The ultra-slim iPhone 17 is exactly the kind of risk Apple needs to take

As we hear more about this new iPhone 17, it's starting to sound like a bold experiment from a typically reserved company.

We’re still more than a month from the unveiling of the iPhone 16, and already iPhone 17 rumors are stirring up. The most interesting of these is probably the phone some are taking to calling “iPhone 17 Slim,” a new ultra-slim model that seems to break from a lot of the iPhone tradition of recent years. It’s a departure from the normal lineup and it’s something of a gamble for the world’s biggest phone maker.

We don’t even know that it’s going to actually be called “iPhone 17” at all–it could take a page out of the iPhone SE playbook and carry a numberless name like “iPhone Air” that gets a new “generation” every year or two. But whatever Apple calls it, the product priorities and positioning make it a big switch from the usual.

What we know (and don’t know) so far

According to the latest and most reliable rumors, the iPhone 17 lineup will not have an iPhone 17 Plus. There will be an iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, and this new ultra-slim iPhone 17. That’s not terribly surprising, since all reports indicate that the Plus model hasn’t been selling as well as the Pro models.

We’ve heard conflicting reports about this new phone’s price, with some saying it will cost about what you’d expect an iPhone 17 Plus to cost (around $899) and others saying it will cost more than an iPhone 17 Pro Max (as much as $1,299). Either way, Apple is taking its least popular model out of the iPhone lineup and replacing it with this one.

Regardless of where it fits in the lineup price-wise, however, the ultra-slim iPhone is shaping up to be a real departure in design. We don’t know how much slimmer it will be, but it’s supposed to be significantly skinnier, not just a few percent. The screen will be large at 6.6 inches, falling between the standard and “Pro Max” sizes. The Dynamic Island is said to be smaller, but more or less just like what you’ll find on the iPhones coming this fall, so no great leap there.

Certainly with a super-thin body and a smaller size than the iPhone 17 Pro Max, it’s going to be lightweight. But that also means less room for battery, and maybe other internal components as well. One wonders if there will be compromises to the speakers for haptics, for example. And get this: It’s reportedly going to have the same A19 processor as the base iPhone 17, not the higher-end A19 Pro. And maybe only one rear camera, the main Wide camera!

Of course, there’s plenty we don’t know, too. Apple could employ some unique new hardware that none of the other iPhones have, like some sort of new display or battery technology. And of course, there’s always the possibility for software enhancements that are exclusive to this model.

On the surface, though, the pitch is odd: Would you pay more for a phone that is less capable but skinnier?

Why it’s a gamble, but not a huge one

Apple seems to be banking on the fact that yes, there are enough customers who will pay more for a significantly slimmer iPhone even if it has noticeably worse capabilities than even the base iPhone 17. This is at odds with the feedback we usually see online, in which Apple fans seem to wish the company would just add a touch more thickness in order to stuff more battery into its devices.

It may not be a foolish gamble on Apple’s part, though. Typically, the iPhone 17 Plus has been the least popular of the four models, with new iPhone buyers tending to opt for the cheapest model (the base iPhone 17, for example) or spring for the higher-priced Pro features. The Plus models are stuck in the awkward middle, satisfying neither the budget-conscious nor feature-chasing users. Apple doesn’t release sales numbers, but most analysts peg the Plus model at around 10 percent of the iPhone market or less.

If Apple is pricing the new Slim model higher, with seemingly a hefty margin given that it has the lower-end chip and a single rear camera, it doesn’t need to sell very many of them to perform at least as well as an iPhone 17 Plus would. In fact, if the margin is a little better than the Plus and the price is higher, the iPhone 17 Slim could account for just 1 in 20 iPhone sales (5 percent) and perform just as well as the current iPhone Plus.

And at least, unlike the Plus, the Slim/Air/Whatever would have something going for it. It wouldn’t be a middle-priced iPhone that is not the most anything—not the cheapest, not the biggest, not the fastest, not the most full-featured—but this rumored phone would at least be able to say “This is a new unique stylish design you can’t get in any other iPhone.” And while that may not be worth a premium to you or me, there are plenty of people who wouldn’t want any other model.

We’re still more than a year away from Apple actually announcing the existence of an ultra-slim new iPhone 17 model, so there’s lots of time for rumors to swirl and plans to change. It may never even come to market. But it’s exciting to see Apple do new things, take some risks, and try things out. Taking the problematic middle-child Plus model out of the line to make room for something different is a smart move, and I’d love to see Apple apply the same ethos to other less-popular products.