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I’m an iPhone 16 Plus user who has been loving the improve from my outdated iPhone 14 Professional. The display screen dimension is simply what I wanted… however the additional bulk isn’t. I’ve gotten used to it, however I’m nonetheless not pleased with the dimensions and thickness of the iPhone 16 Plus, particularly as soon as you set it in a case. I can’t wait to ditch this factor for the dimensions points alone.
It’s not nearly one-handed use. Carrying the iPhone 16 Plus in pants pockets may be uncomfortable. That’s an much more troublesome adjustment for somebody who has been utilizing 6.1-inch iPhones till now.
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I made no secret that the iPhone I really need is the ultra-slim iPhone 17 Air that Apple is supposedly growing for subsequent 12 months. That handset ought to function a display screen that’s about as giant because the iPhone 16 Plus, however with a a lot thinner physique.
How skinny? Effectively, that’s nonetheless a secret. Nonetheless, a report from Korea mentioned a couple of days in the past that Apple is fighting sure limitations which are making it unimaginable for the iPhone 17 Air to be the super slim phone some folks would possibly need. Samsung, which desires to make a Galaxy S25 Slim various to the iPhone 17 Air, is going through comparable issues.
However I don’t even need the iPhone 17 Air to change into the thinnest iPhone in Apple’s lineup. I’ve seen a number of folks complaining on social media websites about how the iPhone 17 Air shouldn’t be referred to as “Air” except it’s the thinnest iPhone ever. That may imply it must be thinner than the iPhone 6, however I believe that’s nonsense. I’d be pleased with a thickness of round 7.1 mm, which might match the iPhone 6s.
Why the iPhone 6s?
I’m very accustomed to the thickness of the iPhone 6s as a result of I nonetheless have one. What’s extra, I truly nonetheless use it.
That’s proper, after nearly 10 years and two battery adjustments, it nonetheless works nice as a backup machine, largely relegated to responsibility as a cell hotspot. Each time I decide it up, it jogs my memory how wonderful it feels in my hand. When you forgot what that dimension appears like, simply decide up an iPhone SE 3 while you discover one in a retailer. It’s barely thicker at 7.3 mm however nonetheless packs the identical general iPhone 6 design.
iPhone-6s
As I famous earlier than, the 6.9 mm iPhone 6 was Apple’s thinnest iPhone ever. I additionally owned that mannequin. As an apart, the iPhone 6 technology was Apple’s first iPhone collection to function screens bigger than 4 inches. The iPhone 6 additionally used to bend, one thing Apple fastened in subsequent fashions.
Again to the iPhone 16 Plus, it has a 7.85 mm profile. The iPhone 16 Professional and 16 Professional Max are barely thicker, at 8.25 mm.
The iPhone has undergone an unimaginable transformation up to now 10 years, from the iPhone 6 to the iPhone 16, whereas rising in thickness by a most of 1.35 mm. That’s what we’re speaking about right here. It appears trivial to even need Apple to shave off what would basically quantity to lower than 1 mm thick.
I simply mentioned I’d like to go from the 7.85 mm profile of the iPhone 16 Plus to the 7.1 mm profile of the iPhone 6s. That’s lower than a millimeter. I don’t desire a 6 mm iPhone 17 Air if that may influence sturdiness and battery life. However I’m prepared for a slim iPhone that will match the iPhone 6s.
M4 iPad Professional tablets
Studies a couple of days in the past pointed to PCB components and battery tech because the bottlenecks stopping Apple from considerably lowering the thickness of the iPhone. However in mild of all of the above, I’d be tremendous pleased with an iPhone 17 Air that will be as skinny because the iPhone 6s. If that’s not potential, I’d nonetheless wish to see the iPhone shrink all the way down to the 7.4 mm profile of the iPhone 12 collection.
Say the studies are flawed, and Apple’s suppliers can ship the thinner PCB components and thinner batteries Apple wants, how skinny might the iPhone 17 Air change into?
How skinny might the iPhone 17 Air be?
The M4 iPad Professional provides us the very best indication of what Apple can do by way of gadget thickness. The 2024 pill has a 5.1 mm profile. Its predecessor was 6.4 mm thick. The iPad mini 7 is 6.3 mm thick.
The M4 iPad Professional (above) is extremely sturdy and has wonderful battery life due to the efficiencies of the M4 chip. Nonetheless, Apple has loads of area contained in the pill to put a big battery, even when it’s thinner than earlier variations.
smartphones, ultra-thin foldables present one other clue about how skinny the iPhone 17 Air can get. The Honor Magic V3 (beneath) has a profile of 4.4 mm. It’s the thinnest foldable telephone ever. There’s no candybar telephone to match it. Like tablets, foldable have extra inside area for the battery.
Honor Magic V3 show and profile.
Irrespective of how environment friendly the A19 chip turns into, the iPhone 17 Air gained’t have that luxurious. It’ll must function a bigger battery. Suppliers who could make thinner batteries for Apple may not have the ability to meet Apple’s wants for the iPhone 17 Air. This explicit iPhone 17 will simply outsell units just like the M4 iPad Professional and the Magic V3, which could have a distinct influence on the availability chain.
There’s additionally the matter of sturdiness. I gained’t count on the iPhone 17 Air to bend, however a thinner machine may need one explicit level that gained’t essentially deal with stress that properly: The USB-C port. That’s a 2.4 mm opening on the underside facet of the iPhone. A cutout within the metallic. As we’ve seen with the M4 iPad Pro bend tests, that’s the seemingly place the place the pill would possibly bend.
That is additionally the place I inform you that the Lightning port has a slimmer profile at 1.5 mm. It might have served an iPhone 17 Air higher than the USB-C port. However due to the EU, that’s by no means going to occur.
Honor Magic V3 USB-C port
With all that in thoughts, I’m certain Apple might make an unimaginable iPhone 17 Air proper now. However I may also see how sure tech improvements and provide logistics aren’t the place Apple wants them. Due to this fact, I’d purchase an iPhone 17 Air that’s about as thick because the iPhone 6s in a heartbeat — even when it solely has one rear digital camera and a battery that hardly lasts a day.
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