to the throne

With the iPhone 17 Air not expected to launch until September, it’s still early days, and there could be more serious cuts to come that would make it a non-starter for me and millions of others.

But if this is the limit of the cuts that Apple needs to make in order to slim down the phone, then assuming battery life isn’t comically limited, color me interested. Hopefully the Air line will last longer than the discontinued mini range, so it’ll still be available when my iPhone 14 Pro finally retires.