According to Korean publication The Elec, next year’s iPhone 17 and the all-new iPhone 17 Air will not have a 5x optical zoom lens. The report states that the tetraprism camera system, which supports 5x optical zoom, will remain exclusive to Pro models in next year’s iPhone lineup, meaning it will only be available on the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max. Of course, this is not surprising since the iPhone 17 Air is expected to be quite thin.

The tetraprism camera system on the iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max features a “foldable” design that allows it to fit inside smartphones, providing up to 5x optical zoom and up to 25x digital zoom. . The smaller devices iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 14 Pro, and iPhone 14 Pro Max are limited to 3x optical zoom.

The standard iPhone 16 offers up to 2x optical zoom, so at least the iPhone 17 should too. However, the zoom features of the iPhone 17 Air are still unclear because the device is said to have only one 48-megapixel primary camera.

Rumors about the iPhone 17 Air are still mixed. The device may be the thinnest iPhone ever, but some of its features are missing compared to the Pro models, making it difficult to make a purchasing decision. In other words, if you want a great iPhone with a new thin design, there will be compromises.

There are conflicting rumors about the design and specifications of the iPhone 17 Air, but most sources agree that it will have a screen around 6.6 inches. In July, Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said he expected the device to have a standard A19 chip, Dynamic Island, a single rear camera and an Apple-designed 5G modem.

This means that the iPhone 17 Air will have a fairly large screen, but the 6.9-inch iPhone 17 Pro Max will still be larger. The device will undoubtedly perform better with the A19 chip, but the iPhone 17 Pro models will have the better A19 Pro chip. A single camera could put the device on par with the iPhone SE in terms of photography.

Meanwhile, the iPhone 17 Air may be one of the first devices to feature an Apple-designed 5G modem, but it is unclear whether it will have a significant consumer advantage over the Qualcomm modems expected to be used in the iPhone 17 Pro models. With all that said, Apple’s cellular future will be revealed in this device, not in its flagship Pro models.