Leaked dummy unit image shows how thin the iPhone 17 Air may look against the iPhone 17 Pro

Apple iPhone 16 Review
The iPhone 16 will get a successor this year (Image credit: Future)

  • Here's another leaked look at the iPhone 17 Air
  • It could be significantly thinner than the iPhone 17 Pro Max
  • Four iPhones are expected in September

If you're counting down the days, you'll know we're about 150 days or so away from the launch of the iPhone 17 series, and a freshly leaked image of two dummy units gives us an idea of the difference in thickness between two of these phones.

Dummy units are non-working mock-ups of handsets based on schematics sourced from the supply chain, and well-known tipster @MajinBuOfficial has posted a picture of two of them: the iPhone 17 Air next to the iPhone 17 Pro Max.

If you've been following the rumors to date, you'll know the iPhone 17 Air is set to replace the iPhone 16 Plus in Apple's flagship line-up. It's said to measure a mere 5.84 mm front to back, if the leaks we've seen are accurate.

And you can really see that thinness on show here. If the iPhone 17 Pro Max is the same thickness as the iPhone 16 Pro Max, then it'll measure 8.3 mm front to back, which makes the Pro Max some 42% thicker than the Air.

Here's what's coming

These dummy units don't really tell us too much more about what's coming, but it's an interesting visual comparison. Indeed, we've already seen quite a few dummy unit leaks showing off the designs of the 2025 iPhone series.

Alongside the two phones featured in this image, it's also very likely that we'll get a standard iPhone 17 and the iPhone 17 Pro. The Pro and the Pro Max are apparently in line for a RAM bump as well as other upgrades.

In a reply to the original dummy unit image post, industry analyst Ross Young reiterated his prediction that the iPhone 17 Air is going to come with a 6.55-inch screen, along with the standard iPhone features such as MagSafe.

If Apple sticks to its usual schedule, all these phones should be showing up sometime in September. Before that, we've got the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June, where we're likely to hear more about iOS 19.

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David Nield
Freelance Contributor

Dave is a freelance tech journalist who has been writing about gadgets, apps and the web for more than two decades. Based out of Stockport, England, on TechRadar you'll find him covering news, features and reviews, particularly for phones, tablets and wearables. Working to ensure our breaking news coverage is the best in the business over weekends, David also has bylines at Gizmodo, T3, PopSci and a few other places besides, as well as being many years editing the likes of PC Explorer and The Hardware Handbook.

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