The iPhone 17 line could include huge upgrades and a new Slim model
No more Plus next year
We’re still months away from the presumed September launch of the iPhone 16 series, but a detailed leak has already revealed much about the iPhone 17 line – including that there will apparently be an iPhone 17 Slim in place of a Plus model.
This information comes from Haitong International Securities analyst Jeff Pu, in an investor note seen by 9to5Mac, and Pu claims that this new Slim model will have a 6.6-inch display (down from 6.7 inches on the iPhone 15 Plus). Though another leaker – Ross Young – has said in a new X post that it will be slightly smaller still, at 6.55 inches.
In either case, the fact that two different reputable leakers are talking about an iPhone 17 Slim means there’s a fair chance this is a real thing.
Design changes for every model
As for the rest of the iPhone 17 series, Pu claims that the iPhone 17 will have a 6.1-inch screen, the iPhone 17 Pro will have a 6.3-inch display, and the iPhone 17 Pro Max will have a 6.9-inch one. That’s in line with the sizes we’re expecting from the iPhone 16 line, so it’s only the iPhone 17 Slim that might be getting a screen size change.
The iPhone 17 Pro Max will, unsurprisingly, apparently be clad in titanium, much like the iPhone 15 Pro Max, but interestingly, the other three models are said to have a “more complex” aluminum design. That could actually be a downgrade for the iPhone 17 Pro though, since the iPhone 15 Pro also uses titanium.
The iPhone 17 Pro Max is additionally said to have a “narrowed Dynamic Island”, while the other three phones will apparently stick with the Dynamic Island we're used to. This reduced size is supposedly due to a new “metalens” technology, which could shrink the size of the Face ID sensor.
More megapixels and RAM
The same report also points to the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Slim having 8GB of RAM and either an A18 or A19 chipset, while the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max will apparently have 12GB of RAM and an A19 Pro chipset. For reference, currently the standard models have 6GB of RAM, while the Pro models have 8GB, and with the iPhone 16 line, it’s rumored that all four phones will have 8GB of RAM.
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Finally, all four iPhone 17 models are said to have a 24MP front-facing camera, up from 12MP on the current phones.
So, it sounds like the iPhone 17 Pro Max could be the big winner here, with the largest screen, the smallest Dynamic Island, and possibly being the only titanium option in the line. But the iPhone 17 Pro sounds like a big upgrade too, with more RAM and a faster chipset than current models, and indeed the standard iPhone 17.
The iPhone 17 Slim could be an interesting addition, and given the name, it would presumably be thinner than the 7.8mm iPhone 15 Plus, but that remains to be seen.
Of course, it’s extremely early for iPhone 17 leaks, so even though this all comes from a credible source, we’d take such rumors with a significant pinch of salt for now.
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James is a freelance phones, tablets and wearables writer and sub-editor at TechRadar. He has a love for everything ‘smart’, from watches to lights, and can often be found arguing with AI assistants or drowning in the latest apps. James also contributes to 3G.co.uk, 4G.co.uk and 5G.co.uk and has written for T3, Digital Camera World, Clarity Media and others, with work on the web, in print and on TV.