Apple could launch its thinnest-ever iPhone next year, but where is the foldable iPhone?

At just 6mm, the rumored iPhone 17 Air would be thinner than the 7.8mm iPhone 16, above (Image credit: Future)

Apple’s rumored iPhone 17 Air could be its thinnest-ever phone
A new report says it’ll be just 6mm thick
The phone’s A19 chip could also deliver a performance bump

Apple has a reputation for prizing thinness in its devices, a habit that has sometimes been pushed to incredible or absurd limits (depending on your outlook). And the company isn’t resting on its laurels, with the iPhone 17 range expected to include Apple’s thinnest-ever phone when it’s released in 2025.

According to a research note from tech analyst Jeff Pu (seen by MacRumors), Apple is set to launch a new phone dubbed the iPhone 17 Air or iPhone 17 Slim that will be just 6mm thick. That would make it the slimmest iPhone ever, surpassing the current 6.9mm record held by the iPhone 6. As well as that, the iPhone 17 Air would be only around 75% as thick as any device in the iPhone 16 range, marking a significant year-on-year change.

It’s worth noting that only the iPhone 17 Air is expected to do away with the bulk in quite such a major way. The rest of the iPhone 17 range will likely adopt roughly the same dimensions as the iPhone 16 lineup, making the iPhone 17 Air a standout device next year.

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Still, slimming down the iPhone might not feel like the most exciting innovation when Apple’s rivals are producing some of the best foldable phones on the market (and have been doing so for several years now). Although a foldable iPhone has been rumored for some time, it’s not expected to debut until around 2026 or 2027. While we wait for it to finally arrive, it looks like we’ll have to make do with ever-more-svelte iPhones for the time being.

This isn’t the only change coming to Apple’s 2025 phones. Every phone in the iPhone 17 roster is anticipated to come with either an A19 or A19 Pro chip, and these are now rumored to be made with an advanced N3P process, according to Pu. This is the third-generation iteration of the 3nm manufacturing process, and it should result in a slight bump in performance and power efficiency.

That might not sound too exciting, but Apple already leads the pack when it comes to phone power and performance. While an update like this won’t exactly get the blood pumping, it should help cement Apple’s position while we wait for the foldable iPhone to finally make an appearance.

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Alex Blake has been fooling around with computers since the early 1990s, and since that time he's learned a thing or two about tech. No more than two things, though. That's all his brain can hold. As well as TechRadar, Alex writes for iMore, Digital Trends and Creative Bloq, among others. He was previously commissioning editor at MacFormat magazine. That means he mostly covers the world of Apple and its latest products, but also Windows, computer peripherals, mobile apps, and much more beyond. When not writing, you can find him hiking the English countryside and gaming on his PC.