Apple's iPhone Air Experiment Fails as Supply Chain Cuts Production by 80%

[RealMonster]

Don’t believe the hype.

As an Air owner, I’m super happy with my purchase. Form factor is perfect. Don’t miss the other lenses (I have a dedicated Leica for that). I go a full day with 6-7 hrs of screen time while at work (on the phone messaging all day). I’ve also gone 20 hrs of pretty heavy usage (out in bright sun, 6+ hrs of Maps navigation) with the battery pack and came home with 90% charge still on the phone.

The question isn't whether or not Apple built a phone that SOME people like, it's whether they built a phone that's BROADLY POPULAR.

Apple makes very few bad hardware products (with notable exceptions), and I don't think they've ever made an outright bad phone. But can they convince people to buy it? Signs point to not really. The iPhones Mini sold enough that almost any company would be ecstatic at those sorts of numbers, but they were middling from Apple's perspective, and they cancelled them.

This will probably happen with the Air.

 

[darngooddesign]

Consumers that bought the Air find themselves in a precarious position.

It’s not a bad phone, in fact there are certainly some positives.

Yet unfortunately Apple was quick to abandon any marketing efforts, quick to cut production and quick to reveal how fickle they can be.

Why would that put them in precarious position, none of those things affect the phone they bought.

 

[darngooddesign]

The difference is MacBook Air sold out at launch. And was sold out consistently for months. Some people complained, but many people bought it.

MacBook Air aflutter: demand stays strong, sold out often

Thintresting move, Steve! Be it marketing or design, the MacBook Air is hotter …

arstechnica.com

The picture is completely different with iPhone Air. The things being removed are not legacy like an optical drive. People want a second and third camera lens.

The things removed from the MacBook Air were a second USB port (hardly legacy), an Ethernet port (also not legacy), a fast platter drive (you only alternative was a very expensive 64GB SSD, and the ability to do anything demanding without it overheating and throttling hard. Thin and light has always come with compromises, whether it's a laptop or a phone; both the MacBook Air and iPhone Air had/have shorter battery life compared to their regular equivalents.

If you really want to talk MBA compromise, due to the port door design it wouldn't sit flat on your desk if you had a USB cable plugged in. You certainly couldn't use a USB thumb drive while it was on your desk.

 

[joeblow7777]

The difference is MacBook Air sold out at launch. And was sold out consistently for months. Some people complained, but many people bought it.

MacBook Air aflutter: demand stays strong, sold out often

Thintresting move, Steve! Be it marketing or design, the MacBook Air is hotter …

arstechnica.com

The picture is completely different with iPhone Air. The things being removed are not legacy like an optical drive. People want a second and third camera lens.

To tell the truth, I think the real difference is just a matter of marketing. Apple made the MBA look like the coolest laptop ever! People still talk about the manilla envelope ads. I don't think I've even seen any TV ads for the Air.

 

[JPack]

To tell the truth, I think the real difference is just a matter of marketing. Apple made the MBA look like the coolest laptop ever! People still talk about the manilla envelope ads. I don't think I've even seen any TV ads for the Air.

The stunt was grounded in some truth though. Notebooks back then were an inch thick and carried in a briefcase or backpack. You could now carry MBA in a sleeve.

iPhone 17 = You can fit it in your pocket
iPhone Air = You can fit it in your pocket

 

[chelsel]

Not sure what was worse, Cracker Barrel rebrand or the iPhone Air.

 

[manhattanboy]

The people who have an iPhone 12 Pro Max and want to upgrade their 3 camera system and have better battery life are not going to buy an iPhone Air. They are going to buy the latest and greatest Pro Max and will be very happy with it.
[…]
The iPhone Air is a hard sell in any of the above situations.

I upgraded from the 12 ProMax to the Air. I love the upgrade.

The 12 PM is a feather compared to the 17 PM. But I understand why Apple made it so heavy. It’s got to match what Americans want, which is to be heavy and fat; so I get the attraction to the PM as the best-selling iPhone… It’s almost twice as heavy as the Air, so it's obviously going to outsell it.

As for pictures, every iPhone user should consider purchasing a photography book to enhance their shooting and post-processing skills. When I went to Europe recently, I put my old primary lens 12 PM up against a friend shooting a brand new $2,000+ Fuji camera. I can tell you the person taking the pictures matters more than the camera 😉.

 

[mlayer]

Plus by the time you add the requisite case the skinniness becomes invisible. I suspect it’s actually more difficult to extract from a pocket because the thickness difference makes the bump more pronounced and susceptible to catching on a seam…

Incorrect. My Air usually goes into my left front pocket with the screen facing me, right side up. What that does from a usability standpoint is it turns the camera bump into a sort of grab-handle so I can easily pull it out of my pocket and orient it quickly for one-handed usage. That's the kind of thing you learn from extended use, not by handling it a couple times with a sample tethered to the table. I've used it in jeans, slacks, joggers, and shorts, and never had it catch on anything.

 

[mlayer]

To tell the truth, I think the real difference is just a matter of marketing. Apple made the MBA look like the coolest laptop ever! People still talk about the manilla envelope ads. I don't think I've even seen any TV ads for the Air.

BINGO. The iPhone Air is a trial balloon, a viability test of the hardware design. Aspects of it may and should filter down to future iPhones. As is it is not meant to take over the world. If it was Apple would have marketed it.

