iPhone 17 Air to Be Apple’s Thinnest-Ever Phone; A19 Chips to Be Built Using TSMC’s New Technology: Report

iPhone 16 range was launched in September, but details about Apple’s next-generation smartphones have already begun to surface online. The Cupertino-based company could discontinue the iPhone Plus model next year and replace it with an iPhone 17 Slim version, according to recent reports. A well-known analyst now states that the purported Slim model will be thinner than the iPhone 6. Additionally, the analysts claimed that Apple’s next-generation A19 chips for the iPhone 17 lineup will be manufactured using updated technology from TSMC.

iPhone 17 Air Could Be Only 6mm Thick

Jeff Pu of Haitong International Tech Research in his latest research note (via MacRumors) claims that the iPhone 17 Air will be around 6mm thick. “We agreed with the recent chatter of an 6mm thickness ultra-slim design of the iPhone 17 Slim model,” the analyst reportedly stated.

Apple’s thinnest iPhone to date is the iPhone 6 with a thickness of 6.9mm. If the latest claim turns out to be true, the iPhone 17 Air will be Apple’s thinnest iPhone ever. The latest iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max have a thickness of 8.25mm, while the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus are slimmer at 7.8mm.

The analyst reportedly stated that Apple’s A19 and A19 Pro chips for the iPhone 17 series will be manufactured with TSMC’s latest third-generation 3nm process called ‘N3P’. Both iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Air are said to run on the A19 chip, while the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are said to ship with the A19 Pro chip.

The current A18 and A18 Pro chips for the iPhone 16 lineup are built with TSMC’s second-generation 3nm process known as ‘N3E’. The A17 Pro chip that powers the iPhone 15 Pro series is based on TSMC’s first-generation 3nm process ‘N3B’.

The A19 chips manufactured using the N3P process are said to offer increased transistor density. Therefore, we can expect iPhone 17 models to provide improved performance and power efficiency compared to the iPhone 16 models.