How thin is the iPhone 17 Air? Take a look at close-up photos from Apple’s ‘Awe-Dropping’ launch event

Apple unveiled its super-slim iPhone 17 Air on Tuesday, September 9, at its Awe-Dropping event at Apple Park in Cupertino, California. Weighing just 165 grams and measuring 5.6 mm thick, the highly anticipated iPhone Air starts at $999. Built with a titanium frame for strength and lightness, it features Ceramic Shield on the front and back, an anti-reflective display, and 3,000-nit peak brightness.

Internally, the iPhone Air features the new A19 Pro chipset. Additionally, Apple's new N1 networking chip and an enhanced GPU are included with the A19 Pro. The iPhone Air will only work with eSIMs, as one might expect. To create room for other parts, Apple did not incorporate a physical SIM slot. At the same time, Apple also claims its thinnest phone is the most durable phone yet.

How thin is Apple’s iPhone Air?

How thin is the iPhone Air, then? The new model has a thickness of 5.6 mm at its thinnest. In comparison, the iPhone 16 Pro is 8.25 mm thick, meaning the Air is more than 2 mm thinner than Apple's 2024 flagship. Before today, the thinnest smartphone the company had ever produced was the iPhone 6, which had a thickness of 6.9 mm.


Tech reviewers are already taking note: compared to Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Edge, the iPhone Air is so thin it “would run for their money,” according to a CNET article. Here’s a glimpse at the iPhone Air from the launch event, captured by the ET team, showing just how lightweight, slim, and airy it looks, before you can get your hands on it yourself.