We might have gotten our first look at the ultra-thin iPhone 17 Air, and I’m worried Apple is set to repeat one of its biggest smartphone fumbles of the last decade.
On Tuesday, Unbox Therapy posted a video of a hands-on with a mock-up of the iPhone 17 Air, Apple's long-rumored, ultra-thin iPhone. While this may not be the final or official design, it closely matches other leaked images we've seen already.
After seeing just how thin the iPhone 17 Air could be, I’m more concerned than ever that Apple could be about to make a disastrous design mistake similar to that which plagued the iPhone 6 when it launched in 2014.
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The iPhone 17 Air is thin — too thin
We’ve been keeping a close eye on the rumored iPhone 17 Air in 2025, with the ultra-slim smartphone expected to launch later this year. With no official word on the handset's release, our best guess is that we'll see the iPhone 17 Air unveiled during Apple's WWDC event in June.
However, tiding us over in the meantime, a hands-on impression has appeared online with what could very well be the upcoming iPhone 17 Air (or, at least, a mockup of it).
To be clear, this is just a dummy model that YouTube channel Unbox Therapy was sent by an unnamed manufacturer from China. As such, with the dummy model not coming directly from Apple, we can’t confirm how accurate this dummy unit is to the official design for the iPhone 17 Air.
With that said, the featured mockup closely matches several leaked images of iPhone 17 designs and cases we’ve seen recently, so there’s a high probability this is what the iPhone 17 Air will look like.
The dummy phone Unbox Therapy shows off in his video is shockingly thin at just 5.65 mm — roughly the thickness of your average pencil-top eraser. The iPhone 17 Pro Max looks downright bulky when the two are side-by-side.
While Unbox Therapy’s Lew seemed impressed by the design, the question of durability inevitably came up. It’s hard not to look at the iPhone 17 Air and wonder what it would take to bend a phone that thin — especially given Unbox Therapy's history with the now infamous “bendgate” controversy of the iPhone 6.
As impressive as the iPhone 17 Air mockup is to look at, I’m still not convinced it’s going to be worth your money, for more reasons than it's potential durability.
Is Apple heading for another “bendgate”? Why I’m not sold on the iPhone 17 Air
I would hope Apple wouldn’t release the iPhone 17 Air unless it wasn’t absolutely certain that chassis bends were no longer a concern, especially given the controversy caused by 2014's “bendgate” incident — which saw the aluminum chassis of iPhone 6 and 6 Plus models bend or deform while under pressure, including while sat in the pockets of owners.
Technology and engineering have evolved a lot since the iPhone 6, so it’s possible Apple has solved the “bendgate” issue. Apple’s John Ternus claimed as much in an interview about the ultra-thin iPad Pro M4 last year. That iPad is 5.1 mm thick, fractionally slimmer than the iPhone 17 Air dummy shown in the hands-on video.
Of course, the iPad Pro M4 is a much larger device, a far cry from something people will be sticking in their back pockets.
Even if the iPhone 17 Air is far more durable than it looks, I’m still not convinced it will be worth an upgrade, especially if the price is in the thousands of dollars, as it well could be, depending on Trump administration tariffs.
For one thing, most people are going to slap a case on their phone (especially if you’re paying a premium for it), and, with a case on, the iPhone 17 Air isn’t going to look noticeably thinner than most other phones.
On top of that, it still has a large camera bump spanning almost the full width of the phone. That 5.6 mm thickness is measured at the Air’s thinnest point, so it doesn’t factor in the chunky camera bump.
Lastly, beyond a thinner chassis, the iPhone 17 Air looks like a fairly standard iPhone. So far, rumors don’t indicate it will be any more capable than any of the other iPhone 17 models, meaning the only real selling point is that it’s a bit thinne21r.
In fact, the thinner chassis could even be a disadvantage if it means the Air has a smaller battery or worse heat management.
Considering how expensive tech is getting, is that really worth paying hundreds or thousands of dollars for? I doubt it.
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