The upcoming iPhone 17 family, rumored for a September 9 launch, may introduce an iPhone 17 Air model designed to replace the iPhone 16 Plus due to its “lackluster sales performance.” Speculation from China suggests the iPhone 17 Air will feature a modified A19 Pro System-on-Chip (SoC).
Unlike the A19 Pro chip destined for the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max, the Air’s variant is rumored to have one less GPU core. While the Pro and Pro Max models are expected to feature six GPU cores, the iPhone 17 Air’s A19 Pro will reportedly include five. This GPU difference is cited as the sole variation in the A19 Pro chip for the Air model.
Furthermore, the same source indicates that the iPhone 17 Air’s display quality will not match that of the iPhone 17 Pro. The device is also rumored to have a thickness ranging from 5.65mm to 5.7mm. This latest rumor contradicts a previous report from July, which posited that the iPhone 17 Air would utilize the standard A19 chip, similar to the vanilla iPhone 17.
