It seems Apple is finally ready for a design refresh after recycling the same aesthetics that it introduced with the iPhone 11 series. Interestingly, it won’t be a flagship phone that sets the ball rolling, but a highly-anticipated mid-tier phone that could kickstart a whole new design language for Apple smartphones.
Leakster MajinBu, who has had a mixed track record with Apple leaks, has shared what appears to be the unibody chassis for the iPhone 17 series Air. The standout element is the large pill-shaped camera bar at the top, which looks suspiciously similar to the Pixel 9 series phones.
Now, the iPhone 17 Air has delivered more conflicting rumors than any Apple device in the past few years, so process this latest leak with the proverbial pinch of skepticism. However, this design has appeared in alleged schematics in the past few months, as well, so there might be some substance to it.
The leaked image shows a single large cutout for the camera lens, which falls in line with rumors claiming that the iPhone 17 Air will only offer one camera at the back, owing to the space constraints in its chassis.
According to leaks, the phone could be as thin as 5.5 millimeters across, making it the slimmest device Apple has ever attempted to far. However, Bloomberg recently reported that Apple is testing a phone that is nearly 2 millimeters thinner than its current flagships, which puts the iPhone 17 Air’s cross-section profile in roughly the same league as the iPhone 6 and Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy S25 Slim.
The iPhone 17 Air is expected to replace the “Plus” model in Apple’s line-up this year, making it the second time that Apple’s experiment with a fourth variant has met an early end, following the short-lived “mini” series.
New iPhone 17 Pro details, via @theinformation ‼️
👀 Most significant redesign in years
🆕 Aluminum frame on all models
📷 Rectangular aluminum camera bump
⚡ Partly glass back for wireless charging pic.twitter.com/JjImhsb1zY— AppleTrack (@appltrack) November 26, 2024
It’s hard to digest the design approach for a few reasons. First, it seems to have been brazenly lifted from the Pixel 9 series, which finally gave Google’s smartphones a unique identity of their own without making any compromises on the build quality.
I love my Pixel 9, and would pick it any day over any member of the iPhone 16 series. Google’s approach is fresh, standout, and extremely well-executed. The iPhones are a solid peice of hardware, too, but I can’t imagine Apple’s design flying this close to an arch-rival.
Apple has been known to innovate — wait out on other’s innovation, only to serve the same material with a refined approach years later — in a rather calculated fashion. But when it comes to design, the company is usually a step ahead, and stands out prominently from the crowd.
That historical focus on aesthetic supremacy is what makes the latest iPhone 17 Air leak seem rather sketchy. It doesn’t look bad, far from it actually, but I would wait until the Fall season this year to find out rather than hold my breath or engage in a social media shouting match about Apple losing its edge.
