New reports suggest the iPhone 17 Air won’t have quite the same performance as the iPhone 17 Pro, but it should still be plenty powerful.
Apple’s upcoming iPhone 17 Air will closely match the configuration of the iPhone 17 Pro, reports claim, but there will be some slight differences. According to a new leak posted to Weibo earlier today, the iPhone 17 Air will boast one less GPU core than the iPhone 17 Pro. So, while the Pro model will ship with a 6-core GPU A19 Pro chip, the iPhone 17 Air will ship with a 5-core GPU A19 Pro chip.
The report doesn’t offer an explanation as to why, but the decision is likely tied to Apple’s efforts to improve thermal management for such a svelte device. Recall that the iPhone 17 Air will reportedly be just 5.5mm thick and, in turn, will be the thinnest iPhone that Apple has ever produced. As a point of reference, the thinnest iPhone to date is the iPhone 6, which was 6.9mm thick. It is worth noting that the 5.5mm measurement on the iPhone 17 Air doesn’t include the device’s protruding camera bump.
If you’re on the fence between picking up the iPhone 17 Air or the iPhone 17 Pro, it’s likely you won’t notice any performance difference on account of one less GPU core. For most users who use their iPhone for basic tasks like messaging, video streaming, and browsing the web, the difference in performance will be impossible to observe. One less GPU core will only be an issue for users who routinely play graphics-intensive video games. Unless you’re a hardcore gamer, the iPhone 17 Air should be more than powerful enough.
It’s also worth noting that the leak claims the iPhone 17 Air will have shorter battery life than the iPhone 17 Pro. This, though, shouldn’t come as much of a surprise given that the device, by virtue of its incredibly thin design, will have a smaller battery.
As we highlighted a few days ago, Apple’s iPhone 17 Air is expected to come with a 2,800 mAh battery, putting it on par with the iPhone 12.
