TECHnalysis Research president Bob O'Donnell writes columns for the Tech section of USAToday.com and those columns are posted here.
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September 10, 2025
By Bob O'Donnell
If you’re an iPhone fan, you can’t help but have noticed that the last few years of new iPhone introductions have all looked pretty darn similar. Sure, the technology inside has changed and improved, but from a physical perspective, the overall shape and form factor really hasn’t. Thankfully, after Tuesday’s big Apple product announcement event, things are now very different.
After enduring a stifling sea of sameness in the basic design of the iPhone since the iPhone X, Apple’s new line of iPhone 17s finally brings a very diverse and distinctive breadth of offerings to people looking for an iPhone.
The big attention getter at the event was the highly rumored iPhone Air, which shrinks the thickness of the phone down to just 5.64 mm (versus 7.95 mm for the new iPhone 17 and 8.75 mm for the iPhone 17 Pro/Pro Max). While the 2.3mm difference between the standard iPhone 17 and the iPhone Air might not sound like much on paper, in your hand it feels (and looks) dramatically different. Toss in the fact that even with a screen that’s 0.2” larger, the Air is also almost a half-ounce lighter than the 17, and, well, you will definitely notice.
On the other hand, the new iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max models have a camera island that stretches across the entire top, back side of the phone as well as a new unibody frame that makes the phones feel both more robust and larger than their predecessors.
From iPhone Air to iPhone 17 Pro Max: What these new models mean
The net result is three new, very distinct iPhone designs that not only make the various models easier to tell apart but also make the experience of using them very different. This is much more important than it might initially sound. As much as many of us like to geek out over the improved internals, for most people, it’s the overall feel of the device that becomes most relevant, especially over several years of regular usage. In that regard, Apple’s latest models are a big departure and, in my view, a big step forward.
Of course, there’s a lot more to smartphones than their physical feel, and it turns out that Apple had to make quite a few big internal changes to achieve these designs. In the case of the iPhone Air, the company squeezed all the main components into the “bump” at the back of the phone that houses the camera. In order to do that, the company had to rely on more of its own internally developed chips.
iPhone Air
Specifically, the Air leverages a new version of Apple’s modem called the C1X that the company claims offers 2x the performance throughput (i.e., theoretical download speeds) versus the previous version, as well as a new N1 networking chip for WiFi and Bluetooth, and a specialized version of the A19 PRO main processor.
iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max
For the Pro and Pro Max, the company created a new vapor chamber for dispensing heat evenly across the phone, allowing the A19 PRO processor to run at higher speeds (which generate higher temperatures). This is typically something you only find in high-end gaming PCs, so it’s interesting to see Apple leverage this kind of technology to maximize performance on these new devices.
The big questions that Apple will face with these new designs is whether the changes are enough to trigger more than the typical refresh rate, or whether some of the tradeoffs needed to make these changes might work against them. From a pure technology specs perspective, it’s easy to argue that this year’s new models offer relatively modest improvements, just as the generations before them have. But are the physical changes compelling enough?
For people eager to get their hands on a slimmer, easier to hold device, the iPhone Air is going to feel like a godsend. It’s even a touch thinner than a similarly slim design in the S25 Edge (5.8 mm) that Samsung introduced earlier this year. It’s not as thin as the new Samsung Galaxy Fold 7 when it’s unfolded (just 4.54 mm), but I think that Apple’s efforts with the Air are the first step towards an Apple foldable that many have predicted will come next year.
At the same time, the iPhone Air’s design limits it to only one physical camera on the back of the phone (though it supports both regular and telephoto modes), a smaller battery (Apple’s specs say it has 27 hours of video playback versus 30 on the regular iPhone 17) and a thinner frame that some people might worry could be too fragile. Apple tackled that point head on, however, saying it was the most durable iPhone they’ve produced to date. Still, questions will undoubtedly remain.
In the case of the Pro and Pro Max, the larger camera island could make those devices harder to hold than previous versions.
As always, individual consumers will have to figure out which options are best suited for their needs and choose accordingly. At least with this latest batch of iPhones, Apple has made those options much more distinctive and has finally brought some interesting physical variety to the market.
Here’s a link to the original column: https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnists/2025/09/10/apple-new-iphone-17-designs/86067693007/
USA TODAY columnist Bob O'Donnell is the president and chief analyst of TECHnalysis Research, a market research and consulting firm. You can follow him on Twitter @bobodtech. |
