iPhone 17 Air Metal Mold Leak Compares Ultra-Thin Design To Other iPhones

A dependable source has leaked photos of the entire iPhone 17 lineup in their metal mold form. Used for accessory and case manufacturers, these metal molds show off Apple's answer to bringing some pizzazz into its phone designs by incorporating distinctively different camera bumps plus the new ultra-thin iPhone 17 Air model. Sources also suggests that if the Air becomes enough of a success, Cupertino may bring a skinny port-less iPhone in the near future.

Sonny Dickson, a historically reliable tech analyst and journalist, has revealed photos of dummy iPhone 17 models, including the Air. They don't leave too much left for the imagination at this point, with clear delineation between the models in terms of size and camera bars/islands. Since these are non-functioning molds specifically for accessory makers, even Magsafe locations are milled into the castings. Previous models have been criticized for looking like copy-paste projects, so it's definitely commendable that Apple has turned up the wow-factor with unique camera layouts for practically all the new iPhones.

Nonetheless, perhaps the biggest attention getter right now belongs to the iPhone 17 Air, which is a brand new model meant to cash in on the emerging thin phone trend (Samsung is currently doing the same on the Android side with the upcoming Galaxy S25 Edge). In these leaked images, especially the ones showing the side view of each iPhone 17, you can see how almost comically thin the 5.5-millimeter-thin Air is compared to its siblings. If Apple gets the top-to-bottom handling balance right, the Air could be a joy to hold in the hand.

The Air is expected to be a 6.6-inch device, bisecting the 6.3-inch Pro and 6.9-inch Pro Max, something the photos seem to substantiate. To keep things cool (and price in check), the Air is believed to rock a regular A19 SoC rather than the A19 Pro. In turn, in the same vein as the iPhone 16e, the lower-powered chip, efficient in-house modem, and large battery could help the Air match, if not beat the other iPhone 17s in battery life.

It's also believed that Apple wants to aggressively price the Air close to $900 (to start), which if true, definitely trumps the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge's expected $1,000 base price. Analysts have rumored that if the Air sells well, we can potentially see a future iteration that will be so thin that it'll have to be completely port-free, i.e. no charging/data ports.