Apple’s John Ternus shares insight into the new iPhone
Apple’s refreshed iPhone line-up lands in the UK today, and fans walking into stores will find something totally new to consider. It’s called the iPhone Air, and measuring just 5.6mm thick, it is officially Apple’s thinnest smartphone. Over the years, the Californian tech giant has tried all different shapes and sizes, including Plus and Mini iPhones, so why is the company now releasing a skinny iPhone?
“The iPhone Air is something that we’ve been thinking about for a while. We wanted to build a product like this,” Apple’s John Ternus told Express.co.uk at the firm’s Battersea HQ in central London.
“It’s taken a while to develop the technologies that could make that happen. We needed all the pieces to come together so that this could be the year of the iPhone Air.”
The iPhone Air is just 5.6mm thick (Image: APPLE)
Apple’s John Ternus talks to Express.co.uk (Image: EXPRESS • APPLE)
Apple’s design team has done a number of things to create this sleek smartphone, including miniaturising internal parts and placing all of the processing power inside the camera bump at the top of the device. This has then created more space for the battery, with the company promising owners they should get all-day life despite its size.
The Air is also the first iPhone to go eSIM only, which means there’s no need for a SIM card tray.
Explaining more about the decision, Ternus told us: “We’ve been pushing eSIM for a long time. As an engineer designing these products, the SIM actually is just very painful to me, because it’s a large piece of plastic that doesn’t need to be that big, and it takes up a massive amount of space in the product.
“And so, as we were designing this product, there was just no way we could afford to have that wasted space. And so we said, this has to be eSIM. That’s the way we’re gonna do it.”
If you’re gonna build something that’s thin, it also has to be really durable
With this device getting such a sleek design some might be concerned about it breaking, but Ternus tells us that the Air is more durable than any previous iPhone.
“If you’re gonna build something that’s thin, it also has to be really durable,” Ternus explained.
“And so the work that we’ve been doing over the years and materials has enabled that. “We have this titanium frame, which is incredibly strong. We have, for the first time, Ceramic Shield on the back of the phone, which is incredibly durable and helps the overall strength and toughness of the phone.
“And then we have ceramic shield 2 on the front, which gives us three times better scratch resistance than our previous ceramic shield. So altogether, despite the fact that this phone is so light and so thin, it’s actually more durable than any previous iPhone.”
Apple iPhone Air (Image: APPLE)
Along with the iPhone Air, Apple is also launching a new iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max devices today.
All feature improved cameras, faster processors and longer battery life – the Pro even now comes in a very loud Cosmic Orange colour. So which iPhone would Ternus buy?
“Actually, the thing I’m most proud of is the lineup,” the Apple engineer told us.
“This was our chance to rethink the iPhone line. We think there’s something great for everybody there.”
It’s taken a while to develop the technologies that could make that happen
The iPhone Air is clearly a big change from Apple, and some are speculating that future phones may all become slimmer over time. Of course, Apple is yet to join the folding phone revolution that’s currently dominated by other brands such as Samsung.
The US firm never discusses its future products, but Ternus did reveal that features released today can appear in future products.
“When we develop technologies and we develop a kind of expertise in one area, it tends to show up in other places,” Ternus said. “The miniaturisation we’ve pushed so hard on AirPods, that learning and that kind of engineering know-how was instrumental in driving some of these things on the iPhone.
“So it’s often common with us over time to see ideas pop up in different places as we take advantage of them.”
Express.co.uk has already had our hands on all of Apple’s upcoming iPhones, which launch today, and you can read our full reviews below.
• Apple iPhone Air review
• Apple iPhone 17 Pro review