iPhone 17 Air: Limited GPU performance – and rumors about display problem
According to a Chinese leaker, Apple's iPhone Plus successor could have a reduced GPU core count. There are also discussions about the built-in display.
Reading an iPhone package: What's inside?
(Image: valiantsin suprunovich/Shutterstock)
The iPhone 17 Air is likely to be the most striking new Apple smartphone this year, primarily because the manufacturer is planning a new form factor for its iPhone range for the first time in years. The device is to be particularly thin and light, have only one camera, and presumably a relatively small battery. The 17 Air is intended as the successor to the iPhone 16 Plus, which apparently sold only mediocrely. New details about the internal hardware have now been leaked. They concern the CPU used and the display.
“Binning” version of the A19 Pro
The Chinese leaker Fixed Focus Digital claims that Apple will install a reduced-performance A19 Pro. The system-on-a-chip (SoC) will be equipped with five instead of six graphics cores. The Pro models, on the other hand, have the full number of GPUs. The 17 Air would therefore receive a “binning” version of the A19 Pro. These are SoCs in which cores have been deactivated for yield reasons. The purpose of binning is apparently to avoid thermal problems.
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However, there was already another rumor beforehand: that the 17 Air would only receive an A19, a basically slimmed-down version of the A19 Pro, which Apple is also planning for the standard iPhone 17. The information came from well-known analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. It is already clear that Apple is focusing primarily on a thin device for the 17 Air, not on high-performance aspects. These are still reserved for the 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max.
Will Apple have a BOE issue?
When it comes to the display of the iPhone 17 Air, there is new information about the manufacturer. Apparently, not only Samsung Display and LG Display will be working for Apple from South Korea, but also the Chinese manufacturer BOE. The information comes from the financial services provider Meritz Securities Korea, according to X. This could prove to be a problem for Apple: The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) has initiated proceedings against BOE, which could end with BOE components being banned from import for several years. According to Samsung, BOE infringes various OLED patents held by the South Koreans.
Apple had initially stated that there were no BOE components in the company's products for the USA, but the statement applied to existing hardware, not new hardware. According to Meritz Securities Korea, BOE displays are not only in the 17 Air but also in the standard iPhone 17, at least some of which could also be intended for the US market. At worst, Apple would then face delivery issues during the important Christmas sales period.
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