iPhone 17 Air Almost Ditched USB-C

Mark Gurman of Bloomberg reports that Apple nearly removed the USB-C port from the upcoming iPhone 17 Air in favor of an ultra-thin design.

Had Apple gone through with the decision, charging would have been limited to MagSafe and Qi, while data transfer would rely solely on AirDrop or cloud services. However, the company scrapped the idea, reportedly due to potential pushback from European regulators—the same ones who mandated USB-C as the universal charging standard.

The iPhone 17 Air is expected to be the thinnest iPhone ever, measuring just 5.5mm compared to the current iPhone 16’s 7.8mm. Engineers faced significant challenges in designing a slimmer device with a thinner battery while maintaining battery life.

Apple will unveil the iPhone 17 Air at its September Apple Event.