iPhone 17 Air: Super-thin phone tipped to deliver competitive battery thanks to silicon-carbon chemistry

The iPhone 17 Air is expected to launch in September alongside other iPhone 17 models. Available information claims the phone will be less than 6mm thick and while that would normally come at a cost to battery performance, new reports indicate that may not necessarily be the case.

As shared by leakers on Weibo, it appears Apple could be set to equip the iPhone 17 Air with silicon-carbon batteries. Supposedly, both the iPhone 17 Air and next year's foldable iPhone could make the switch to the new battery chemistry.

While that may not seem impressive, silicon-carbon batteries offer significantly improved energy density levels. OEMs like Xiaomi, Honor, Oppo, and OnePlus have all adopted the technology, leading to big increments in battery capacity. The Xiaomi 15, for example, launched in China with a 5400 mAh battery, a big jump from the 4610 mAh unit on the Xiaomi 14 (buy on Amazon). 

Seeing as the iPhone 17 Air is expected to sport a single rear camera, that leaves more space for a bigger battery, with a potential switch to silicon-carbon chemistry opening up the possibility of a battery matching that of the iPhone 16 (3561 mAh) or even the new iPhone 16e (4005 mAh). That may just be conjecture, but more concrete information on the 17 Air's battery can be expected to be revealed soon.