Apple’s thinnest iPhone is currently a foldable. The iPhone Duo measures 0.20 inches (5.2mm) when unfolded, taking the title from the 5.6mm iPhone Air after just one year. Leaks suggest the Air could tie it again. The rumored iPhone Air 2 reportedly shrinks to 5.2mm while adding a second 48MP camera and a bigger battery, ahead of a possible spring 2027 launch. Renders based on those leaks put both lenses in a wide, rounded pill that looks borrowed from Google’s Pixel design book.
Korean blogger yeux1122 posted the 5.2mm figure in October, while Weibo leaker Digital Chat Station puts the battery at 3,500mAh, up from the original’s 3,149mAh. Analyst Jeff Pu adds a 48MP Ultra Wide camera, a 2nm A20 Pro chip, and a slightly smaller Dynamic Island to the rumored specifications. One way to make room could be a Samsung-made display technology called CoE, short for Color Filter on Encapsulation, which reportedly makes the OLED panel thinner. The Information also reports a vapor chamber, the cooling hardware used in the Duo, to help manage heat from the A20 Pro.
Apple’s Plateau Gets the Pixel Treatment
Apple built the original Air around its plateau, a raised strip running the full width of the back that houses the A19 Pro chip and the 48MP Fusion camera, leaving much of the lower body for the battery. The Tech Town renders shrink that strip into a rounded pill inset from the edges, with two lenses on the left and the flash and microphone on the right. Google followed a similar path. The Pixel 6 introduced an edge-to-edge camera visor in 2021, and the Pixel 9 pulled it in from the sides into a floating pill in 2024. Unverified photos said to show Air 2 packaging also depict two cameras in a horizontal row.
I’d file the resemblance under convergent evolution. On a phone this thin, the raised band across the top gives camera hardware some much-needed depth. Lining up two sensors horizontally makes sense, which is roughly where Google landed too. My one gripe with the renders is the lens rings, which protrude from a plateau that already protrudes from the back. That two-step bump fights the pitch of a phone sold on thinness, and I’d expect Apple’s final design to flatten it. Sky Blue, already an Air color, looks lovely here. I hope it sticks around.
A Second Camera and a Bigger Battery
The Ultra Wide could be the most noticeable upgrade. The original Air’s single Fusion camera offers 2x crops, but it can’t pull back to fit a whole dinner table or a cramped hotel room into the frame. On other recent iPhones, the Ultra Wide also powers macro mode, so the Air 2 could gain close-ups of latte art and tiny bugs. The rumored battery increase is modest on paper, roughly 350mAh, though it could help with endurance alongside a 2nm chip. Whether that means avoiding a 20% panic at dinner will take testing. Pu also expects a slightly smaller Dynamic Island, freeing up a sliver of the 6.5-inch screen.
Much of the rumored hardware is already in the iPhone Duo, which went on sale October 23 with the A20 Pro, a vapor chamber, and a body measuring 5.2mm when unfolded. That would give Apple an existing set of components and thin-body engineering to draw on for the Air 2. Pu expects other specifications to carry over from the original Air, including 12GB of RAM and the 18MP Center Stage front camera, which widens the frame for group selfies without requiring you to rotate the phone. If the thickness rumor holds, Apple’s lineup could soon have two 5.2mm phones.
Fewer Rivals in the Thin Phone Race
Samsung appears to be stepping back. Its Galaxy S25 Edge launched at 0.23 inches (5.8mm) and $1,099, but Korean outlet The Elec reported that development of the S26 Edge had been halted. Digital Chat Station says other phone makers are rethinking their ultra-thin flagships too. That could leave the Air 2 with fewer big-name rivals next year. Within Apple’s US lineup, the iPhone 18 Pro starts at $1,199 and the iPhone Duo at $1,999, so the Air 2 could sit below both.
Apple hasn’t announced the Air 2, its price, or a release date. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman points to spring 2027 alongside the iPhone 18 and iPhone 18e, while Pu narrows the window to the first quarter, with reports suggesting March. The original Air started at $999 in the US. A second camera at that price would make the sequel an easier recommendation, provided the thinner body doesn’t come at the expense of the battery gains these leaks promise.
