Don’t hold your breath waiting to see a 5x optical zoom lens on the 2025 iPhone 17 and “iPhone 17 Air,” because it’s not going to happen, says a report from Korean publication The Elec (via 9to5Mac).
The report says the tetraprism camera system that enables the 5x optical zoom feature will remain an exclusive on the Pro and Pro Max models (the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max).
It makes sense that the base model iPhone 17 won’t sport a 5X optical zoom shooter, as its the base iPhone model. An the iPhone 17 Air is rumored to be the thinnest iPhone ever, so there may simply not be enough room inside the Air for the lens.
The tetraprism camera system has a “folded” design that allows it to fit inside the he iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max, while providing up to 5x optical zoom and up to 25x digital zoom on those devices.
Apple industry analyst Jeff Pu said he agrees with a recent rumor claiming that the 2025 “iPhone 17 Air” will be around 6mm thick.
As you might expect, there have been conflicting rumors floating around the rumor bowl, but most rumormongers agree that the new iPhone will boast a 6.6-inch display, be powered by an A19 chip, a Dynamic Island, a single rear-facing camera, and an Apple-produced 5G modem. The new iPhone 17 Air is also said to be equipped with 8GB or RAM for Apple Intelligence.
The iPhone 17 Air will likely debut in September 2025, so we have quite a few months and quite a few rumors ahead of us.