The iPhone 17 Air could be first in line for this cutting-edge display technology

Going slimmer

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If the leaks to date are to be believed, theiPhone 16 Pluswill be replaced by theiPhone 17 Air, and the latest rumor coming out ofApple’s supply chain is that the 2025 flagship phone will have an upgraded display attached.

According to the usually well-informedDigiTimes(via9to5Mac), Taiwanese display manufacturer Novatek could start mass production of its next-genOLEDscreens during the second quarter of 2025 (April, May, and June).

These OLED screens are said to come with TDDI (Touch and Display Driver Integration) technology built in, which means the same chip handles both output and touch input – which then means thinner and more efficient screens.

And the first customer for these thinner, more efficient screens? Apple, quite possibly, according to DigiTimes. The link is described as “speculation” at this point, but the timings would match – and so would the introduction of a slimmer iPhone model.

The iPhone 17 story so far

Besides the possibility of a thinner and lighter iPhone 17 Air (or Slim), we don’t know too much about the handsets coming next year. It’s still early days of course: ouriPhone 16 reviewhasn’t been up for long, after the series was unveiled last month.

We have heard that theiPhone 17could arrive with another new button – or rather, that the Action button and the volume buttons could becombined into one, at least on the Pro and Pro Max versions of next year’s handsets.

As for the two non-Pro models, they willapparently get screen upgradesthat enable an always-on display option, as well as a variable refresh rate for smoother animations and transitions (on top of the other display upgrade covered above).

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It could be the iPhone 17 Pro Max that gets the most updates, however: we’ve heard thatit’s going to come withmore RAM, enhanced on-device AI capabilities, and an upgraded cooling system to further boost performance.

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Dave is a freelance tech journalist who has been writing about gadgets, apps and the web for more than two decades. Based out of Stockport, England, on TechRadar you’ll find him covering news, features and reviews, particularly for phones, tablets and wearables. Working to ensure our breaking news coverage is the best in the business over weekends, David also has bylines at Gizmodo, T3, PopSci and a few other places besides, as well as being many years editing the likes of PC Explorer and The Hardware Handbook.

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