There’s some fresh info trickling in from Korea suggesting that the upcoming iPhone 17 Air is packing an impressively thin battery—only about 2.49mm thick. To put that in perspective, it’s reportedly nearly half the thickness of the iPhone 17 Pro’s battery. An image shared on a Korean Naver blog by an account named “yeux1122” shows the two batteries side by side, making the size difference pretty clear. Interestingly, this same source earlier claimed the 17 Air’s battery capacity clocks in around 2,800 mAh, which some Chinese leakers have since said will actually be a bit under 3,000 mAh.
Now, this naturally raises a few questions, because we don’t yet have any reliable rumors on the 17 Pro’s battery capacity. We only know about the Pro Max, which is expected to be north of 5,000 mAh. For context, some of Apple’s older iPhone 12 and 13 models had battery capacities around or below 3,000 mAh, so this isn’t unprecedented. Though, of course, comparing mAh alone can be misleading unless the voltage is the same, which it usually is for iPhones, so it’s a decent ballpark.
Back in May, the same Naver account also shared that the iPhone 17 Air will weigh about 145 grams. This is roughly the same as an iPhone SE 2 or iPhone 13 mini. They’re both lightweight in the lineup. The device itself is rumored to be just 5.5mm thick, making it the thinnest iPhone Apple has ever made. That’s impressively slim.
What about battery tech?
Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo mentioned the 17 Air will feature a “high-density” battery, and there are rumors TDK — an Apple supplier — is gearing up to ship a new generation of silicon-anode batteries by late June. This new tech might allow Apple to cram more power into a thinner package.
But here’s where it gets tricky. The Information’s Wayne Ma recently reported that the 17 Air might actually have worse battery life than previous models. According to internal Apple testing cited in that report, only 60-70% of users would make it through a full day without needing a charge, compared to 80-90% for other iPhones. That’s a significant dip and might disappoint folks expecting long endurance.
Apple apparently plans to offer a battery case as an optional accessory. However this feels like a bit of a band-aid but could be helpful for heavy users.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman thinks the 17 Air’s battery life will be “on par with current iPhones,” thanks to clever hardware and software tweaks. So maybe the numbers don’t tell the full story just yet.
Other details
The ultra-thin 17 Air is rumored to ditch the Ultra Wide camera and to feature Apple’s more efficient C1 modem. This could free up some internal space and reduce power draw. If true, this might balance out the smaller battery capacity somewhat.
We’ll have to wait until Apple officially unveils the iPhone 17 Air, likely around mid-September, to see how all this plays out. For now, it looks like the 17 Air is aiming to be a super-light, slim device that might sacrifice a bit of battery life in the process — which could be a dealbreaker or a fair tradeoff, depending on your priorities.
