I haven’t been excited about a new iPhone design in years. The same goes for other Apple gadgets you’d buy every few years, like the MacBook and iPad. We’ve reached peak design when it comes to iPhone and smartphone designs. I don’t care about how big the notch or Dynamic Island cutout is or how thin the bezels are. I’m still getting a phone that looks a lot like last year’s model, and the large screen is all I need.
However, something has changed in recent years. I want a larger display than the traditional 6.1-inch size I typically buy, but I don’t like the thickness of the current iPhone 16 Plus or 16 Pro Max. That’s why the iPhone 17 Air rumors have been increasingly exciting to me.
I want the phone to be as thin as possible, even if that means dealing with a few big compromises, like a single-lens camera module on the back and a slightly worse battery life. That means the iPhone 17 Air won’t be as good as the Pro and Pro Max.
This brings me to the iPhone 17 Pro Max concept video below that essentially imagines an iPhone 17 Air device packing the high-end features of the Pro Max. We won’t see an iPhone like this anytime soon, but it still could be a glimpse into the iPhone’s more distant future.
Created by Technizo Concept, the iPhone 17 Pro Max concept video relies on a mix of iPhone 17 Air and iPhone 17 Pro rumors. The device in the clip is more of a thin iPhone 17 Ultra kind of phone, reminding us of some of the early iPhone 17 Air rumors that said the handset would be a new top-of-the-line entry in Apple’s iPhone lineup.
As such, the clip pictures an iPhone 17 Air-like device that’s just 5mm thick. That’s a thickness that’s not going to be possible for non-folding smartphones just yet, as smartphone vendors have to worry about camera module size and especially battery size when creating ultra-thin phones.
The iPhone 17 Pro Max in the clip features a smaller Dynamic Island and ultra-thin bezels, both of which are rumored to be coming to the iPhone 17 Pro Max next year.
The rear-facing panel is made of glass and metal, a design element that constitutes a first for the iPhone. All iPhone 17 should feature such panels.
The cameras sit at the top, with the three lenses arranged in a metallic camera-bar-type module. Apple will reportedly use this design for the iPhone 17 and 17 Air. The Pros should stick with the current camera design, however.
Otherwise, the iPhone 17 Pro Max in the clip features all the elements you’d expect from next year’s iPhone 17 models. There’s a USB-C port on the bottom, an Action button on the left, and a Camera Control button on the right. The handset has rounded corners and flat edges, probably made of titanium.
Again, this is just a concept, and there’s a lot of wishful thinking going on here. The real iPhone 17 Air can’t possibly match what this designer has imagined.
However, the ultra-thin iPhone 17 Air will set the stage for the iPhones of the future. It’s reasonable to expect the iPhone 17 Air to influence the future iPhone Fold design.
Also, I’d expect Apple to adopt the same thin frame for all iPhone models in the near future. Whether it happens with the iPhone 18 or iPhone 19 series, I’m sure we’ll get ultra-thin iPhone Pro Max variants that will look like the concept in the clip in the coming years.
