The iPhone 17 Air will be released this year and, according to rumors, will have to do without an important part. This will change with the next iPhone!
iPhone 17 Air
Apple is expected to release four iPhones again this year, with the iPhone 16 Plus making way for the iPhone 17 Air. So there will be no new Plus model, instead Apple will come with a much thinner iPhone. According to rumors, the iPhone 17 Air will only be 6.25 millimeters thick. Apple expert Ming-Chi Kuo even goes one step further, according to him the device will have a thickness of 5.5 millimeters.
This thickness not only makes it the thinnest iPhone ever, but also brings the device close to the iPad Pro 2024. That is the thinnest device Apple has ever made, with a thickness of only 5.1 millimeters in the version with a 13-inch screen. To make the iPhone 17 Air so thin, Apple is eliminating a number of parts. One of these is the opening for the physical SIM card, because the next iPhone will only work with a digital SIM card.
No more physical SIM card
If the rumors are true, the iPhone 17 Air will be Apple’s first smartphone without a physical SIM card. This certainly applies in Europe, because in the United States the iPhone 16 series no longer has an opening for the SIM card. Instead, all iPhone 16 models work with e-SIM. We see the same change with the iPhone 17 Air, because Apple is reportedly choosing to delete the part for the physical SIM card.
According to Kuo, Apple is omitting the SIM card port to make the iPhone 17 Air even thinner. Without the part, more space remains in the housing of the iPhone 17 Air. Apple desperately needs that space, because the device will be much narrower than the current iPhones. For example, parts such as the battery must be redeveloped without compromising the battery life of the device. Removing the port for the SIM card is therefore a logical step for Apple.
In the Netherlands, most providers already offer a digital SIM card with a number of subscriptions. This way you can request an e-SIM card yourself, so that you no longer need a physical SIM card. It is therefore unlikely that users will experience problems due to the missing part on the iPhone 17 Air. Even if you use multiple SIM cards, there are no problems, because you can install up to eight e-SIMs on the iPhone.
Release of the iPhone 17 Air
The iPhone 17 Air is reportedly missing more parts in addition to the opening for the physical SIM card. The phone has a less advanced camera system, with only one 48-megapixel camera. The iPhone 17 Pro and the iPhone 17 Pro Max have two more lenses, with the iPhone 17 it is probably one lens. It is expected that all other iPhone 17 models in Europe will support a physical SIM card.
Apple usually announces the new iPhones in September, that month we know which parts will and will not come to the iPhone 17 Air. It is becoming increasingly clear about the price, the phone will probably have approximately the same starting price as the iPhone 16 Plus. This means that you can purchase the device for 1119 euros. Do you think that is too expensive and are you now looking for a new phone? Then see here where you can get the iPhone 16 most cheaply:
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