A Magic Sheet of Glass With Anticipated Tradeoffs

There’s no dispute that the iPhone Air is a marvel of engineering. Almost all display screen and battery, the machine, which begins at $999, feels just like the closest factor to holding a sheet of glass in your hand. With out a case or battery pack, it’s so skinny and slippery that I didn’t foresee it hovering by the air like a frisbee. It’s not one of the best worth iPhone in Apple’s new lineup; that’s the iPhone 17, which begins at $799. And it’s not essentially the most feature-packed and highly effective; that’s the iPhone 17 Pro / 17 Pro Max, which begin at $1,099 and $1,199, respectively. The iPhone Air is Apple’s newest stab at a distinct class of smartphone—it beforehand tried a Mini and Plus-sized iPhone—however this time with extra of the corporate’s basic design enchantment entrance and heart.

After every week of testing the entire household of recent iPhones, I stay drawn to the iPhone Air essentially the most, even with its compromises to the digicam and battery life. It’s so rattling exhausting to withstand. The large query is whether or not or not shoppers will purchase skinny telephones. The iPhone Mini and iPhone Plus every lasted just a few years earlier than being discontinued. Will the iPhone Air undergo the identical destiny?

Impossibly skinny, however tremendous robust

You actually have to carry the iPhone Air in your individual arms to imagine that it’s an actual, absolutely practical cellphone and never a dummy unit like those it’s possible you’ll discover at a retail retailer. Whereas not the lightest iPhone that Apple has ever made, the iPhone Air holds that distinction in comparison with the iPhone 17 and 17 Execs. With its weight distributed throughout its skinny footprint, the cellphone feels smaller than it really is. I favor my cellphone within the 6.1 to six.3-inch display screen vary, in order that I can comfortably use it with one hand and match it into my pants pocket with out it coming out. I can nonetheless do each with the iPhone Air and its 6.5-inch show. I get the enchantment for the huge 6.9-inch display screen on the iPhone 17 Professional Max, however that’s an excessive amount of of a tank for me.

I already advised you the way scratch and crack-resistant the iPhone Air is because of its Ceramic Protect 2 glass entrance and Ceramic Protect glass again. However what about bendability? The iPhone 6 attracted the incorrect form of consideration when folks discovered it may simply bend. You don’t want to fret about bendgate 2.0 as a result of the titanium body is extremely robust. Apple inspired me to attempt to bend it in half with as a lot pressure as I may. I may see the iPhone Air bow, however it all the time reverted again to its form. After the unique bendgate over a decade in the past, I’m glad Apple is so assured within the iPhone Air’s rigidity.

Beautiful display screen

I really like tech specs as a lot as every other gearhead, however I couldn’t rattle the show specs for the iPhone Air off the highest of my head with out taking a look at Apple’s product web page. The standard of the screens in premium smartphones peaked years in the past. They’re lots brilliant, high-res, and vibrant sufficient. So far as I can inform, the iPhone Air has the identical show specs because the iPhone 17 and 17 Execs.

I actually haven’t any complaints in regards to the Tremendous Retina XDR show. It’s bought nice viewing angles, particularly outside when it will probably hit a peak brightness of three,000 nits; colours look wealthy and blacks are inky because of OLED; and the brand new anti-glare coating actually does scale back reflections. And identical to the household of iPhone 17 units, the display screen helps as much as 120Hz refresh charges, or what Apple calls “ProMotion” and has an always-on display screen. The Dynamic Island sits somewhat decrease than on different iPhones, however apart from that, that is nearly as good as a display screen will get on a cellphone.

17 Professional-level efficiency

You’d suppose that such a thin cellphone would include main compromises to efficiency, proper? That wasn’t the case in my testing. Apple may have simply used a much less highly effective chip, however it determined to stuff an A19 Professional chip inside and let it rip. That’s the identical desktop-level chip contained in the iPhone 17 Execs with a 6-core CPU. The one distinction between the A19 Professional chips within the iPhone Air versus the 17 Execs is that there’s one fewer GPU core, 5 as a substitute of six.

