If there’s one factor that annoys me, it’s the best way Apple describes its telephones as being “7.8mm skinny.” Not thick, like the best way individuals discuss within the English language, however skinny. As if the 7.8mm a part of the sentence isn’t already telling you that. I’m wondering what they’ll do when the brand new fashions come out? Maybe they need to go together with “The iPhone 17 Air measures simply 5.6mm dangerously fragile.”
That’s what we’re all considering, isn’t it? Final week, two leakers confirmed off breathtaking early samples of the ultra-slim 17 Air, one calling it “unbelievably skinny” and the opposite merely “loopy.” I can’t be the one viewer who instantly began fascinated with Bendgate. And do not forget that the iPhone 6 Plus, the one which unintentionally grew to become Apple’s first folding smartphone again in 2014, was a virtually overweight “7.1mm skinny.” The 17 Air is a complete new dimension of thin.
The probabilities of one other Bendgate, nevertheless, are… nicely, slim. For one factor, it occurred greater than a decade in the past, and supplies science has moved on (observe the dearth of comparable reviews since Apple launched the 5.1mm iPad Professional final Could). For one more, the corporate’s status was broken so badly that the fiasco and its classes might be burned into company reminiscence. Apple might have grown a little bit lax about high quality management as of late, however it’s extremely unlikely to drop the identical ball in the identical means over again.
My fear concerning the iPhone 17 Air, then, just isn’t that it’s going to bend (though I received’t be storing it in my again pocket). My fear is all the opposite issues now we have to sacrifice to be able to obtain that preposterously slimline chassis, and the dearth of actual purposeful enchancment we’re getting in return.
Going for the slimmest iPhone Apple has ever launched means, so far as we will surmise at this level, accepting the next compromises:
An ordinary processor relatively than Professional
A “funds” single digital camera (in comparison with two on iPhone 17 and three on 17 Professional)
Mono audio system relatively than stereo
Decrease battery life
A Professional (or near-Professional) value
By the point the 17 Air launches, we might discover that there are extra limitations. Perhaps it received’t have MagSafe just like the iPhone 16e. However the single largest challenge is more likely to be the battery.
In contrast to a pill or a laptop computer, whose roles are restricted and ceaselessly semi-stationary, a smartphone is on obligation on a regular basis and all over the place. It does every little thing, and carries nearly all of its proprietor’s vital information, apps, and skill to speak. A smartphone, subsequently, lives and dies by its battery efficiency.
The 17 Air’s battery life, sadly, goes to be worse than every other iPhone 17, just because there received’t be room to squeeze in something greater than a smaller-capacity cell. We don’t but understand how dangerous. Apple might carry out miracles by utilizing the very newest battery know-how to maintain it inside touching distance of the iPhone 17. However that is unlikely and would, in fact, imply jacking up the worth nonetheless additional.
A tech product is a gently balanced mathematical perform. In the event you change any of its numerous variables, one thing else (pace, dimension, battery life, value) will react to compensate. And in case you go loopy and push a variable to its absolute most or minimal, the whole system goes haywire. You possibly can’t simply say you need a super-thin cellphone; what it’s important to say is that you really want a super-thin cellphone and are ready to pay for this with substandard efficiency elsewhere.
Compromise is ceaselessly obligatory, and sometimes a very good factor. The hot button is to make the best compromises: to just accept limitations within the areas that aren’t vital to your wants. For me, dropping the USB-C port can be a very good compromise due to the enhancements it may purchase me in different areas. However by any metric of usability, iPhones are already skinny sufficient. No one complains that their iPhone 16e is just too fats, and making them even thinner will deliver vanishingly small enhancements to the consumer expertise. Battery life, then again, is an energetic ache level—if not on the time of buy, then later within the machine’s lifespan. It is mindless to purchase thinness and promote battery life.
In the event you gave me the selection, the truth is, I wouldn’t purchase an iPhone 17 Air. I’d purchase an iPhone 17 Chunk with a Professional processor and two-day battery life that’s a mere 10mm thick. Sorry, “10mm skinny.”
Foundry
Welcome to our weekly Apple Breakfast column, which incorporates all of the Apple information you missed final week in a useful bite-sized roundup. We name it Apple Breakfast as a result of we expect it goes nice with a Monday morning cup of espresso or tea, however it’s cool if you wish to give it a learn throughout lunch or dinner hours too.
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Podcast of the week
The good residence market looks as if it’s a great match for Apple, however what does the corporate have to indicate for its efforts to this point? On the newest present, we’re speaking about Apple and its strategy to the good residence—what it does now and what we may see within the close to future. That’s all within the new episode of the Macworld Podcast!
You possibly can catch each episode of the Macworld Podcast on Spotify, Soundcloudthe Podcasts app, YouTube, or our personal website.
Opinions nook
The rumor mill
‘Loopy’ skinny iPhone 17 Air makes first look in ‘hands-on’ video. And look! Right here’s one other one.
Rumor: iOS 19 and iPadOS 19 will deliver all-new multitasking to the iPhone and iPad.
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The iPhone 17e is reportedly set for a spring 2026 launch.
Video of the week
Final week Unbox Remedy posted a “arms on” with the iPhone 17 Air! Wow. Besides, in fact, that wasn’t fairly correct: it’s truly a prototype provided by an nameless third-party producer. Nonetheless, a completely fascinating video and nicely price a watch.
And with that, we’re completed for this week’s Apple Breakfast. In the event you’d prefer to get common roundups, join our newsletters, together with our new electronic mail from The Macalope–an irreverent, humorous tackle the newest information and rumors from a half-man, half-mythical Mac beast. It’s also possible to observe us on Fb, Threads, Bluesky, or X for dialogue of breaking Apple information tales. See you subsequent Monday, and keep Appley.
