iPhone 17 “Slim” Could Replace 17 Plus in 2025, Series Redesign Rumoured

The iPhone 16 series hasn’t even been launched yet, but we already have a pretty good idea of what to expect in terms of design and features thanks to multiple leaks. Now, rumours and leaks about next year’s iPhone 17 series are starting to circulate. The juiciest bit of information so far comes from Haitong International Securities analyst Jeff Pu, courtesy of 9to5mac.com. If accurate, this means Apple will introduce major new changes and shake up the way it segments the iPhone market, in a way that hasn’t happened since the iPhone 14 series ditched a mini model and introduced the iPhone 14 Plus.

The analyst’s research note suggests that there will still be four iPhone models, but instead of an iPhone 17 Plus with the same features as the iPhone 17, there will be an all-new iPhone 17 Slim. The name might not be final, or might be a rough translation from Chinese, as such details often emerge based on the movements of companies in Apple’s supply chain.

No concrete details of how the purported iPhone 17 Slim will be different from existing Plus models are known yet. Previous rumours have suggested that this device will have a slightly smaller screen than current Plus models, at 6.6 inches diagonally rather than 6.7 inches, also pointing to a new approach to product stack segmentation.

It’s possible that Apple will drop some features in order to make this phone as slim and light as it can, but considering that battery life has been one of the biggest selling points of the Plus models, it’s unlikely that the company will want to compromise much in this area. The company might want to further differentiate the larger base iPhone from the top-end iPhone 17 Pro Max, or it might want to appeal to people who miss the extremely portable mini models.

In the same report, Pu suggests that there will be a significant difference between the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max for the first time. While the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Slim will continue to have aluminium bodies, Apple will also use aluminium for the iPhone 17 Pro, leaving the iPhone 17 Pro Max as the sole device built out of Titanium. Moreover, the aluminium design will be “more complex”, though further details were not shared.

The iPhone 17 Pro Max will also be the only model with a smaller Dynamic Island screen area, enabled by a new type of proximity sensor called a “metalens”. However, all four models will feature updated and improved 24-megapixel front-facing cameras. 

As for specifications, Apple’s Pro models are set to get a new A19 Pro SoC, while the base iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Slim might be based on either a new A19 or continue using the A18 which is expected to debut with this year’s iPhone 16 series. While all four iPhone 16 models are expected to have 8GB of RAM, the iPhone 17 Pro models will be bumped up to 12GB. This is in keeping with the growing popularity of generative AI applications, and Apple’s usual strategy of running such tasks on-device rather than sending data to a cloud service, in order to protect users’ privacy.