As anticipated, the A19 Professional chip is insanely highly effective and smokes the best Android phones powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite chipsets. Do you want all this energy for those who’re solely doing fundamental cellphone issues like shopping the online, sending messages, checking emails, watching movies, and taking photographs? Under no circumstances. However for those who play 3D video games or do something that will make use of the brand new neural accelerators which can be baked into the GPU, you then’ll respect the headroom. Apple Intelligence nonetheless largely stinks, however that is probably not the case beginning subsequent 12 months if Apple will get its AI plans again on observe, so the efficiency may are available clutch very quickly.

I don’t suppose many iPhone Air customers will push the efficiency too exhausting; get a 17 Professional if you’d like one of the best efficiency and, most significantly, sustained efficiency, because of the vapor chamber cooling that retains the 17 Execs from getting sizzling sufficient to fry eggs.

On the subject of cooling, the iPhone Air’s skinny chassis means there’s much less room for warmth dissipation. Apple cleverly moved the A19 Professional and all the core parts into the oval-shaped “plateau” that additionally homes the single-rear digicam, however that doesn’t fully alleviate the iPhone Air from getting heat. It by no means bought sizzling, however I observed the world just under the plateau may get toasty after I was enjoying Genshin Influence or doing something extra graphics-intensive, like a protracted FaceTime name with my girlfriend. One thing to be careful for for those who choose up an iPhone Air is potential throttling. Each now and again, apps would freeze and grow to be unresponsive. I particularly observed this when utilizing GPU-heavy apps or attempting to multitask (i.e. watching a video in picture-in-picture mode whereas utilizing one other app like Messages). I attempted troubleshooting the anecdotal latency with Apple—buttons may grow to be untappable or scrolling with lag only a sec or two—however in the long run, it’s exhausting to know if I bought a lemon evaluation unit or it’s simply bugginess in iOS 26. It’s potential it might be the buggy new software program; I’ve been experiencing comparable random Liquid Glass sluggishness inside apps on my updated iPhone 16 Pro. I wouldn’t say there’s any main throttling to fret about, however I’m hoping responsiveness stabilizes quickly. (Or perhaps, I actually did get a lemon evaluation unit.)

One digicam on the entrance, one digicam on the again

I’m a giant digicam man, so it was an adjustment going from the triple-lens digicam on my iPhone 16 Pro to the single-lens shooter on the iPhone Air. (I’ll get to the brand new Heart Stage selfie digicam in a second.) The rear digicam is a 48-megapixel picture sensor that’s the identical one contained in the iPhone 17’s essential “large” digicam. Apple calls it a Fusion digicam as a result of, by default, it creates 24-megapixel photographs taken from the knowledge of the 48-megapixel sensor. The Fusion digicam additionally has a number of digital lenses that present extra focal lengths (26mm, 28mm, 35mm, and 52mm, aka 2x optical-quality zoom) to border pictures. It’s a strong single digicam with good sharpness and large dynamic vary.

Frankly, the photographs look nice for those who’re simply posting them to social media or sending them in a messaging app, which is what 99% of individuals do. There have been instances after I missed the ultrawide and telephoto lenses on my iPhone 16 Professional, however I discovered the 2x optical-quality zoom greater than enough for many photographs and movies I take. Nonetheless, it’s exhausting to offer Apple a move for a single-lens digicam when Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Edge has a further ultrawide whereas nonetheless being a skinny 5.8mm cellphone.

The actual star of the present is the 18-megapixel Heart Stage digicam on the entrance. This new sq. picture sensor solves one of many greatest issues with utilizing a contemporary (learn: massive) cellphone for taking selfies: doing finger gymnastics to carry an iPhone up after which tapping the shutter button with out dropping it. The Heart Stage digicam helps you to take horizontal selfies whereas holding the iPhone Air vertically or vertical photographs whereas holding the cellphone horizontally. The variable orientation not solely means it’s simpler to carry your cellphone whereas taking selfies, however aligns your eyes nearer to the middle of the display screen as a substitute of to the facet in photographs. All my selfies look so significantly better due to this. The characteristic additionally works for video. Everyone that I’ve talked to has been very excited for the Heart Stage digicam over any elevated sharpness to the rear cameras. Moreover, a brand new Twin Seize helps you to report video from each the rear digicam and the selfie digicam (in a picture-in-picture format). It’s helpful for response movies the place you need to seize the second, but additionally the way you had been feeling because it occurred. Third-party apps like Filmic Professional have been in a position to do that, however now it’s constructed into the Digital camera app. I’ve a sense it’s going to be highly regarded and extra so than recording spatial video or turning on motion or cinematic mode.

