Apple Plans a Thinner iPhone in 2025
Apple is developing a significantly thinner version of the iPhone that could be released as early as 2025, according to three people with direct knowledge of the project.
The slimmer iPhone could be released concurrently with the iPhone 17, expected in September 2025, according to the three people with direct knowledge and two others familiar with the project. It could be priced higher than the iPhone Pro Max, currently Apple’s most expensive model starting at $1,200, they said.
The Takeaway
• Apple is developing a thinner version of the iPhone that could be released as early as 2025
• It could be priced higher than the iPhone Pro Max, Apple’s most expensive model starting at $1,200
• Apple plans to drop the iPhone Plus, a less-expensive model with a large screen, after this year
The people familiar with the project described the new iPhone, internally code-named D23, as a major redesign—similar to the iPhone X, which Apple marketed as a technological leap from previous generations and which started at $1,000 when it was released in 2017. Several of its novel features, such as FaceID, the OLED screen and glass back, became standard in subsequent models.
Apple is still testing different designs for the slimmer phone, which could include an aluminum chassis and a smaller hole and pill-shaped cutout for its front-facing camera and sensors, one person with direct knowledge of the matter said. The phone will include Apple’s latest-generation processor, likely called the A19, and could have an improved front camera for video calls and selfies. The screen will measure somewhere between the 6.12-inch diagonal display of the standard iPhone and the 6.69-inch display of the iPhone Pro Max, the person added. The rear cameras could be relocated from the upper-left corner of the phone’s back to the top center as part of the redesign, another person with direct knowledge said.
Some details of a new, slimmer iPhone were first mentioned in a research note last week by Jeff Pu, an analyst at Hong Kong investment bank Haitong Securities. Ross Young, CEO at Display Supply Chain Consultants, later said on X that this model would have a 6.55-inch display, which would make it slightly smaller than the iPhone Pro Max.
Apple is grappling with a decline in iPhone sales, which fell 11% in the most recent quarter ending in March when compared with the same period a year earlier. The shrinking sales come amid rising competition in China from local smartphone brands such as Huawei and a global economic slowdown, which has hurt consumer spending. The iPhone 16 models to be released this fall are expected to lean heavily on new artificial intelligence software features but will largely retain the same physical design as previous models.
In recent years, Apple has released four iPhone models. It plans to drop the iPhone Plus, one of its less-expensive models, which has a large screen but lacks the latest-generation processors and cameras, in 2025, three people said. The Plus, which debuted with the iPhone 14 and will still be part of the iPhone 16 lineup this year, has sold below expectations, they said.
An Apple spokesperson declined to comment.
The slimmer iPhone planned for next year could rejuvenate interest in the product, giving consumers a reason to upgrade their devices. Since the release of the iPhone 12 in 2020, Apple has been criticized for making only incremental changes to the iPhone’s design each year. In 2022, for example, Eve Jobs, daughter of Apple’s late co-founder, Steve Jobs, drew media attention after she poked fun at the iPhone 14 on Instagram for being nearly identical in design to the iPhone 13.
Last week, Apple unveiled its thinnest product to date, a new version of the iPad that is 5.1 millimeters thick, roughly equal to the thickness of five stacked credit cards. By comparison, the iPhone 15 is 7.8 millimeters thick. Apple later apologized for an ad promoting the new iPad that featured a hydraulic press crushing musical instruments and other objects; the ad offended many viewers.
People familiar with Apple’s iPhone road map for the next two years said the lineup calls for the release of four iPhone 16 models this year—internally code-named D47, D48, D93 and D94. Those models will have a new button on the side with a touch sensor that will give users better control of the cameras, The Information previously reported. Apple also plans to release a cheaper iPhone that is a successor to the iPhone SE—internally code-named V59—in the spring of 2025, largely based on the physical design of the standard iPhone 14, according to two people familiar with the project.