Analyst tips iPhone 17 Slim launch for 2025 alongside other big lineup changes

Apple has only been selling the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro lineups for a few months and we're still a long way from the company announcing the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro. But that hasn't stopped some people from turning their attention to the next iteration of the wildly popular smartphone and if we're looking into 2025, the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro will be the nig news of the year. Now, a new report suggest that Apple intends to make some big changes to that lineup compared to the ones that came before it.

A Haitong International Securities analyst Jeff Pu research note, reported on by 9to5Mac, suggests that Apple intends to ditch the iPhone 16 Plus in September 2025 and replace it with not another Plus, but a Slim. If the report is accurate, the 2025 lineup will include the iPHone 17, iPhone 17 Slim, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max.

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That change brings with it more tweaks, including display size. Pu believes that the iPhone 17 Slim will have a 6.6-inch display which is smaller than the iPhone 16 Plus' expected 6.7-inch display. It's also thought that it will be thin, hence the name, too.

Pu also believes that the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Slim, and iPhone 17 Pro will all feature an aluminum design that is "more complex." He also notes that the move to the new aluminum construction for the iPhone 17 Pro will leave the iPhone 17 Pro Max as the only model to maintain the titanium construction that the Pro models are expected to stick with this September.

That will mean that the iPhone 17 Pro Max will stand above the other models in terms of the materials used, but there will be another tweak as well. Pu believes that Apple will use a new metalens technology to make the size of the Face ID sensor smaller, allowing it to reduce the overall size of the iPhone 17 Pro Max's dynamic island. The rest of the lineup will remain untouched, though.

Finally, Pu believes that all four iPhone 17 models will feature upgraded 24-megapixel selfie cameras and that the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max will boast 12GB of RAM and a new A19 Pro chip. Those buying an iPhone 17 or iPhone 17 Slim will have to make do with 8GB of RAM and either an A18 or A19 chip, we're told.