Hands-on: iPhone 17 Air is the biggest change to iPhone in a decade — here’s 5 things you need to know

17 years since the launch of the original MacBook Air, Apple’s slim-line gadget range is getting a new member of the family. Apple’s just introduced the iPhone 17 Air, the biggest (or should that be slimmest?) change to the iPhone line-up in a decade.

Replacing the iPhone ‘Plus’ model in the middle of this year’s range, the iPhone 17 Air measures just 5.6mm at its slimmest point, and is Apple’s answer to the increasing threat of foldable Android phones in its battle for smartphone supremacy.

It’s a sight to behold, with a silhouette so thin and a weight so light (165g) that it’s a wonder that Apple’s managed to squeeze anything into its frame at all. But given the diet Apple’s put the iPhone on, it’s a relatively compromise-free handset.

Is it enough to tempt you away from the cheaper iPhone 17? And should you consider it if you usually opt for the high-end iPhone Pro and Pro Max models? We’ve been hands-on with the phone at Apple’s Cupertino HQ ahead of its release. Here’s our initial thoughts on it so far.

1. Design: An iPhone on a diet

Despite its slim frame, the iPhone 17 Air is still recognisably an iPhone, with a titanium enclosure that, despite the size, Apple claims ensures this is its most durable iPhone design ever — and should be free from dreaded ‘bendgate’ problems that some of its other slim-line designs fell foul of.

The iPhone Air, in the hand, is shockingly thin. We're quite used to lightweight and paper-thin handsets at this point in the smartphone arms race, but what Apple’s achieved here is quite stunning. It feels almost floaty when held.

The iPhone 17 Air isn’t without a bulge, though — towards the top rear of the device is a pill-shaped raised element that Apple’s calling the ‘Plateau’. It’s here where the modules for both the rear and front-facing cameras live, as well as the single speaker unit.

It’s a ‘spacecraft-grade’ titanium in use here (80% of which is recycled), but that’s not the only thing aiding that durable design. A next-generation ‘Ceramic Shield’ glass is found on both front and back — previously reserved for the screen panel, it’s 4x more durable against cracks, and 3x more scratch resistant than previous versions.

That Ceramic Shield gen 2 is used on the 6.3-inch display too (there’s only one size of iPhone 17 Air on offer), and offers an enhanced anti-glare coating for use in direct sunlight. The screen can reach a peak of 3000 nits in harsh lighting conditions, and features the same silky smooth 120Hz ProMotion refresh rate that’s now right the way across the entire iPhone lineup.

Apple’s calling this dual-sided use of Ceramic Shield a ‘mirror’ finish — it’s got a reflective sheen that adds to its sense of airy weightlessness, and the colour finishes are designed to reflect that too — you can pick up the iPhone 17 Air in Light Gold, Sky Blue, Space Black and Cloud White.

This is also the first iPhone to be offered worldwide as an eSIM-only design — Apple ditched plastic SIM cards here to maximise space for the battery. All communication with your network provider here is handled via software and Apple’s integrated networking chips.

2. Internal specs: Slim size, but oodles of power

There was a fear that, in order to accommodate the slimline size, Apple would have to equip the iPhone 17 Air with a lower-power chipset — perhaps more in line with an entry-level iPhone so as to keep heat generated at manageable levels. But Apple’s gone the whole hog here and has put the new top-tier A19 Pro chip onboard.

The A19 Pro chip packs in a 6-core CPU with better bandwidth and better energy efficiency, which Apple claims makes it the fastest CPU in any smartphone. The GPU is equally impressive, a 5-core design that uses new 2nd-generation dynamic caching for improved 3D graphics performance. The GPU is also boosting Apple Intelligence AI features, with a neural accelerator in each GPU core for what Apple calls “MacBook Pro levels of compute.”

Wireless connectivity comes from the Apple-designed N1 chip, offering up Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6 and Thread connectivity — together making for better, faster performance from AirDrop, and the personal hotspot function. And though it’s only been using its home-made modems for a few months — first seen in the iPhone 16e — the C1 modem already gets an upgrade to the C1X, which Apple claims is 2x faster than the previous model, and more efficient in battery consumption too.

3. Cameras: Fusion cameras and dual shooting

The thinner iPhone 17 Air design means there’s only one rear lens onboard here, compared to the three found on the top-tier iPhone 17 Pro and Max. But Apple’s worked hard to prevent that from being a compromise. Sat in the pill-shaped bump, the 48MP “Fusion” camera system acts like multiple camera systems in one. The main lens, shooting at 24MP by default, offers 28mm and 35mm focal lengths, with the 2x Telephoto shooting at 12MP, featuring an updated Photonic Engine that captures more details and colour.

Perhaps most interesting of all, though, is the new 18MP Center Stage front-facing camera. Using a square sensor and Apple Intelligence, it will intelligently tweak the image orientation and focal length to make sure you and you’re friends are all in frame at once.

Both rear and front-facing cameras can now be used in tandem, too, with a Dual Capture mode that shoots video from both lenses at once, capturing footage in a. Single video. As for regular recordings, video recording hits 4K resolution and supports Dolby Vision.

4. Battery life: All day (but here’s a new MagSafe pack, just in case…)

With a thinner phone, you’ve naturally got less space for a ginormous battery, but that doesn’t result in as huge a downgrade in battery life as some pre-release rumours had suggested it would. Or, at least in terms of Apple’s estimations — the iPhone 17 Air will be good for all-day battery life, or up to 27 hours of video playback. That’ll require some real-world testing to see if it proves true, but provided you can get to the end of a working day without reaching for the charger, that’s a win for this form-factor. Adaptive power monitoring intelligently learns your habits and will conserve power accordingly.

Should battery life become a problem, though, Apple is offering a new MagSafe battery accessory that boosts the video-watching hour count up to 40 hours. And rounding out the accessory package are two new cases — a translucent back cover and a wrap-around edge bumper — plus a cross-body strap, which will hopefully fend off London drive-by thieves.

5. Price and release date

Set to cost $999, the iPhone 17 Air is, by the grand scheme of Apple pricing, pretty reasonable given the engineering feat that’s been achieved here. Going up for pre-order this Friday, it’ll go on general sale globally from September 19th.

• Hands-on: iPhone 17 is Apple’s best in years — silky-smooth ProMotion screen finally hits the entry level