iPhone 17 Slim Rumours
Apple is compromising on other aspects of the slim iPhone’s design to ensure its thinness. For instance, the thin iPhone will only have a single speaker in its earpiece because there is no room for a second speaker at the bottom, which is standard in other models, one person said.
The thin iPhone also has a large, centered camera bump on its back containing a single lens as opposed to two lenses in the standard iPhone and three in the Pro models, three people said.
The average consumer is making phone purchase decisions based on brand affinity, and a few key specs like battery life, camera quality, and screen size.
Given the fact that Apple uses the addition of just one more camera lens as the primary upsell for the Pro phones, it is very significant that the Slim (or Air, or whatever it will end up being called) will lack not one, but two rear cameras. It cannot be understated how much people care about the quality of pictures their phone can take, and the Slim will be at a camera disadvantage to all of its siblings in the lineup.
The M4 iPad Pro is strikingly thin, and also remarkably capable. It is an uncompromising beast, packing more performance than most PCs in a fan-less compact tablet form factor. It is a marvel of technology.
In comparison, the iPhone 17 Slim will require radical compromises to achieve its thinner design. Even considering its physical characteristics in isolation, I don’t think it will have the same impact as the feeling you get when you behold the iPad Pro; the phone’s thinness is spread over a smaller body than a tablet, and it will still have to accommodate a pretty big protruding camera bump.
As is, I’m struggling to envision the iPhone 17 Slim as a smash hit. But perhaps it only needs to outperform the Plus for Apple to deem it a successful venture. Whether speaking of the Mini or the Plus, Apple’s previous efforts at establishing a fourth iPhone model have not been well received in the marketplace.