Leaked iPhone 17 Air case backs up camera bar claims

A newly leaked image of what's claimed to be a case for the forthcoming iPhone 17 Air, matches recent descriptions of a new design for the camera bump.

Following the leak of what appear to be metal molds for the iPhone 17 range, leaker Sonny Dickson has now added a new image of a case for the slim model.

As described in many previous leaks, the iPhone 17 range will feature Apple's first major redesign in years. All iPhone 17 models are expected to have a redesigned camera bump, or now camera bar.

But the iPhone 17 Air, or iPhone 17 Slim, is gaining its redesigned camera system as part of making it substantially thinner than the rest of the iPhone lineup. Its thinner design has reportedly required many compromises, perhaps even the exclusion of a SIM card slot for markets outside of the US.

Apple had already abandoned physical SIM card slots from the iPhone 14 onwards, but solely in the US. At the same time, only iPhones in the States have ever supported mmWave 5G and that may also be removed with the iPhone 17 Slim.

Overall, the latest rumors regarding just how thin this expected new iPhone are say that it could be as little as 5.5mm thick, excluding the protruding camera bar. That compares to the 7.8mm of the current iPhone 16, or the 8.25mm of the iPhone 16 Pro Max.

Reportedly, the physical redesign of the slimmer iPhone 17 will only be apparent from the side, or when holding it. The front display is expected to be in the order of 6.6 inches, or just shy of the 6.7 inches of the current iPhone 16 Plus.

As for this new leak, it comes with no indication of the provenance of the case, and it remains true that manufacturers will try to be first to market by working on expectation rather than Apple information. However, Sonny Dickson does have a good track record, including in April 2024 when he leaked mockups of the iPhone 16 range lineup that correctly revealed the screen sizes of the four models months ahead of their debut.