The iPhone Air may make its long-rumored debut.
We’re now just days away from the Apple’s September 9 event, where the company is all but certain to unveil the iPhone 17 line. This year’s theme of “Awe dropping”, which was featured in Apple’s invitations to the media sent on August 26 doesn’t reveal much by way of clues, though some think the heat-mapped Apple logo is indicative of better thermal cooling in the new models. But more importantly, we already know how to watch the Apple iPhone 17 event itself: The keynote will be livestreamed on YouTube Tuesday, September 9 at 1PM ET from Cupertino. We’ll have three Engadget team members reporting, liveblogging and providing their hands-on impressions from Apple Park, so make sure you come back here for the latest coverage.
This year is shaping up to be a departure from recent September product rollouts, with the strong possibility of an all-new superthin iPhone expected to join the company’s lineup. Also on tap could be new Apple Watch models — including the first truly new Ultra model in two years — and (maybe) the long-awaited AirPods Pro 3.
Bloomberg Apple reporter Mark Gurman confirmed his expectation for all of the above products to arrive as expected next week in his recent event preview story. Gurman had previously reported many of those details, including the expected battery and camera compromises of that rumored thin iPhone (which everyone already calls the iPhone Air). You can hear him share his full analysis of the upcoming lineup — and even a peek at some 2026 iPhone models — during his recent guest appearance on the Engadget Podcast.
Expected to be roughly 5.55 mm thick, the iPhone Air would be the thinnest iPhone yet, besting 2014’s iPhone 6 which, at 6.9 mm, was the previous svelteness champ. And they’ve only gotten chunkier since then. (The iPhone 16 Pro has a depth of 8.25 mm.) The Air would also give Apple a direct rival to Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Edge, which we found to be more than a gimmick.
But the iPhone Air’s thin design will likely lead to some compromises. It’s rumored to have only a single 48 MP camera and a smaller battery. That said, Taiwan’s TrendForce, a market research firm quoted in a recent MacRumors story, suggests that the Air will sport a high-density “silicon anode battery” that could theoretically provide more power from a smaller frame.
