The iPhone 17 Air might be much more powerful than expected
Image credit — Fpt.
Apple might use a version of the A19 Pro chipset to power the iPhone 17 Air. The ultra-slim flagship might get the same chip as the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max, but with fewer graphics cores.
So far, Apple’s strategy has been to use the Pro version of its mobile chipsets only on the Pro iPhone models, while the base iPhones use the non-Pro silicon. There have been conflicting rumors about the approach with the upcoming ultra-slim flagship, though.
According to a Weibo post(source in Chinese) by leaker Fixed Focus Digital, only the vanilla iPhone 17 may use the base A19 chip. That might also be the only model in the upcoming lineup with 8GB RAM.
Conflicting reports
Whether the iPhone 17 Air will feature an A19 or A19 Pro chipset is a long-running question with an unclear answer. Some of the most recent rumors claimed that the 17 Air might have a base A19 chipset, while the vanilla iPhone 17 would use the same A18 chip as the iPhone 16.
This new leak claims the iPhone 17 lineup might feature the following specs:
- iPhone 17 – A19 chip with 8GB RAM
- iPhone 17 Air – A19 Pro chip with 5-core GPU and 12GB RAM
- iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max – A19 Pro chip with 6-core GPU and 12GB RAM
All this information should be taken with a grain of salt, not only because of the conflicting reports, but also because of the reputation of the leaker. The accuracy of Fixed Focus Digital hasn’t always been the best, though they have been correct about some details in the past.
On the other hand, that wouldn’t be the first time Apple has differentiated a mobile chip in such a way. The iPhone 16e features a slightly different A18 chipset with a 4-core GPU, while the iPhone 16 has the standard A18 silicon with a 5-core GPU.
I think Apple will equip the iPhone 17 Air with the best possible hardware, which in this case is an A19 Pro chipset with 12GB RAM. Samsung didn’t hold back on that front with the Galaxy S25 Edge, and it appears that Apple’s ultra-slim phone does everything in the same way, down to the color options.
