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I had mine for 3 days as a trial. Ended up returning it to go back to Pro series. Really interesting concept and design. The cons were just too much.

I commend Apple for trying it out, especially if it leads to further innovation down the line.
 
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Okay, but that's a very niche requirement. In the age of AirPlay, iPad, and MacBook, connecting an iPhone to a TV is really niche, but I get it and understand 100%. But even so, I'm convinced that 9 out of 10 iPhone users don't care about the transfer speed of a USB cable or a mono speaker. Sure, I'd believe the camera, people think that the more cameras they have, the better photographers they'll be, but let's be honest, that won't affect sales. Apple products work on advertising. For example, in the Czech Republic, everyone loves the Pro, but even the basic version doesn't sell well in the long run. There are ads for the Pro everywhere, the orange iPhone Pro is everywhere, and the orange iPhone is simply iconic for them.

OK, but this phone is $200 more than the regular 17 which doesn’t have any of these issues.

Do you see the problem?

The premium they are asking just for the unique form factor is too much.

You don’t have to ask me …ask the market.
 
Another dud from Apple

Hopefully we won’t see anything else in the future

My guess is they didn’t number the iPhone Air as the iPhone 17 Air specifically so that if it was a failure they could just sell it for the next 24 months as its own unique thing (without updates) until they decide on other options. The iPhone market will expand next year with an iPhone 18, 18 Pro, 18 Pro Max and a new iPhone “Fold” so there is no rush to fill the poor sales void of the Air. Perhaps it is selling so bad they will actually stop selling it next year or perhaps if they have enough stock like I said they will keep it around for 24 months or so before dumping it.
 
Do you really think the 16 Pro battery life is that bad? You realize the Air gets the same battery life as the 16 Pro don't you?
No people have been returning the Air in big numbers due to its poor battery 🪫 Apple knew this too as they marketed a $99 battery pack made specifically only for the Air.

The Air battery capacity 🪫 mAh is way to small at only 3,000 mAh vs the 16e which has a way higher battery capacity mAH at 4000 mAh🔋

iPhone Air mAh: 3100 mAh 🪫
iPhone 16e mAh: 4,005 mAh 🔋
 
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Everyone is "used to the weight"? Completely disagree. This is all about the weight.

I only upgraded from an SE 2020 because of the reduced weight the Air received, yet still had size increased. I have a 13 gram metal bumper on my 164 gram Air, making it 177 grams total.
An iPhone 17 Pro is 206g, which is ~30g more. That's about 2 tablespoons of water.

The iPhone 17 is 177g out of the box. So 0 difference for an extra camera if you go without a case. A similar bumper case—approximately 13g—for the iPhone 17 would be slightly less than ONE tablespoon of water.

The weight is not a meaningful issue to most people. I accept that you may be very sensitive to it, but I will not accept that this is a general consensus and I think the sales number back ME up, rather than you.
 

Meaning what?

That Air inventory had already been sent to distribution. In China, third-party retailers control most of the sales. That's why you hear of iPhone sales discounts from JD.com and Tmall. Reverse logistics takes a long time.

There are only about 50 Apple Stores in China compared to 280 in the U.S.

Do you think Apple is going to force those 50 stores to work 24 hours a day to do something so silly?
 
"Apple's foldable iPhone Experiment Fails as Supply Chain Cuts Production by 80%"

Here's a headline for 2026. Or 2027 or whenever.
Time will tell, but I disagree with this. A foldable allows for actually usable, real world increase productivity as a tool to justify if any compromises and higher price. Imagine having the portability of a phone and an ipad mini, with ipad apps, in your pocket at anytime! I personally think the mini is a device too big to carry on a person and while I might find use for one, still would need a bag as I do with my ipad pro.

A foldable would be a much better seller for mobile professionals and general public as any potential compromises would be worth actual real world functionality, unlike the Air.
 
No one wants to be seen with an el cheapo bargain iPhone. Apple should release the iPhone Studio or Ultra and tack a thousand or so to the price, people want to iFlex.


E28D6FF2-6AE7-427D-8F2B-183902CCF46B.jpeg
 
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They should just eliminate the fourth iPhone altogether, there’s clearly no significant market for it. Apple did perfectly fine when the XR and 11 served as the sole affordable models.
 
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.

plaintext_mac-cube_805456.jpg
Still among Apple's best designs ever. It's a shame that the cost and the thermal problems meant it had no future, but a lot of people would argue it sparked the movement towards the microATX/miniITX form factor craze for PC, long before the Mac Mini and Intel NUC came along.
 
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It isn't, though, and again, the sales number indicate that while some people MAY care, MOST people don't.

I use my phone PLENTY. Like I said, I really wanted an iPhone Mini but couldn't justify the lower quality cameras. I would also like a size that fits my hand better. But I'm not willing to trade features off for it.

You've also conveniently ignored that the (bare) iPhone 17 is EXACTLY THE SAME WEIGHT as the iPhone Air with a case, so I dunno man, this seems like you're really grasping at straws. If weight were as precious as you claim, the poster I was responding to wouldn't have put a case on it, even though it's obviously safer; a 13g difference was inconsequential given the tradeoff.
 
OK, but this phone is $200 more than the regular 17 which doesn’t have any of these issues.

Do you see the problem?

The premium they are asking just for the unique form factor is too much.

You don’t have to ask me …ask the market.
But that's not entirely true. According to tests, the battery life of the 17 is more or less the same as that of the Air, it takes the same photos, it has the same sensor, OK, it doesn't have ultra-wide, but for an extra $200 you get titanium, a better chip, 12GB of RAM, a better and new design, and not a design that has been recycled for six years. According to tests, it has better durability and is the best-made iPhone in the new series.
 
Apple needed to have at least 2 camera lenses on the iPhone Air.... it should have matched the iPhone 17 spec for spec, but as it is now, it doesn't and it's more expensive. I suspect this is less to do with actual space limitations right now, and much more so due to Apple's planned product development/marketing.... I'm sure they felt like they could release this now, and save a 2nd lens for next year's model. That's what they do. And it's increasingly biting them in the ass.

They also have done a miserable job promoting the iPhone Air and actually advertising its battery life. Too many people think it has **** battery life. It's the number one concern. Yet, it actually has better battery life than the iPhone 16 last year.... and SIGNIFICANTLY better battery life than the majority of phones people are upgrading from. This is such a mind boggling miss in how they presented and marketed the product.
 
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I LOVE my iPhone Air. I think a lot of early reviews scared people away before they actually got their hands on them. MKBHD said about “red flags”. Turns out battery life is quite good. I have not had mine run out in a single day once. Also the camera is great. I don’t do much wide angle or zoom shots anyway. The single speaker means nothing either as I use Air Pods. It is soooo much more comfortable to hold and carry in my pockets. They should have given reviewers units prior to announcing so they could see the compromises are reasonable for most people.
Agreed. The battery life propaganda especially was baffling. It's wild how easily straight up lies can spread as "facts" these days.
 

Ok. Your premise is that there's a machine that exists for Apple Stores to update software. So, the millions of units of Air produced for China market can be updated that way.

Apple has 50 Apple Stores in China. How many Presto machines do you think each store has? 1? 2? 100? How many units are needed to be updated?

You seriously can't figure out that math?

Apple manufactures on average about 500,000 iPhones per day.

What do you think is more efficient?
 
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