The mysterious “iPhone 17 Slim” may not be as thin as Apple originally hoped for after the company allegedly ran into engineering difficulties with new battery materials that would have made the device as thin as 6mm, reads a new rumor from the Korean blog Naver.
According to the user “yeux1122,” who has often supplied accurate information about Apple’s roadmap, Apple was testing thinner substrates with new materials and technologies that would have allowed for thinner and denser batteries on the iPhone 17 Slim. The examined materials no longer appear feasible, forcing Apple to retreat from adopting them and go with traditional materials found on the batteries of today’s iPhone models.
The new materials would’ve allowed Apple to pack a denser battery into the rumored ultra-thin design of the iPhone 17 Slim. With this development, the iPhone 17 Slim will no longer achieve its reported original thickness goal of around 6mm. Apple could also be forced to sacrifice the device’s battery capacity compared to high-end iPhone models to achieve a thin design.
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Samsung is also rumored to be developing a competing Galaxy S25 Slim model, and the Korean giant also ran into the same problems as Apple. Both devices are now expected to be thicker than originally anticipated to fit in larger batteries using less dense materials.
The iPhone 17 Slim is rumored to be a completely new iPhone design replacing the Plus model, which has continued to generate less-than-expected sales. In addition to a super-slim design, the device is expected to pack a 6.55-inch display, a non-Pro A19 chip, and a single-rear camera. Apple is willing to sacrifice certain high-end features to achieve the rumored super-slim design, with lower-end specs than the iPhone 17 Pro.
