Apple already sells a device thinner than the rumoured iPhone 17 Air

With CES 2025 done and dusted, all eyes are on the rest of the launches for this year. There's a good chance the next major announcement will be Samsung's Galaxy S25 series, with Samsung having officially confirmed its next Unpacked event will take place on 22 January.

But, if it's a new iPhone you're hanging on for, it's more than likely you'll have to wait until later in the year, especially if you want the rumoured iPhone 17 Air/Slim. While we're expecting we might see the next generation of the iPhone SE before the traditional September launch period, the iPhone 17 Air isn't expected until the next major refresh.

What's the latest on the iPhone 17 Slim?

However, the most recent report offers some tasty details on what we might be able to expect, including just how slim it could be. According to analyst and industry expert Ming-Chi Kuo (via 91 Mobiles), the iPhone 17 Air will measure 5.5mm thick. That would make it feel quite a bit slimmer than the iPhone 6 from 2014, which was 6.9mm.

It won't be the slimmest Apple product though – there's something on its store right now that's actually thinner.

Though not far off, the iPad Pro (M4) 13-inch model is just 5.1mm. Even the 11-inch model is just 5.3mm thick. Remarkable for a tablet, really.

Aside from its waistline, Kuo also claims the iPhone 17 Air will offer eSIM only, with no SIM slot and therefore no option of a physical SIM card. That makes sense – not only are networks seemingly moving away from cards, it could help keep the girth down.

Previous rumours have also indicated the iPhone 17 Air may only have one speaker, a 48-megapixel single rear camera and an in-house 5G modem in order to keep its svelte profile.

There is talk of a smaller battery too – which is also sensible – and 91 Mobiles reports that the iPhone 17 Air will be cheaper than the iPhone 17 Pro models, coming in around the same price as the iPhone 16 Plus instead.

For now, these are only rumours so take everything with a little pinch of salt. We expect to see plenty more speculation surrounding this device over the coming months but in reality, we won't know if it will launch until Apple's traditional event in September.