Ever since Jony Ive left the building, Apple's hardware design has felt... heavy. For a few years there, we actually got thicker phones. It was a weird era for a company that once obsessed over "shaving off every millimetre." But honestly? When you look at the trajectory for the upcoming cycles, the memo inside Cupertino has clearly changed. If you’re trying to understand the philosophy used to design the next iPhone, you have to look at the iPad Pro M4. That device was a manifesto. It was Apple proving they could make something impossibly thin without it snapping like a twig.
Rumors are swirling about an "iPhone 17 Air" or "Slim." Whatever they call it, the goal is basically the same: making the phone a slab of glass that feels like nothing in your pocket.
People think designing a phone is just about sketching a pretty rectangle. It’s not. It’s a brutal war between the industrial designers who want a "perfect object" and the thermal engineers who are terrified the thing will melt. When Apple engineers set out to design the next iPhone, they aren't just looking at the screen. They're looking at the motherboard. They’re looking at how to shrink the logic board because, quite frankly, we’ve hit a wall with battery chemistry.
The Physics of Thin: Why Less is More (and Harder)
Apple is currently stuck in a bit of a "thermal sandwich." To design the next iPhone to be significantly thinner, they have to move away from the current copper-foil heat sinks. There’s a lot of talk about using resin-coated copper (RCC) foils. It’s thinner. It’s lighter. But it’s also brittle. If you drop a phone with an RCC motherboard, does the connection shatter? That’s the $1,000 question.
You’ve probably noticed the iPhone 16 Pro models got slightly bigger screens. 6.3 inches and 6.9 inches. That wasn't just for "bigger is better" marketing. They needed the internal volume. If you want to keep the "Pro" camera system—that massive periscope lens for 5x zoom—you need physical depth.
This is why the "Slim" model is such a fascinating pivot. To get that ultra-thin chassis, Apple will likely have to sacrifice the camera. Imagine a flagship iPhone in 2025 or 2026 that only has one lens. It sounds crazy. It sounds like a regression. But Apple has done this before. Remember the original MacBook Air? It had one USB port and a slow hard drive. It was "bad" on paper, but it changed how every laptop looked for the next decade.
Material Science and the End of Titanium?
Titanium was the big story for the 15 Pro. It felt premium. It was light. But for the next generation, Apple is looking at "shaping" the metal in ways titanium doesn't like. Aluminum is making a comeback in the high-end rumors. Why? Because it’s easier to mill into complex, thin structures.
If you're wondering how they’ll keep it from bending—the ghost of the iPhone 6 Plus still haunts the halls of Infinite Loop—the answer lies in the internal "rib" structure. Apple has been filing patents for years on "internal structural members" that use high-strength alloys in specific stress points. Basically, they're building a roll cage inside your phone.
Solving the Screen Hole Problem
Let's talk about the Dynamic Island. We all love it, or we’ve at least learned to tolerate it. But the ultimate goal when they design the next iPhone is a "single sheet of glass." No cutouts. No islands. Just pixels.
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Under-display Face ID is the holy grail. Ross Young, a supply chain expert with a scary-accurate track record, has pointed to 2025 or 2026 as the year the sensors finally go behind the OLED panel. It’s a nightmare to pull off. You have to make the screen transparent enough for the infrared camera to "see" your face, but opaque enough so you don't see the camera lens staring back at you. If the light transmission isn't perfect, Face ID gets slow or insecure. Apple won't ship it until it's as fast as the current version.
- The front-facing camera will likely stay in a "hole" for longer than the sensors.
- Microlens arrays (MLA) are being used to boost brightness without killing the battery.
- The borders? They're getting thinner. We’re talking 1.1mm bezels.
When the bezels get that thin, you start running into "ghost touches." Your palm hits the edge of the screen just by holding the phone. To fix this, Apple's software team has to write increasingly complex rejection algorithms. It’s a dance between hardware and software that most people never think about.
The Button Revolution (or Lack Thereof)
Remember the "Solid State" button rumors? They were supposed to happen with the 15. Then the 16. Now we're looking at the 17.
