Apple (AAPL) is preparing for its annual fall event on September, 9 at its headquarters in Cupertino, California, where it is anticipated to announce the hottest additions to the iPhone and Apple Watch lines.
Most exciting of all is the likely unveiling of the much awaited iPhone 17 Air, which features a remarkably thin design at just 5.5-millimetres. To put on the thin spectrum, the standard model iPhone’s thickness, or rounded rectangularity, is 7.8 mm and the iPhone Pro thickness is 8.3 mm. The iPhone 17 Air is projected to be composed of aluminum making it Apple’s thinnest and lightest phone to date.
Per Bloomberg’s Apple expert Mark Gurman, the slimmer design of the Air might involve certain compromises. For example, the phone may feature only a single wide-angle camera, unlike the dual-camera system in the standard iPhone or the triple-camera setup in the Pro models.
Additionally, the Air is expected to have a smaller battery, which could affect battery life unless Apple optimizes it with software enhancements. This might make the phone less appealing to consumers who typically prefer devices with multiple cameras and larger batteries.
Depending on how the iPhone 17 Air develops as Apple’s folding iPhone prototype, we could see a folding iPhone sometime in 2026, according to Mark Gurman. Samsung did something similar with its S25 Edge, in releasing its slim phone with the understanding that it would report Kouma sales figures for the Galaxy Z Fold 7 based on consumers’ response to how slim they had made the new form factor four old smartphones made into folding smart gadgets!
The Fold-7 sold so well, I hear it was so thin that Samsung had to squeeze a USB-C port just to about fit it! Samsung reported a 50% increase over the Fold-7!
The iPhone 17 will have a larger 6.3-inch display from the 6.1-inch display of the iPhone 16. Wall Street expects higher priced new iPhones, the Air model estimated to cost $50 to $100 more dollars. Besides the iPhones, Apple plans to release the Apple Watch Series 11 and Apple Watch Ultra 3.
The Series 11 is really not expected to get that much of an upgrade from the Series 10 other than maybe the processor, since the Series 10 already has a larger display, etc. According to Mark Gurman, the Ultra 3 may get satellite messaging (for in hikes where help was needed) and having a larger display. Apple may also release a new version of the entry-level Apple Watch SE.
Apple is expected to announce the AirPods 3 with heart rate-tracking capabilities that are already available in Apple’s PowerBeats Pro 2 earbuds, making complete sense as Apple will offer heart rate tracking in its flagship earbuds. Apple CEO Tim Cook will discuss more at their Cupertino event on September 9.
