After hanging on to my iPhone 14 Professional for a couple of years, I’ll doubtless improve to an iPhone 17 mannequin this 12 months. Sometimes, I solely take into account the Professional fashions, however the rumored iPhone 17 Air sounds intriguing. After reflecting on rumors, I’ve realized that upgrading to this machine won’t have as many compromises as I first thought.
In fact, the iPhone 17 Air isn’t but official. Apple ought to announce the machine in September, and rumors might change between from time to time. Under, I’ve in contrast the iPhone 14 Professional and iPhone 17 Air as issues at present stand.
Show
The iPhone 17 Air is rumored to have a 6.6-inch OLED show, which might be significantly bigger than the iPhone 14 Professional’s 6.1-inch OLED show.
ProMotion, the characteristic that permits a variable refresh charge as much as 120Hz for smoother video and scrolling, has been restricted to the Professional fashions because it debuted on the iPhone 13 Professional fashions. Nevertheless, the iPhone 17 Air can also be rumored to help ProMotion, so happening to a non-Professional mannequin would now not require giving up 120Hz.
Just like the iPhone 14 Professional, the iPhone 17 Air is anticipated to have Face ID and a Dynamic Island, so you wouldn’t should accept a notch once more.
A bonus with the iPhone 17 Air: It ought to have considerably thinner bezels across the display.
Thickness and Weight
The primary promoting level of the iPhone 17 Air needs to be its ultra-thin, aluminum design. In accordance with Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the machine will measure simply 5.5mm at its thinnest level, which might make it the thinnest iPhone ever.
iPhone 14 Professional fashions are amongst Apple’s heaviest iPhones, having not but benefited from the newer titanium design with tapered edges launched on the iPhone 15 Professional fashions. Customers upgrading from an iPhone 14 Professional to an iPhone 17 Air ought to discover a outstanding enchancment in thinness, lightness, and pocketability.
Battery Life
Okay, however that ultra-thin design signifies that battery life will take a substantial hit, proper?
Not essentially.
Whereas precise battery life specs stay to be seen, do not forget that the iPhone 17 Air is rumored to be outfitted with a 6.6-inch show, which might make the machine bodily bigger than the iPhone 14 Professional. Meaning extra inner area for a bigger battery, so the iPhone 17 Air’s battery life won’t be as unhealthy as one may suppose.
Additionally remember the fact that the iPhone 14 Professional is a couple of years previous now. Not solely did Apple make energy effectivity enhancements on the iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 fashions, however even additional developments are doubtless with the iPhone 17 fashions.
Cameras
If pictures is essential to you, the iPhone 17 Air’s rear digital camera system will doubtless be considered one of its greatest downsides. The machine is rumored to be outfitted with solely a single 48-megapixel rear digital camera, with no devoted Telephoto or Extremely Large cameras.
That stated, upgrading from an iPhone 14 Professional to an iPhone 17 Air won’t be all that unhealthy on this division. Whereas it could lack a Telephoto digital camera, it should doubtless have Apple’s so-called “Fusion” digital camera, which allows a 2x “optical-quality” Telephoto choice. “Optical-quality” isn’t true optical zoom, however it’s meaningfully higher than blurry digital zoom.
There’ll undoubtedly nonetheless be quite a lot of superior digital camera options that stay restricted to the Professional fashions, however the iPhone 17 Air will doubtless be a wonderfully fantastic selection for informal customers who principally take point-and-shoot images.
One plus is that the iPhone 17 Air is rumored to have a 24-megapixel entrance digital camera, whereas the iPhone 14 Professional has a 12-megapixel entrance digital camera.
Apple Intelligence
Whether or not you suppose Apple Intelligence is beneficial or overhyped, the iPhone 17 Air is anticipated to help it, whereas the iPhone 14 Professional doesn’t.
Meaning you’ll have entry to instruments that may aid you to put in writing, summarize your notifications, create customized emoji, robotically take away objects from the backgrounds of images, and extra. A number of Siri enhancements are additionally coming in iOS 18.4, together with on-screen consciousness, understanding of non-public context, and deeper per-app controls.
Different Specs
Past having a bigger show and a thinner design, the iPhone 17 Air is rumored to have many different upgraded specs in comparison with the iPhone 14 Professional:
- A19 chip (vs. A16 Bionic chip)
- USB-C port (vs. Lightning port)
- 8GB of RAM (vs. 6GB)
- Wi-Fi 6E or Wi-Fi 7 (vs. Wi-Fi 6)
However, the iPhone 17 Air’s single speaker could be a downgrade.
Whereas this has but to be rumored, the iPhone 17 Air can also be prone to have an Motion button, rather than the iPhone 14 Professional’s Ring/Silent change. It’s much less clear if the iPhone 17 Air can have a Digital camera Management button, however provided that the characteristic is on the market on all 4 iPhone 16 fashions, it looks as if there’s a respectable likelihood that it’s going to.
Yet one more factor to bear in mind is that the iPhone 17 Air is rumored to be eSIM-only, with no bodily SIM card slot. Should you bought your iPhone 14 Professional within the U.S., this may not matter, as that mannequin is already eSIM-only there. In different international locations, it’s a change to think about, however be aware that the whole iPhone 17 lineup may be eSIM-only in additional international locations regardless. It’s a change that you’ll have to face finally.