When Apple tries to design the next iPhone without moving parts, they run into a haptic problem. To make a fake button feel like a real button, you need a Taptic Engine. Those take up space. A lot of it. If you’re trying to make a "Slim" iPhone, do you really want to fill the inside with magnets and motors just to simulate a click?
Right now, the "Camera Control" on the iPhone 16 is a middle ground. It's a button, but it's also a capacitive surface. It's a bridge. The future is likely a completely seamless rail. No holes in the frame means better water resistance and better structural integrity. It also means if your software freezes, you can't "hard reset" the phone with a physical click. That's a terrifying prospect for the "what if" engineers.
Battery: The Final Frontier
We’ve basically reached the limit of Lithium-ion. To design the next iPhone with better life and a thinner profile, Apple is leaning heavily into custom-designed battery cells. They aren't just buying off-the-shelf parts from suppliers. They are designing the chemical composition.
There's a move toward stainless steel battery casings. It sounds counter-intuitive—steel is heavy—but a steel casing allows for "higher energy density." You can pack the cells tighter because the casing is stronger and thinner than the traditional foil pouches. This allows for a 5-10% increase in capacity in the same physical footprint. It’s a game of millimeters.
Apple’s Modern Dilemma: Pro vs. Aesthetic
There is a divide happening in the lineup. For a long time, the "best" iPhone was also the most powerful. But as they design the next iPhone, Apple is realizing that a huge segment of users doesn't care about "ProRes" video or "Pro Raw" photos. They care about how the phone feels in their hand. They want the "Lamborghini" of phones—something that looks fast and sleek, even if it doesn't have the most trunk space.
This is why we’re seeing a shift toward a three-tier system:
- The Entry: The standard iPhone. Good enough for most.
- The Pro: The brick. Huge cameras, huge battery, heavy.
- The Design Lead: The ultra-slim. The most expensive, but perhaps less "powerful" in terms of zoom lenses.
This would be a massive shift in how Apple sells the iPhone. Usually, the most expensive one is the one with the most features. But in the world of high-end design, "less" is often priced as "more."
Actionable Insights for the Future-Proof Buyer
If you’re looking at the current market and wondering when to jump in, here is the reality of iPhone design cycles.
Wait if you hate the "Island": If you want that "all-screen" look, you need to hold out for at least another two years. The technology for under-display Face ID is in the "validation" phase, but it's not ready for mass production yet.
Buy now if you want a tank: The current iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max are likely the peak of the "big and heavy" era. If you value battery life and camera reach over pocketability, these are the models to get. As Apple moves toward the "Slim" design language, the Pro models will likely be forced to thin out too, which could mean smaller physical battery sizes in the short term.
Watch the SE: The next iPhone SE is expected to adopt the iPhone 14 design. This is important because it sets the "floor" for Apple's design. Once the SE has an OLED screen and Face ID, the flagship models must move significantly further ahead to justify their price.
Designing the next iPhone isn't about adding a faster chip anymore. It's about solving the physics of the "disappearing" device. Apple wants the technology to get out of the way. They want you to feel like you're just holding a window to the internet. We're closer than we've ever been, but the trade-offs—in battery, in camera, and in price—are going to be the biggest we've seen in a decade.
Keep an eye on the supply chain reports from Ming-Chi Kuo and Jeff Pu. They are the ones watching the factory orders for those resin-coated copper foils. When those orders spike, you’ll know the "Ultra-Thin" era has officially arrived.
Prepare your wallet. Slimming down has never been cheap.
Next Steps to Prepare for the New Designs:
- Audit your charging setup: As phones get thinner, Apple is pushing harder for MagSafe-only futures. If you haven't invested in a good Qi2 or MagSafe puck, now is the time to start transitioning away from cables.
- Check your cloud storage: Thinner designs often lead to smaller local storage options to save internal space, or at least a higher price premium for them. If you’re a local storage hoarder, start getting comfortable with iCloud or Google Photos.
- Re-evaluate your case needs: If Apple moves to a single-lens "Slim" model, your current accessories will be instantly obsolete. Don't buy expensive multi-year accessory kits right now if you plan on upgrading in 2025.