Caixin.com reported on November 26th (Edited by Shi Zhengcheng) that before this year's iPhone 16 launch event, those who frequently follow global technology and consumer stocks knew that there would be an "ultra-thin" phone in the next year's iPhone 17 series, known as the iPhone 17 Slim or iPhone 17 Air.

However, according to the tech media The Information's report on Monday, in addition to a "body thickness of only 5-6 millimeters", the cost of the ultra-thin body has also been revealed - compromises may be made for the camera, speaker, and communication antenna. Meanwhile, apple engineers have not yet found a way to insert the SIM card tray into this phone, and currently, any domestically sold phones in china must have a physical SIM card slot.

In comparison, the iPhone 6 is currently apple's thinnest phone in history, with a thickness of only 6.9 millimeters. The thickness of the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus released this year is 7.8 millimeters, while the 13-inch version of the M4 iPad Pro is 5.1 millimeters thick.

It is reported that with the launch of the ultra-thin iPhone 17, there will be no iPhone 17 Plus next year, but these two are clearly not directly competing products.

The Cost of "Ultra-Thin"

According to insiders, the phone named iPhone 17 Air is currently undergoing early production trials at Foxconn, having recently upgraded from "Prototype-1" to "Prototype-2".

Due to the body size constraints, the current prototype does not have a SIM card slot, and engineers have not found a way to fit a SIM card tray. This means that this phone may become the first iPhone to only support eSIM globally.

For the USA market, the removal of the SIM card tray starting from the iPhone 14 has no impact. The US version is the only one globally that does not support physical SIM cards.

However, for the Chinese version of the iPhone 17 Air, the presence of the SIM card slot is a major issue for its release. Apple China's official website indicates that iPhones in mainland China do not support eSIM.

Edison Lee, the Head of Technology, Telecom, and Software research at the well-known investment bank Jefferies Financial, explained that currently, telecom operators in mainland China do not support mobile eSIM because this system may prevent operators from verifying the identity of each user, and regulatory requirements mandate a real-name registration system for each mobile user. Therefore, apart from Apple Watch and iPad, telecom companies generally do not support eSIM.

At the same time, integrating eSIM also requires telecom operators to invest in system upgrades. Therefore, for Apple, a more feasible approach may be to find ways to force engineers to fit the SIM card tray into the Chinese version of the iPhone 17 Air.

In addition to the SIM card slot, the latest report also reveals that to pursue extreme thinness, the iPhone 17 Air has made a series of compromises in its configuration.

For example, the iPhone 17 Air will only have one earpiece speaker, while current iPhones have a second speaker at the bottom of the phone. This new phone will also adopt a 'single camera' configuration, which features a 'large and central raised' design.

Reports also indicate that this new phone will be among the first iPhones to use Apple's self-developed 5G modem, which performs better in energy consumption but cannot match the performance of Qualcomm's 5G chips and also does not support mmWave 5G. This phone will still use the 5G Sub-6GHz band, so the speed can still rival other non-mmWave devices.

Insiders mentioned that Apple's modem has lower peak speeds and slightly less reliability in maintaining connections with cellular networks. In addition, Apple's in-house modem does not support mmWave, which was a technology introduced with the iPhone 12 that enables higher cellular network speeds in certain areas.

The report also cited multiple sources as saying that Apple engineers found it 'difficult to fit the battery and heat dissipation materials into the device.' Given the compromises in various aspects of this model, battery capacity and battery life will naturally be the focus of investors and consumers next year.