iPhone 17 Air USB-C Port May Have This Unusual Design Quirk

Apple is preparing to launch a dramatically thinner iPhone this September, and if recent leaks are anything to go by, the so-called iPhone 17 Air could boast one of the most radical design shifts in recent years.

iPhone 17 air

iPhone 17 Air dummy model alongside iPhone 16 Pro (credit: AppleTrack)

At just 5.5mm thick (excluding a slightly raised camera bump), the 6.6-inch iPhone 17 Air is expected to become the slimmest iPhone in the lineup by some margin. For comparison, the current iPhone 16 Pro measures 8.25mm thick.

Achieving this level of thinness is unlikely to come without compromise. Dummy models shared by AppleTrack suggest that Apple has made some subtle adjustments to accommodate internal components in the tighter chassis. Most notably, the USB-C port on the bottom edge is no longer centered front-to-back. Instead, it appears shifted closer to the rear of the device, which is likely to accommodate display components within the enclosure.

There are other signs of Apple's re-engineering efforts. The speaker grilles, for example, show a pared-back design, with only two holes on either side of the port compared to the typical five. That reduction reflects the same space-saving measures required to fit in a battery, processor, display components, and speakers within a much slimmer frame.

iphone 17 air appletrack
To save even more space, Apple is said to be equipping the iPhone 17 Air with a single rear camera. The company is also expected to remove the physical SIM card slot entirely, adopting eSIM-only support globally – a shift first seen in U.S. iPhones with the iPhone 14.

One of the most interesting internal changes is the inclusion of Apple's new custom-designed C1 modem, first introduced in the iPhone 16e. The ultra-efficient chip should play a big role in maintaining battery life in such a thin frame. Despite its size, sources suggest the iPhone 17 Air will offer battery performance on par with current iPhone models.


Apple is expected to announce the iPhone 17 series during its usual fall event, which may also see the debut of third-generation AirPods Pro.

Related Forum: iPhone

Popular Stories

iOS 26

Everything New in iOS 26.1 Beta 1

Monday September 22, 2025 12:44 pm PDT by
Apple released the first beta of iOS 26.1 today, just a week after launching iOS 26. iOS 26.1 mainly adds new languages to Apple Intelligence, but there are a few other features that are worth knowing about. New Apple Intelligence Languages Apple Intelligence is now available in Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese (Portugal), Swedish, Turkish, Chinese (Traditional), and Vietnamese. AirPo...
apple tv 4k new orange

Next Apple TV Expected to Launch This Year With These New Features

Monday September 22, 2025 10:00 am PDT by
The next Apple TV is expected to be released later this year, and a handful of new features and changes have been rumored for the device. Below, we recap what to expect from the next Apple TV, according to rumors. Likely Features N1 Chip With Wi-Fi 7 Last year, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said the next Apple TV would be equipped with Apple's own combined Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip, which is...
Apple Intelligence General Feature 2

iOS 26.1 Adds New Apple Intelligence Languages and Expands AirPods Live Translation

Monday September 22, 2025 11:15 am PDT by
With iOS 26.1, Apple Intelligence is gaining support for additional languages, including Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese (Portugal), Swedish, Turkish, Chinese (Traditional), and Vietnamese. Apple announced plans to expand the languages that can be used with Apple Intelligence last year, and now the added language support is here. Apple Intelligence is now available in the following...
iPhone 17 Pro and Air N1 Feature

Some iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone Air Users Experiencing Intermittent Wi-Fi Issue

Monday September 22, 2025 8:44 am PDT by
Apple's latest iPhone models launched on Friday, and some early adopters of the devices are experiencing intermittent Wi-Fi issues. Affected customers say Wi-Fi connectivity periodically cuts out on the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, and iPhone Air, with hundreds of comments about the issue posted across the MacRumors Forums, Reddit, and the Apple Support Community over the...
Apple Foldable Thumb

