William Gallagher
Images of another set of iPhone 17 dummies have leaked, and this time they together emphasize just how thin the expected iPhone 17 Slim, or iPhone 17 Air, really will be.
There are now so many dummies of the iPhone 17 range being shown in leaks that, for one thing, it's as certain as it can be that the camera arrangement will be different to previous iPhone models. But where most dummies concentrate on either the cameras or on the rumored glass and metal design, this latest one is just about size.
Take a look at the sides of the iPhone 17 dummy — the Air model is unbelievably thin. pic.twitter.com/ixadQHuxK5
— Sonny Dickson (@SonnyDickson) April 24, 2025
In a series of three images, leaker Sonny Dickson has lined up dummies of four iPhone 17 models either side by side, or on top of one another. The whole point is to spotlight how "unbelievably thin" the slim model is.
Previous rumors have suggested that the slim iPhone 17 could be as little as 5.5mm thick, compared to the 7.8mm of the iPhone 16, or the 8.25mm of the iPhone 16 Pro Max.
There's no further information in the dummies, except perhaps for confirmation that the slim model will not have a SIM card slot. While US iPhones have switched to eSIMs, the rest of the world requires the physical card.
In these images, though, the iPhone 17 Slim is not the only model to lack a SIM card slot. Assuming that the slim model replaces the iPhone 16 Plus as expected, the dummies appear to show no SIM card on what is either the iPhone 17, or the iPhone 17 Pro.
If the thinness of the new slim model has forced the use of eSIMs worldwide, then it's conceivable that Apple would do the same with one or all of the other models. But even this is reading too much into purported dummies.
Note that leaker Sonny Dickson has a good track record of being accurate. At this point in 2024, the leaker correctly revealed the screen sizes of the iPhone 16 range.
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Christine McKee
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26 Comments
Looks like another use for that folding screen they’ve worked on.
I have to say, these look legit. It will be interesting to hear how Apple has addressed the bending issue in a phone this thin. Cue the YouTube videos destroying iPhone Slims by bending them. Couple of things I noticed: first, the Slim appears to have just one camera lens and not two as rumored--so I guess Apple will introduce a new lens that covers the whole 13mm-48mm range currently covered by the ultrawide and main lenses? (Maybe I'm behind on this news?) Hmmmm... that's a tough range to cover without significant optical compromises, so I'd imagine there will be some kind of new tech employed to address that issue.
Well, if Trump's tariffs don't ruin the whole iPhone party, this looks to be the most exciting September for iPhone since the X was introduced.
Apple, we don’t need thinner phones - just more compact ones like the iPhone 13 Mini, which was the best iPhone ever made.
Maybe it’s got dangled external battery….or must be paper thin battery pack.
My gut feeling is that the market for a thin iPhone is very small, maybe even smaller than that of the iPhone mini. The iPhone mini was discontinued after two generations and all of Apple's major competitors have abandoned the smaller form factor as well. The market just isn't there in most places.
We do know that consumers prioritize certain things in their phones: display, cameras, and battery performance. There are plenty of people carrying around external battery banks or desperately scrounging around for power outlets in the afternoon for their regular smartphones. I'm not convinced that a thin iPhone is going to provide the typical of battery performance that today's smartphone consumers want.
I have an iPod touch (6th generation) that is about 6.3mm thick. Its battery life was always atrocious and Apple even deliberately downclocked the 1.4GHz CPU to 1.1GHz to reduce battery drain. It's sturdy enough but I'm careful not to shove it into the back pocket of my jeans.
I've also owned some smaller phones (iPhone 4S, iPhone SE, iPhone mini 12) as well as full sized phones (iPhone 6S, iPhone XS). I'm a light phone user but even at the end of the day (especially while traveling) the smaller phones have far more depleted batteries than the standard size phones.
If Apple does release a thin iPhone my guess is that it will be discontinued after two generations (short of the introduction of some revolutionary new battery technology).