 

[MacAddict1978]

Didn't exactly need to be clairvoyant to see this happen - anytime someone has tried a lesser gimmicy model of something slotted in a higher price point its historically failed 100% of the time. Apple is good for this... like the time they put out those 12" MacBooks that had lower specs than the 13" model for $100 less.

 

[MacAddict1978]

Worth noting the first MacBook Air bombed. It was only when it was repositioned as the regular MacBook that it took off, again there's not much of a market for paying more for less, even with a cool form factor. Winding further back you then have the Power Mac G4 Cube, you guessed it, a failure because it cost more than Power Mac and came with less power and features. But damn it did look absolutely gorgeous.

I wouldn't call the first MacBook Air a failure. That device was the first Apple notebook with SSD - which at the time SSD's were insanely priced and the geek factor of SSD - a think notebook, it got attention. It got rave reviews. The SSD helped compensate for performance of the processor. It wasn't a mega hit outselling other models, but it sold well for what it was and justified upgrades year after year.

 

[UnknownIdaho]

Really strange.

Though I personally will be upgrading to the Pro Max when I do, because I use the camera continuously for photos and video, the iPhone Air sounds perfect for the wife and daughter, who like a nice, slim phone but don’t use the camera as much as I.

I really liked this detailed one month review and may be willing to try it myself.

iPhone Air Review One Month Later.

 

[dan110]

They lost everyone when they introduced the supplemental batter for $100! LOL

 

[menist]

Air would of been the perfect E model with a lesser CPU.

 

[psalex]

A thin phone with a case is still thinner than a thick phone with a case. In fact, the Air with many cases is still thinner than a Pro without a case. So that point has never made sense to me.
Also, every battery test I've seen only shows that the Air's battery performance pretty nearly matches the entry 17, and matches or exceeds the 16. I think that this qualifies as all day battery life for most people.

I say this as a 17 Pro Max owner, so it's not like I have a vested interest in defending the Air, but I think that it's sometimes judged unfairly.

I don't see how it matters for a phone to be a few mm thinner. To create a practical form factor, you need to shrink the overall size. That way people who prefer portability over screen size can have an options. A larger and more expensive <than the base 17> with less battery and a much lesser camera MAKES NO SENSE.

 

[psalex]

Exactly! Let's see how a properly specced Mini goes. Same marketing as the flagships, same love, same effort. If it still flops, then we can objectively call it a flop.

My single camera OG 2015 iPad Pro still takes better macros than my 2 camera 2021 13 Mini. That's how gimped the Mini is.

But a mini now could be better... that size what so perfect! IMO

 

[Apple Tangled]

I think the one thing they haven't tried yet is the most obviously likely to work: an iPhone Ultra.

It's clear from the Mini / Plus / Air experiments that most people are happy with either the base model, or spending more to get "the best" iPhone (a Pro model), and don't want an in-between compromise. I think an iPhone Ultra, slotting in above the Pro Max, with even better camera, better battery, and extra features or cool unique design, would sell really well (and rake in tons of $$$ for Apple since it would be so expensive).

There are a lot of people out there who really like to have the best thing. Why not offer them something even better?

Pro and Pro Max are already priced with premium, how should Apple price an Ultra series of iPhone? Around or above $2000? I doubt many people are willing to spend that much money on an electronic device that updates annually. I have reservations for this idea, but apparently Apple would try it out with the foldable iPhone next year, which reportedly will be priced around $2500. If that becomes a hit, that it will prove that there are a lot of people who are willing to pay more for a better phone.

 

[whiteashsaturday]

The same thing happened to me when I was deplaning...I thought I had left my phone on the plane, and because it was so light, I didn't realize that it was in my pocket! LOL, maybe we should be in the Apple commercials, and they might actually succeed in selling the Airs.

Exactly, I’ve seen oddly negative marketing instead of how outstanding the Air is. I’m thankful this model finally came out because I was still holding out for something new.

My experience using the Air MagSafe was outstanding today. Weight feels somehow even better with the battery. Then I just set it aside and still had my 80% max charge to keep going. Just crazy. Outstanding options.

 

[nacinla]

I loved the feel of my old iPhone 6, even with a thin case, and was hoping this would take me back to that experience. But the camera seems a deal breaker. The 17 brings back something like those curved edges, but the camera's lenses are really bulky. Why can't Apple get this right?

 

[solarmon]

Reduce the price, my wife will buy it. The camera is fine for her usage level.

Form factor — as in, does it fit in the hand — is fantastic, bc Apple realized that this form factor is the addition of width + 2xDepth, and this factor on the Air is the same as the iPhone 12/13 mini, which was a perfect size for many people.

But me, I’m waiting for the flippable iPhone Air.

 

[eXan]

In store it did not feel premium, unlike the "old" X and XS that felt... special. The gigantic camera zone did not do it any favours either

 

[Ralfi]

Don’t miss the other lenses (I have a dedicated Leica for that)

But I’m curious how those who take many photos through the day fair with the Air, as that’s one of the heaviest battery draining features.

 

[Jovijoker]

Case Closed!

 

[Jovijoker]

Very few are clamoring for this. Honestly, I think more people would prefer an Air sized version of the standard Pro. The general public doesn't want small phones. And sales have proven that. Multiple times.

Perfectly Said!

 

[batmanofvietnam]

Make the base models marginally slimmer each cycle instead.
Clearly no-one feels compelled to buy a nerfed gimmick phone.