Battery life is nice, however not stellar

The elephant within the iPhone Air room is none apart from battery life. Tremendous-thin telephones merely have much less bodily house to suit the varieties of massive lithium-ion battery cells to get extraordinary battery life. If you would like the longest battery life, you actually gotta go together with the iPhone 17 Execs. Apple advertises as much as 33 hours of video playback on the 17 Professional and as much as 39 hours on the 17 Professional Max. The iPhone 17 is available in third with as much as 30 hours of video playback.

As compared, the iPhone Air is marketed with as much as 27 hours of video playback. Though I didn’t do any battery rundown checks with a video enjoying repeatedly to substantiate that quantity, I do personal an iPhone 16 Professional, which will get the identical 27 hours of video playback. Equally, the iPhone 16 Plus is marketed with the identical video playback hours. With the similar hours for video playback, I anticipated the iPhone Air to final about the identical. In my completely unscientific each day testing, I might say the iPhone Air has good battery life, however my iPhone 16 Professional nonetheless had extra juice by the tip of the day. Is it deal-breaking, poor battery life like many individuals have been fearing? Completely not. On one mild day, I made it by 13 hours on a single cost and nonetheless had 15% left. I popped on the $99 iPhone Air MagSafe Battery pack, and any shred of battery nervousness disappeared after it recharged previous 20%, which is what iPhones think about low energy.

After all, I want the iPhone Air had longer battery life, and naturally, I want that Apple had made the cellphone one other millimeter or two thicker to suit a much bigger battery. Or hell, nix the Digital camera Management to suit extra battery. However for a first-gen mannequin on this new Air class, the battery is ok. Most individuals are completely wonderful topping off their telephones noon at residence or at work. And most of the people are okay with carrying a conveyable battery for charging up their cellphone or wi-fi earbuds. Apple has optimized exhausting for “all-day” battery life, from the customized and power-efficient A19 Professional chip to the C1X modem to the N1 chip (for Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Threads connectivity) to supporting solely eSIM. It’s very clear that Apple engineered the iPhone Air with battery life prime of thoughts. However physics is physics, and whereas the MagSafe Battery pack is a serviceable solution to lengthen the iPhone Air’s battery life, individuals are all the time gonna demand extra. The unique MacBook Air had horrible battery life, after which it grew to become best-in-class inside a number of generations. I can’t see battery life for the iPhone Air going wherever however up in future fashions.

Apple’s massive, new check

Whether or not it’s the appropriate iPhone for you or not, I imagine the iPhone Air is right here to remain. Bulbous “plateau” apart, it feels just like the smartphone that Apple has been attempting to make since Steve Jobs modified all the things with the unique iPhone—a pane of glass that you simply manipulate with contact. It’s, dare I say, in Apple parlance “magical” even after I know the iPhone 17 will get you extra bang in your buck and the iPhone 17 Execs haven’t any compromises on the expense of thicker and heavier designs with larger value tags. Very similar to the MacBook Air, I can’t assist however love that the iPhone Air weighs and appears like virtually nothing. I’ve been an iPhone Professional person for the reason that 11 Professional, and I haven’t needed to resolve between a Professional-level iPhone and every other mannequin. However I’m significantly leaning towards the iPhone Air, particularly in House Black, which makes the profile seem even thinner. (No offense to Sky Blue followers, however the coloration simply doesn’t do something for me.) It’s the brand new aspirational iPhone, not the folks’s selection or skilled machine.

If nothing else, and the iPhone Air doesn’t join with shoppers and finally ends up going the way in which of the dodo just like the iPhone Mini and Plus, the compact design may very well be a glimpse of the long-rumored, book-style foldable iPhone that will come out subsequent 12 months, in line with the newest experiences. If I put two iPhone Airs facet by facet and squint, I may see a foldable much like the wonderful Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7, however working iOS and with all of the Apple options you could’t get on Android or elsewhere. Or perhaps the iPhone Air is a testbed for miniaturizing components into a sensible glasses type issue.