The iPhone 17 Air is for those who will pay up for a cool iPhone that won't outperform the Pro line
When the rumor mill first started spitting out speculation in May about a new phone that would replace the iPhone Plus model, there was a little bit of excitement among power users. The excitement level actually rose when the early speculation called for the phone, now dubbed the iPhone Air by everyone but Apple, to be priced higher than the top-of-the-line Pro Max model. This indicated to many that this would be a ridiculously high-spec'd device with an incredibly thin build.
The iPhone 17 Air will have to attract buyers with its design, not with its performance...or price tag
But just as quickly as hopes were raised by the rumors, they were deflated as though the hopes of iPhone power users had been dragged over those spike strips used by cops to slow down a vehicle they are chasing. In this case, a chart posted on "X" by leaker Ice Universe was the catalyst as it claimed to show specs for all of the iPhone 17 models including the model now expected to be called the iPhone 17 Air.
Apple hopes the excitement of a new iPhone 17 Air model is reflected in device shipments.
The specs were nothing special as the phone will supposedly carry a 6.65-inch OLED panel with ProMotion and a dynamic refresh rate with a range of 1Hz-120Hz depending on the content being shown on the display. That's a positive although all four iPhone 17 models are rumored to include a ProMotion display. But right away we can see that the phone will be powered by the plain Jane A19 application processor (AP). The iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max will both be powered by the more capable A19 Pro AP.
While the iPhone 17 Pro models will sport 12GB of RAM, the highest amount of memory ever found in an iPhone, the iPhone 17 Air will be equipped with 8GB giving it the minimum amount of memory that will support Apple Intelligence. There is speculation that the phone will have one rear camera located in the top middle of the back panel. The starting price, at $1,299, tops the expected starting price of the iPhone 17 Pro Max by $100.
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, in his weekly newsletter, gave his readers an example of how he sees Apple marketing the iPhone. He sees Apple positioning the device as a "snazzier" model than the basic iPhone 17 model but for those who don't need "the performance, screen size or cameras of a Pro model." The only problem here is what the iPhone 17 Air does come with which is a higher price tag than the iPhone 17 Pro Max.
Also read:iPhone 17 release date expectations, price estimates, and upgrades
Gurman expects to see iPhone shipments grow in 2025 thanks to the new iPhone SE 4 and the iPhone 17 Air
And here's the part that makes me wonder what Tim Cook is eating these days. For that extra $100 you'll be able to buy something that, as Gurman puts it, looks cooler while still featuring the specs of a regular iPhone. I don't know about you or Mark, but I buy my phones based on the performance I need, not because they look pretty. You might recall that Motorola made the same argument when it promoted the original DROID in 2009. Motorola called the iPhone a "Tiara-wearing, digitally clueless beauty pageant queen."
Gurman expects the redesigned iPhone SE 4 (which he says will be based on the iPhone 14) and the iPhone 17 Air to help the iPhone show growth in 2025. He says that the iPhone Air will prove to be more popular than the iPhone mini and iPhone Plus models. I'm not from Kansas, but I need Apple to show me first how cool the new model will be before making any forecasts about how good it will sell.
We are now less than a month away from the rumored September 10 unveiling of the iPhone 16 series. The latest rumors call for a September 13th start to pre-orders with the new phones expected to be released on Friday, September 20th.
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