We know that
Apple is expected to replace what would have been the
iPhone 17 Plus with a new ultra-thin phone that was at first dubbed the
iPhone 17 Slim and has since been given the possible moniker of
iPhone 17 Air. While the early rumors call for this phone to have the highest starting price among all of the
iPhone 17 models, this pricing must be due to the design since there is nothing in the rumored spec sheet that would act as an incentive for buyers to pay up for the device.
For example, instead of being powered by the A19 Pro application processor (AP), the iPhone 17 Air is said to be equipped with the A19 AP. While the phone will have 8GB of RAM, enough to support Apple Intelligence, the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max will both feature 12GB of the stuff. And there will supposedly be just one rear camera on the phone which leads us to believe that the design of the iPhone 17 Air will be spectacular.
Now, we’ve often seen other smartphone manufacturers copy Apple when it comes to a major change. For example, after Apple removed the 3.5mm headset jack from the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, other smartphone firms followed. Five years later, Apple decided to remove the battery charger from the boxes for the
iPhone 12 line and this also w copied by other companies.
Render of the ultra-slim iPhone 17 Air expected during Q3 2025. | Image credit-FPT
Apple’s decision to offer an ultra-thin iPhone could be the next big change to Apple’s most important product that other companies will copy. For example,
ETNews reports that
Samsung is reportedly working on an ultra-slim phone that would be based on the
Galaxy S25 model but would be released after the launch of the regular
Galaxy S25 flagship device in January 2025.
The report adds that Samsung would produce a limited number of Galaxy S25 Slim units in order to get a read on the demand for such a device. Samsung would then decide whether it should make any changes to the Galaxy S26 series. The Galaxy S25 Slim could hit the market during the second quarter of 2025 ahead of next year’s Q3 release of the iPhone 17 Air. If that’s the case, Samsung might be copying Apple even though Samsung’s slim phone would be released first.
