Next year Apple has long been rumored to switch things up in its smartphone lineup. The company will allegedly replace the Plus model with the iPhone 17 Air, an impossibly thin device that may only have one single rear camera.
The iPhone 17 Air has now entered the new product introduction (NPI) phase, according to a new report from supply chain sources. This is the first step on the road to production, and it involves Apple and its suppliers working together to assess the feasibility of the design and the manufacturing methods that will be required to assemble the device.
This is the iPhone 16 Plus that the iPhone 17 Air will be replacing
They also need to ensure that the planned approaches to assembly are practical. Thus, small design changes could still happen in this stage, in order to align with manufacturing capabilities (and/or costs). The NPI will then be followed by a small-scale test production line being set up to ensure that the execution aligns with the planning.
So it’s definitely still early days for the iPhone 17 Air’s journey to reality, but things are moving along in the direction of its production, so it seems pretty clear that Apple has in fact given up on its Plus model for next year. Let’s see if the Air fares better, sales-wise.