The next range of iPhones will include one model which is drawing all the attention. It’s the one nicknamed iPhone 17 Air—though that may not be the final name—because of its svelte, all-new design. And a new report claims it could be thinner than previously thought.
Already we’ve hear rumors that it’s going to be catwalk-thin, but a new report from an industry insider suggests Apple is going further than anyone expected. After all, reports have all agreed on one thing, that the iPhone 17 Air will be the thinnest iPhone ever. Right now, that honor rests with the iPhone 6, which measures 6.9mm from front to back.
But exactly how much thinner has just taken a new turn. A new report by Ming-Chi Kuo from TFI Securities, a hugely respected analyst, suggests that what’s called “the 2H25 ultra-thin iPhone,” could be a phone “with the thinnest part around 5.5mm,” according to Kuo.
Not only would that be easily the thinnest iPhone ever, and much thinner than the current iPhone 15 Pro, which measures 8.25mm, it’s very nearly the thinnest Apple product ever.
Until recently, the iPod nano held that crown, which was 5.4mm thick, but it was bested in 2023 by the 13-inch iPad Pro, which checked in at 5.1mm. Kuo’s analysis means that the new iPhone 17 Air will be only fractionally thicker than each of these.
Why is this important? Because it seems that Apple is banking on the design of the iPhone 17 Air to be its selling point. After all, it’s rumored to only have one camera, unlike the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus which have two cameras, or the iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max which have three.
So, it needs to turn heads. A thickness of 5.5mm would do that—though admittedly less so if it’s clad in an iPhone case. Note that Kuo points out that this width applies only to the thinnest point, that is, the camera may protrude beyond that. Still it’s the 5.5mm that you’d feel with the iPhone 17 Air in your hand, so that may be all that matters.
