A new leak suggests the iPhone 17 Pro Max will share the same dimensions as the iPhone 16 Pro Max and much-rumored iPhone 17 Air, but with one key exception that could make it a harder sell next to Apple's thinnest phone yet.
Apple's bumping up the thickness of its upcoming premium iPhone, noted leaker IceUniverse claimed this week on Weibo and X. The iPhone 17 Pro Max is said to be 8.725mm thick, up from the 8.25mm of its predecessor.
The iPhone 17 Pro Max could be thicker because of an expected camera redesign. Apple's rumored to take a page from Google with a large rectangular camera module spanning the length of the phone. Or the extra room could be to accommodate a larger battery.
The leaker suggests it's the latter, which is interesting since it's the first time we've heard about a possible battery upgrade for the iPhone 17 Pro Max.
Exclusive revelation: The length, width, screen size, and bezel（same iPhone 16 Pro Max） of the iPhone 17 Air and iPhone 17 Pro Max are exactly the same.Only the thickness is different. The iPhone 17 Air is 5.5mm thick, and the iPhone 17 Pro Max is 8.725mm thick. pic.twitter.com/YjcMFva5IWMarch 7, 2025
Granted, the iPhone 16 Pro Max's 4685 mAh battery is already nothing to sneeze at, averaging an impressive 17 hours and 35 minutes in our battery tests.
But there's always room for improvement. A bigger battery on the iPhone 17 Pro Max could land it a spot on our best phone battery life list, eking out a victory over competitors like the Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro, which lasted nearly 19 hours in our tests, or the OnePLus 12R, which lasted 18 hours and 8 minutes.
Aside from depth, the iPhone 17 Pro Max's frame seems virtually identical to the iPhone 16 Pro Max — and, most importantly, the iPhone 17 Air.
"The length, width, screen size, and bezel (same iPhone 16 Pro Max) of the iPhone 17 Air and iPhone 17 Pro Max are the same," IceUniverse wrote.
The trade-offs of a thinner iPhone
Meanwhile, the iPhone 17 Air will be just 5.5mm thick, they said, undercutting Apple's thinnest handset to date, the iPhone 6, by 1.4mm. iPhones are already slim enough to fit in the skinniest of pockets, but the iPhone 17 Air could break hardware boundaries.
Of course, that thinner profile comes with its own trade-offs. Chief of which is the cameras, or lack thereof. Apple's rumored to downgrade to just a single camera lens instead of the expected two on its flagships. The iPhone 17 Air is tipped to have only a 48MP rear lens, no ultrawide and certainly no telephote camera that remains a Pro iPhone exclusive.
This thin frame will reportedly support a 6.6-inch OLED display, a tad smaller than the iPhone 16 Plus’ 6.7-inch panel. There are also concerns that the slimmer design could mean the iPhone 17 Air gets stuck with a smaller battery capacity. Even if it shared the iPhone 17 series' more efficient A19 chipset, we wonder if the iPhone 17 Air would be able to last as long as the Plus model it's said to replace.
We'll know more in September when Apple's expected to launch its next series of iPhones.
More from Tom's Guide
- iPhone 17 Pro Max just tipped for very welcome design upgrade
- iPhone 17 Pro Max and iPhone 17 Air designs just teased in new video — here's your first look
- iPhone 17 Pro Max renders shows off this long-overdue redesign
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