Next year, Apple will release an ultra-thin version of the iPhone 17, according to unofficial information. Its key feature will be its unique form, not its feature set, and Apple will have to make significant compromises to achieve that, said analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.
Image source: apple.com
Perhaps the most noticeable compromise will be only one camera on the back of the device, Kuo claims. The base iPhone 17 will have two, while the iPhone 17 Pro will have three. The iPhone 17 Slim (or possibly Ultra) variant will only have the main camera. There is no information about its technical characteristics yet, but the main cameras in the rest of the iPhone 17 line will have a 48-megapixel resolution. Apple’s iPhone 17 Slim will feature a titanium body, the analyst says, but with “a lower percentage of titanium than the metal bodies of the current [iPhone 15] Pro and Pro Max.”
The thin iPhone 17 will also boast a 6.6-inch screen with a resolution of about 2740 x 1260 pixels, an Apple A19 processor, a Dynamic Island notch like today’s iPhones, and Apple’s own 5G modem instead of a custom one from Qualcomm.
Next year, Apple will discontinue the iPhone Plus, meaning the line will include the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Slim, iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max – the most expensive of them will be the iPhone 17 Slim with a price tag of $1,299. The manufacturer, according to Ming-Chi Kuo, was guided by the fact that the Plus model accounts for only 5–10% of the total shipments of new iPhones. This means that the other three models – basic, Pro and Pro Max – already sufficiently cover the premium phone segment, and the Plus version turns out to be redundant. The ultra-thin model is positioned not as a replacement for the Plus, but as Apple’s desire to expand its existing lineup.