Foldable iPhone Like 'Two Titanium iPhone Airs' Joined at the Hinge

Monday September 22, 2025 2:16 am PDT by
Next year's rumored foldable iPhone will showcase an ultra-thin design resembling "two titanium iPhone Airs side-by-side," according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Writing in the Q&A section of his latest Power On newsletter, Gurman says Apple's first foldable device will be "super thin and a design achievement," combining Apple's thinnest iPhone form factor with cutting-edge folding...
iPhone 17 Pro and Air Feature

Two iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air Colors Appear to Scratch More Easily

Friday September 19, 2025 10:02 am PDT by
As reported by Bloomberg today, some of the new iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air models on display at Apple Stores today are already scratched and scuffed. French blog Consomac also reported on this topic. The scratches appear to be most prominent on models with darker finishes, including the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max in Deep Blue, and the iPhone Air in Space Black. Images Credit: Consoma ...
iPhone 17 Pro USB C Port

iPhone 17 Pro Max's USB-C Charging Speeds Tested With Apple Chargers

Monday September 22, 2025 7:29 am PDT by
The website ChargerLAB has tested the iPhone 17 Pro Max's USB-C charging speeds with a variety of Apple's chargers, from 18W to 140W. The device reached a peak charging speed of around 36W with the following Apple chargers:40W Dynamic Power Adapter with 60W Max 61W USB-C Power Adapter 67W USB-C Power Adapter 70W USB-C Power Adapter 96W USB-C Power Adapter 140W USB-C Power AdapterFor...
iOS 26

Apple Seeds First Betas of iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, and macOS Tahoe 26.1

Monday September 22, 2025 10:05 am PDT by
Apple today provided developers with the first betas of upcoming iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, macOS Tahoe 26.1, tvOS 26.1, watchOS 26.1, and visionOS 26.1 updates for testing purposes. The new betas are the first updates to the iOS, iPadOS, macOS 26, watchOS, tvOS, and visionOS releases that came out last week. The new betas can be downloaded from the Settings app on a compatible device by going...

Top Rated Comments

mgmacius Avatar
21 weeks ago

At least the charge port isn't on the back.
Why would you say that aloud? Now Tim will hear you…
Score: 35 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TechWhisperer Avatar
21 weeks ago
Omg this is beyond insane. The USB-C port has shifted from its sacred central position. Save yourselves before it's too late, my beloved ones. The asymmetry is just the beginning of the end. I've seen what comes next, and it isn't pretty.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
WarmWinterHat Avatar
21 weeks ago

EU regulation is the answer to why.
The EU directive allows for full wireless charging without a port, as long as it's not propritary.
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
theluggage Avatar
21 weeks ago

USB-C is nice but flimsy in my experience, I always preferred the lightning connector, thinner, more secure and foolproof, they should have stuck with it, way easier to accommodate on a this design, 'F' the EU
Lightning doesn’t have enough pins to do 4k@60Hz DisplayPort, Thunderbolt or even full USB 3. It was at the end of its life anyway. It may be OK for the target users of the iPhone Air - but not for iPad Pros or top-end iPhones targeted at media creation, and ending up with different connectors across the iDevice range (not to mention Macs) would be stupid.

The Lightning plug might be thin but the socket has to have space for contacts above or below the plug, whereas USB-C keeps everything inside the shield of the plug. Any hypothetical Lightning 2 would need a true double-sided connector for the extra pins, so the socket would need contacts above and below the plug - so there’s no guarantee that the Lightning socket would take up less space than USB C. Then there’s the question of whether you can fit 2-3 times as many wires inside a Lightning plug without making it any thicker (and breaking backward compatibility).

The EU didn’t design USB-C - it was the USB-IF of which Apple is an influential member. Apple engineers played a major role in designing USB-C. Apple enthusiastically pushed USB-C (arguably, prematurely) on the Mac. If it was technically possible to make the new USB-C connector backwards-compatible with Lightning then Apple had every opportunity to make that happen.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DrJR Avatar
21 weeks ago
At least the charge port isn't on the back.

Edit: Also I was hoping that first image was of the new folding phone.... that would be dope.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mattopotamus Avatar
21 weeks ago
I'm honestly surprised they didn't just go full wireless charging being tight on space.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)