Apple’s iPhone 17 Air May Feature a Silicon-Carbon Battery – Here’s What That Means

Years ago, a slim phone meant that a smaller iPhone 17 Air battery was used. What's the use of a thin, beautiful device that dies half way through the day? The silicon-carbon technology offers a solution to this long-standing compromise between design and durability.

It's not a new concept. It has been under development for many decades. It was quietly introduced into consumer products in 2021, with the Whoop fitness monitors. In recent years, Chinese smartphone makers such as Honor and Xiaomi have used it. OnePlus has also used it in its OnePlus 13 model. This innovation is used in the latest phone from Nothing, the OnePlus 3.

All eyes are now on Apple. According to rumors, the iPhone 17 Air is expected to be unveiled this week and will measure only 5.5 mm in thickness, making it the thinnest iPhone ever. Silicon carbon battery iPhone technology is believed to have been used to achieve this without compromising performance.

Thin Skin

Today's average Apple battery innovation is between 8 and 9 millimeters in thickness. Comparatively, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is 8.2 mm thick, the iPhone 16 Pro Max 8.25 mm and the Google Pixel 10 Pro XL 8.5 mm.

Samsung launched the Apple iPhone 17 features earlier this year at 5.8mm. When unfolded, the Galaxy Z Fold7 is only 4.2 mm thick. Huawei went even further and unveiled the Mate XT Ultimate - a trifolding phone that is only 3.6 mm thin when opened. Tecno, for example, is also joining the race. They teased concepts at MWC 2020 before revealing a 5.93 mm phone.

This isn't a first for the industry to be obsessed with thinner phones. Early in the 2010s, manufacturers were battling to reduce every millimeter. Apple proudly announced the iPhone 5 at its September 2012 event as the "thinnest phone ever made." With a thickness of 7.6 mm it was even declared the slimmest iPhone 17 Air specs in the world. Oppo's 2014 R5 was only 4.85mm thick.