News that doesn’t come as a surprise at all, the iPhone 17 Air will feature Apple’s A19 Pro chip but with a slight disadvantage.
iPhone 17 Air will Feature A19 Pro Chip with 5-Core GPU – Pro Models to Feature 6-Core GPU
According to leaks and rumors, the A19 Pro chip will have a 6-core GPU, and that chip will be found in the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max.
However, when it comes to the thinner iPhone 17 Air, it will ship with a 5-core GPU, according to leaker Fixed Focus Digital.
This practice is nothing new at all, and Apple uses binned chips in devices all the time, even in the iPhone 16e which comes with one less GPU core compared to iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus.
While that may sound like a huge deal, in real-world tests, it means nothing at all, and the average user won’t ever notice a thing.
However, there is one thing that has me excited.
The leak says that the iPhone 17 Air will have the A19 Pro chip, and not the plain A19, which means it will be a better chip out of the box anyway.
If you feel disappointed with this news, don’t be at all. Such things don’t affect the way a device functions, and you’ll find devices with binned chips from Apple all the time.
Even when you buy the base model MacBook Air, you get a chip with fewer GPU cores compared to the upper-tier models.
I know a lot of news outlets will make this sound like the worst thing there is, but it isn’t. Your camera, social media, web browsing activity, and even AI performance will remain unaffected by one less GPU core.
In terms of battery life, the iPhone 17 Air isn’t going to be a winner, and will rely on software to get the user through the day. This is one area that genuinely has me concerned.
But, if Apple is going for its own C1 modem, then there is a chance the iPhone 17 Air will easily keep up with day-to-day use and deliver average battery life.
