These six iOS 26 hints all but confirm the iPhone 17 Air

Last month, Apple published the beta version of the iOS 26 developer, letting the testers try the upcoming features before the launch of the operating system this fall. As expected, the early code refers to unpublished Apple products, such as what seems to be Airtag 2 and AirPods Pro 3.

That’s not all! A more in -depth examination of the oriented changes of users of iOS 26 suggests that an iPhone 17 air is coming later this year.

Liquid glass design

Apple has long imagined its ideal smartphone to look like an elegant glass slab; It would delete the screen glasses and the visible sensor cuts. Although the air of the iPhone 17 does not adopt this flawless look, it should initiate the next significant hardware evolution.

To start, the ultra-thin iPhone could only be 5.5 mm thick. This would crown it as the thinnest iPhone to date – and potentially the lightest. However, the material changes are not sufficient to execute a really elegant look.

IOS 26 will feed the iPhone 17 air out of the box, and the new user interface of the operating system is prepared for the big moment. Liquid Glass is Apple’s latest design language and the most notable culminating point in OS 26. As its name suggests, the user interface now imitates flexible glass material which is strongly based on translucent and refraction.

Liquid glass is visible throughout the system, including the locking screen, application icons, widgets, alerts, notifications, menus, navigation bars, etc. Although it is a first beta developer, the interaction with it made my iPhone more modern than ever, and it will only become more fluid with the next versions.

Associated with the rumor factor of the iPhone 17, Liquid Glass is required to make the experience more futuristic.

Simplified camera application

Another design change that refers to an iPhone 17 air variant is the reworked camera application. With iOS 26, Apple has hidden most of the shooting modes and options to simplify the increasingly cramped arrangement. The iPhone 17 Air would be launched with a single rear lens, and, of course, will miss some of the functionalities of the camera offered by high -end iPhone models, such as space and prors.

Most iPhone 17 Air customers will probably use the camera to take photos and regular everyday videos. It is not intended to correspond to the quality and higher advantages of the iPhone Pro camera system. And this is exactly what the revised camera application of iOS 26 presents: the methods of capture of photo and basic video.

Foundry

Adaptive power mode

One of the main drawbacks with extra-minance smartphones is their smaller batteries, and the iPhone 17 air will probably not be different. Although iOS is a relatively energy -efficient operating system, the drop in battery capacity, as you would expect, will decrease the time for use. To mitigate its impact, iOS 26 brings a whole new adaptive power supply mode which aims to increase the life of the battery.

For those who are not familiar, the traditional low at low power mode erases the performance of your iPhone and kills certain fundamental activities to save energy. It is too irritating to continue at any time, because the slowness of the iPhone quickly becomes noticeable. On the other hand, the adaptive power mode makes smaller adjustments to the performance of your iPhone depending on how you use it. Its impact is supposed to be more subtle, which makes it a viable option to continue at any time.

Battery intelligence

Given the shorter battery life, 17 air users may need to charge their iPhones more than once a day. To make the load cycle more predictable, iOS 26 has a long -awaited functionality on battery intelligence. It presents the estimated charging time to reach 80% (then 100%) when connected to a charger. This will simplify planning and help users avoid going out before their batteries are fully loaded.

Foundry

Easier micro selection

Other potential iPhone 17 air gaps will include fewer material components. Beyond the ultra-landscaping and missing lenses, the ultra-millé phone can pack loudspeakers and lower microphones. Fortunately, iOS 26 facilitates counting on AirPods as a dedicated microphones and switching between different audio input peripherals. This will help occasional content creators to bypass integrated microphones and shoot videos that do not necessarily seem to smothered.

Foundry

Flexible applications

Finally, the IOS 26 SDK supports user interfaces of flexible applications that automatically adapt to new screen sizes. When Apple launches fresh equipment with unique dimensions, third -party applications will no longer get a mailbox. Instead, the system will optimize its windows to match the new default screens. Although this change can mainly prepare for foldable idevices, iPhone 17 air will launch a new size of 6.6 inches. Thus, updated applications for iOS 26 should be superb on the first day, even if the developers have not specifically built them for iPhone 17 air.

A new interface for a new era

The unprecedented jump from Apple d’Ios 18 to iOS 26 is not simply to rationalize the version numbers of its operating systems. It is also a question of marking the major change in its software design and its philosophy. The iOS 26 kickstarts liquid glass interface The next iPhone chapter – an era dominated by devices that will only become more elegant and more powerful. New battery management tools also help users escape the consequences of basic physics and prepare for even more compact gadgets, such as Apple glasses, AKA Apple Vision Air.