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, similar to what seems to be the AirTag 2 and AirPods Professional 3.
That’s not all! A more in-depth have 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 preferrred smartphone to resemble a glossy glass slab; it might eliminate the display screen bezels and visual sensor cutouts. Whereas the iPhone 17 Air gained’t undertake this flawless look, it’s anticipated to provoke the following important {hardware} evolution.
For starters, the ultra-thin iPhone may very well be solely 5.5mm thick. This could crown it because the slimmest iPhone but—and probably the lightest. {Hardware} modifications on their very own, nonetheless, are usually not ample to execute a really elegant look.
iOS 26 will energy the iPhone 17 Air out of the field, and the working system’s contemporary consumer interface is ready for the large second. Liquid Glass is Apple’s newest design language and OS 26’s most notable spotlight. As its title suggests, the UI now mimics versatile glass materials that closely depends on translucency and refraction.
Liquid Glass is seen throughout your entire system, together with the Lock Display screen, 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 following 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 many of the taking pictures modes and choices to simplify the more and more cramped format. The iPhone 17 Air will reportedly launch with a single rear lens, and, naturally, it’ll miss out on among the digital camera options provided by the higher-end iPhone fashions—similar to spatial and ProRes recording.
Most iPhone 17 Air prospects will seemingly use the digital camera to shoot common, on a regular basis images 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 fundamental photograph and video capturing modes.
Foundry
Adaptive Energy Mode
One of many major drawbacks with extra-slim smartphones is their smaller batteries, and the iPhone 17 Air will seemingly be no totally different. Whereas iOS is a comparatively energy-efficient OS, dropping the battery’s capability, as one may anticipate, 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 avoid wasting 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 based mostly 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 may have to cost their iPhones greater than as soon as a day. To make the charging cycle extra predictable, iOS 26 introduces a long-overdue characteristic dubbed Battery Intelligence. It presents the estimated charging length to succeed in 80% (then 100%) when related to a charger. This may 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 embody fewer {hardware} elements. Past the lacking ultra-wide and telephoto lenses, the ultra-slim telephone might pack inferior audio system and microphones. Luckily, iOS 26 makes it simpler to depend on AirPods as devoted microphones and swap between totally different audio enter gadgets. This may 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 mechanically adapt to new display screen sizes. When Apple launches contemporary {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 alteration 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 programs’ model numbers. It’s additionally to mark the key shift in its software program design and philosophy. iOS 26’s Liquid Glass interface kickstarts the following iPhone chapter—an period dominated by gadgets that may solely get sleeker and extra highly effective. The brand new battery administration instruments additionally assist customers escape the results of fundamental physics and put together for much more compact devices, just like the Apple Glasses, aka Apple Imaginative and prescient Air.
