Final month, Apple launched the iOS 26 developer beta, letting testers check out upcoming options earlier than the OS launches this fall. As anticipated, the early code references unreleased Apple merchandise, corresponding to what seems to be the AirTag 2 and AirPods Professional 3.
That’s not all! A more in-depth take a look at iOS 26’s user-facing modifications means that an iPhone 17 Air is coming later this yr.
Liquid Glass design
Apple has lengthy envisioned its excellent smartphone to resemble a modern glass slab; it could dispose of the display bezels and visual sensor cutouts. Whereas the iPhone 17 Air received’t undertake this flawless look, it’s anticipated to provoke the subsequent important {hardware} evolution.
For starters, the ultra-thin iPhone could possibly be solely 5.5mm thick. This might crown it because the slimmest iPhone but—and doubtlessly the lightest. {Hardware} modifications on their very own, nonetheless, will not be enough to execute a really elegant look.
iOS 26 will energy the iPhone 17 Air out of the field, and the working system’s recent person interface is ready for the massive second. Liquid Glass is Apple’s newest design language and OS 26’s most notable spotlight. As its identify suggests, the UI now mimics versatile glass materials that closely depends on translucency and refraction.
Liquid Glass is seen throughout the whole system, together with the Lock Display, app icons, widgets, alerts, notifications, menus, navigation bars, and extra. Regardless of it being a primary developer beta, interacting with it has made my iPhone really feel extra trendy than ever, and it’ll solely get extra fluid with the subsequent builds.
Paired with the iPhone 17 Air’s rumored type issue, Liquid Glass is certain to make the expertise appear extra futuristic.
Simplified Digital camera app
One other design change that hints at an Air iPhone 17 variant is the revamped Digital camera app. With iOS 26, Apple has hidden a lot of the capturing modes and choices to simplify the more and more cramped structure. The iPhone 17 Air will reportedly launch with a single rear lens, and, naturally, it’ll miss out on among the digital camera options supplied by the higher-end iPhone fashions—corresponding to spatial and ProRes recording.
Most iPhone 17 Air prospects will probably use the digital camera to shoot common, on a regular basis pictures and movies. It’s not meant to match the Professional iPhone digital camera system’s superior high quality and perks. And that’s precisely what iOS 26’s overhauled Digital camera app presents—the essential photograph and video capturing modes.
Foundry
Adaptive Energy Mode
One of many essential drawbacks with extra-slim smartphones is their smaller batteries, and the iPhone 17 Air will probably be no completely different. Whereas iOS is a comparatively energy-efficient OS, dropping the battery’s capability, as one would possibly count on, will lower the utilization time. To mitigate its impression, iOS 26 brings an all-new Adaptive Energy Mode that goals to extend battery life.
For these unfamiliar, the normal Low Energy Mode throttles your iPhone’s efficiency and kills sure background actions to save lots of vitality. It’s too irritating to maintain on always, because the iPhone’s sluggishness turns into shortly noticeable. However, Adaptive Energy Mode makes smaller changes to your iPhone’s efficiency primarily based on how you utilize it. Its impression is supposedly subtler, making it a viable choice to carry on always.
Battery Intelligence
Given the shorter battery life, 17 Air customers would possibly must cost their iPhones greater than as soon as a day. To make the charging cycle extra predictable, iOS 26 introduces a long-overdue function dubbed Battery Intelligence. It presents the estimated charging period to achieve 80% (then 100%) when linked to a charger. It will simplify planning and assist customers keep away from going out earlier than their batteries are totally charged.
Foundry
Simpler mic choice
Different potential iPhone 17 Air shortcomings will embrace fewer {hardware} parts. Past the lacking ultra-wide and telephoto lenses, the ultra-slim cellphone might pack inferior audio system and microphones. Happily, iOS 26 makes it simpler to depend on AirPods as devoted microphones and change between completely different audio enter gadgets. It will assist informal content material creators bypass the built-in mics and shoot movies that don’t essentially sound muffled.
Foundry
Versatile apps
Lastly, the iOS 26 SDK helps versatile app UIs that routinely adapt to new display sizes. When Apple launches recent {hardware} with distinctive dimensions, third-party apps will not get letterboxed. As an alternative, the system will optimize their home windows to match the brand new shows by default. Whereas this transformation might primarily be getting ready for foldable iDevices, the iPhone 17 Air will reportedly launch a brand new 6.6-inch dimension. So, apps up to date for iOS 26 ought to look nice on day one—even when the devs haven’t particularly constructed them for the iPhone 17 Air.
A brand new interface for a brand new period
Apple’s unprecedented soar from iOS 18 to iOS 26 isn’t merely to streamline its working methods’ model numbers. It’s additionally to mark the most important shift in its software program design and philosophy. iOS 26’s Liquid Glass interface kickstarts the subsequent iPhone chapter—an period dominated by gadgets that can solely get sleeker and extra highly effective. The brand new battery administration instruments additionally assist customers escape the results of primary physics and put together for much more compact devices, just like the Apple Glasses, aka Apple Imaginative and prescient Air.
