The iPhone 17 collection shall be unveiled in a couple of month, introducing one of the crucial noteworthy modifications to the iPhone’s design because the iPhone X. The iPhone 17 Air will change the Plus mannequin, that includes the same show measurement however a a lot thinner physique. That is what rumors have been saying for a couple of 12 months, and iPhone leaks that pop up this typically are typically right.
To attain that ultra-thin chassis, Apple has made a couple of notable compromises, in line with the identical set of rumors. First, the rear digital camera could have solely a single lens as a substitute of the minimal of two that is customary for many iPhones. The slim physique additionally means the telephone will function a a lot thinner battery than earlier than, with stories pegging it at round 2,800 mAh capability. Lastly, the iPhone 17 Air won’t have a SIM tray in worldwide markets the place Apple nonetheless sells iPhones with bodily SIM playing cards.
Even with out leaks to spoil them, a few of these compromises would appear apparent when contemplating an ultra-thin iPhone. Probably the most regarding ingredient of those rumors has at all times been the battery, however there is a model new iPhone 17 Professional battery leak that may clarify a special iPhone 17 Air compromise — the rumored removing of the SIM card tray.
New iPhone 17 Professional battery leak
Leaker Majin Bu routinely shares Apple product rumors on-line. Not all of them grow to be correct, however many do. The brand new iPhone 17 Professional battery leak comes from Bu, who penned a weblog submit to indicate off purported iPhone 17 Air battery designs. Nevertheless, he rapidly corrected his report, noting that the batteries within the footage he obtained present two totally different designs for the iPhone 17 Professional fashions.
Each batteries are enclosed in chrome steel, just like the iPhone 16 Professional battery. That is the one iPhone 16 mannequin to function a steel battery case. Batteries enclosed in steel must be safer to take away and simpler to deal with. They will additionally provide higher cooling. Lastly, the design permits Apple to arrange for brand new battery-related legal guidelines within the European Union.
If the photographs Bu produced are correct, we will see steel batteries in at the least one iPhone 17 mannequin. Nevertheless, Bu makes an odd declare about these purported iPhone 17 Professional batteries. He says Apple will use two totally different L-shaped battery designs within the iPhone 17 Professional collection, one for the U.S. market (picture above) and one for worldwide markets like China (picture beneath). The latter would accommodate the SIM slot, which is absent from U.S. fashions. If that is correct, then the U.S. iPhone 17 Professional fashions ought to function a barely bigger battery than the worldwide ones.
The iPhone 14 fashions have been the primary ones to ship with out bodily SIM playing cards within the U.S. Apple didn’t repurpose that area to extend the battery capability, and each iPhone bought within the U.S. since then has come with out SIM trays. However all of them featured the identical batteries as their worldwide counterparts. If Bu’s declare is correct, this is perhaps the primary 12 months when iPhones with out SIM trays function bigger batteries.
What does this imply for the iPhone 17 Air?
The iPhone 17 Air, with its rumored 5.5mm profile, may gain advantage from this battery design selection. Inside area turns into a fair larger drawback in case you cut back the iPhone thickness considerably. Battery life must be a precedence for Apple, particularly for the ultra-thin iPhone 17 Air. Bu’s iPhone 17 Professional battery leak appears to counsel that Apple will certainly sacrifice the iPhone 17 Air’s SIM card slot to make the most of that area for additional battery capability. That is hypothesis for now, and we’ll have to attend for the primary iPhone 17 teardowns to see what kind of battery design Apple used.
Of all of the rumored iPhone 17 Air compromises, dropping the bodily SIM is perhaps essentially the most controversial. I say that as somebody trying to purchase the iPhone 17 Air this fall, however somebody who is not enthusiastic about going eSIM-only. That is the norm within the U.S. however not in Europe or different worldwide markets. I might take a barely smaller battery in a skinny iPhone with a bodily SIM card if that selection have been accessible.
However, Bu’s declare that Apple will use two totally different battery designs inside the identical iPhone mannequin is uncommon. To begin with, Apple must promote totally different battery life estimates for a similar machine. Then there’s Apple’s provide chain to contemplate. Apple would save more cash through the use of the identical battery design as a substitute of getting suppliers manufacture two totally different batteries for 3 of the 4 iPhone 17 fashions. If Apple makes use of two battery designs for the iPhone 17 Professional, the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Professional Max may get the identical remedy.
