The iPhone 17 Pro looks chunky in the latest leak, but it could still sell better than the sleek iPhone 17 Air

• Photos of iPhone 17 Air and iPhone 17 Pro dummy units have leaked
• Going by these images, the iPhone 17 Pro looks large and chunky
• Despite having a sleeker design, the iPhone 17 Air is predicted to not sell as well

We’re still months away from the likely September launch of the iPhone 17 series, but we’ve already seen many images purported to show dummy units of these phones, giving us a good idea of their possible designs.

The latest such images have been shared by leaker Majin Bu, who’s posted images said to show an iPhone 17 Air dummy unit and an iPhone 17 Pro one.

They don’t really show us anything that earlier leaks haven’t already, but you can see that the iPhone 17 Air looks quite sleek, while the iPhone 17 Pro has a huge camera bump, and looks like it might be larger than the iPhone 16 Pro, which it’s shown next to in one image.

As ever, we’d take these images with a pinch of salt, as while these dummy units could be based on official information there’s no guarantee of that. However, they do match up with previous leaks, and, going by most of the leaks we’ve seen so far, the iPhone 17 Air arguably looks more visually appealing than the Pro. But that might not translate into better sales.

Substance over style

According to Apple watcher Mark Gurman in his latest newsletter for Bloomberg (via PhoneArena) the iPhone 17 Air is unlikely to “set any sales records”. That doesn’t mean it will be a failure – Gurman predicts that it will outsell Apple’s Plus and mini models, but he expects the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max will prove the most popular.

That’s not particularly surprising though. Apple’s Pro handsets tend to outsell the other iPhone models, and while the iPhone 17 Air may well be the most stylish of the iPhone 17 series, it will probably be far from the best when it comes to specs.

Leaks have suggested that the iPhone 17 Air will have just one rear camera, for example, and there are also concerns over how good its battery life will be, given the likely very limited space for a battery.

Coupled with a probably fairly high price, the iPhone 17 Air could be a tough sell for anyone who cares about specs as much as design.

We probably won’t find out exactly how capable or popular the iPhone 17 Air is until September; but, given how extensively it and the other iPhone 17 models have already leaked, we’d expect to learn lots more unofficially in the meantime.