Same thing at my Apple Store. Majority of the employees when I was there had AIR’s. I watched some people change their minds on the 17PM and get the AIR.
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iPhone Air Do you still love the iPhone Air?
- Thread starter awshucks
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Oh yeah, when I first bought it, I was in love with it. After the honeymoon phase was over, I realized how much of a power user I was, and ended up getting a 17PM. The Air was just not enough battery wise and for me that was the deal breaker.
I still have it, I’m strongly considering selling it. It’s a beautiful phone, it’s unfortunate it’s not selling as much as Apple wanted.
Most people here in this forum are invested in the Apple ecosystem, owning anywhere from two or more devices. We are already sold on the company, how they stand behind their products and what to expect going forward. Thats a big advantage for Apple.
As Apple customers and supporters, it’s odd that iPhone Air hasn't been as popular as the company expected. Especially given Apple's experience in market analysis and experience determining what their customers want in new products.
It’s even more interesting that Apple themselves seem to have made no effort to promote this new model. Shortcomings aside this is an all new form factor that deserves all of Apples marketing expertise, yet received none.
One thing for certain is that it will be quite entertaining to see how this situation plays out.
I don't want a heavy brick within my pockets... If I need to, I will give it a few minutes on a charger and that's it. So much better than those 17 Pro bricks that all dent and break as hell, as they're too heavy and the material is so weak.
You are not alone. Did same thing late last week. The air is a beautiful phone and I miss it. My honeymoon period lasted about six days.
Wait a few days and you will hate the heavy brick in your pocket.
Haha..exactly! I still have my 15 Pro Max as a backup and once in awhile when I “think” I need the second speaker or telephoto lens..I pickup the 15 Pro Max and quickly realize I’m good with the Air! 😁
The battery is also a non issue as I’m getting better SOT hrs with my iPhone Air as I was with my 15 Pro Max which is at 86% health.
Exactly! They need to stop the pro max as it’s a huge brick. The pro is already heavy enough.
It's a great phone and I still love and appreciate it every time I pick it up. This is from someone who went from 12/13 mini to 15/16 Pro to the Air. Really hope we get to see an Air 2.
I don’t think the difference of 39 grams between the Pro and the Air suddenly turns it into a “heavy brick”.
I had the Air for around five or six weeks and I do still genuinely love the design and the engineering. I really do hope there’s an Air 2 that can take the design even further and they can find room for a second speaker, a second camera and improve the battery technology to give it a boost in that department.
But I’ve since discovered that, in a way, the Air is almost too thin for me personally. I’m a tall guy with fairly big hands and the Pro feels a lot more comfortable in my hand. I use the camera control button quite a lot too and I never felt like I had a good/solid enough grip on the Air.
Battery life was really good on the Air, but on days where I was in the office or travelling, using 5G a lot, it was never enough - and yes, the MagSafe battery exists, but using the phone with the MagSafe battery on it to take photos etc always felt cumbersome. Also, I was always worried about the battery dislodging whilst gripping the phone and in an attempt to catch the battery I’d drop the phone, or vice versa.
And while I use the main camera about 80% of the time, not having it for that other 20%, especially when on holiday and not being able to quite capture the perfect photo, really started to play on my mind.
So while I love the Air and I wish it nothing but success, personally the Pro is for me. I couldn’t go back to a Pro Max, not when I have a 13” M4 iPad Pro at home. Being able to use the phone one-handed again is great - and I can barely feel it when it’s in my pocket.
I had the Air for around five or six weeks and I do still genuinely love the design and the engineering. I really do hope there’s an Air 2 that can take the design even further and they can find room for a second speaker, a second camera and improve the battery technology to give it a boost in that department.
But I’ve since discovered that, in a way, the Air is almost too thin for me personally. I’m a tall guy with fairly big hands and the Pro feels a lot more comfortable in my hand. I use the camera control button quite a lot too and I never felt like I had a good/solid enough grip on the Air.
Battery life was really good on the Air, but on days where I was in the office or travelling, using 5G a lot, it was never enough - and yes, the MagSafe battery exists, but using the phone with the MagSafe battery on it to take photos etc always felt cumbersome. Also, I was always worried about the battery dislodging whilst gripping the phone and in an attempt to catch the battery I’d drop the phone, or vice versa.
And while I use the main camera about 80% of the time, not having it for that other 20%, especially when on holiday and not being able to quite capture the perfect photo, really started to play on my mind.
So while I love the Air and I wish it nothing but success, personally the Pro is for me. I couldn’t go back to a Pro Max, not when I have a 13” M4 iPad Pro at home. Being able to use the phone one-handed again is great - and I can barely feel it when it’s in my pocket.
I have both, the pro is not a brick. It is noticeably heavier though. I’m not sure of exact measurements but I love the size of the pro but it is heavy where it is not comfortable to hold above you in bed and weighs my pants down. The air is unreal light so I agree it is a thing. The pro is not a brick though, that is ridiculous.
I was thinking about it and figured Air is almost final form of the design.
As a normal size phone fan, i just received 12 mini. We all know how small it is so let’s count it as a baseline of being the smallest - 135 grams.
Now Air is 165 grams.
Shrink it to 6.1-6.3 diagonal and do what you asked - we got iphone 17 at - 176 grams.
Too small of a display? Ok better battery, camera and speaker is now Pro Max - 240 grams.
So if they do add a second camera and speakers, my guess we would be around 185 grams, which is equal to “heavy” 15 Pro. Possibly playing with aluminum and ditching the titanium could bring them back to 165grams with those updates but that is questionable to give up body quality.
Summary: Common misconception: Air is not trying to be the thinnest device.
Thinness is just a symptom.
Air is the lightest device - side effect of being light is shedding extra weight and becoming thinner. Because if you say the thinness doesn’t matter but battery does then you will get an equivalent of mini - thicker, more battery but reduced body/screen size to fit into the current Air’s weight limit.
The goal was likely both - thin and light.
Personally, I like the dimensions of the 15 Pro (similar width/height to iPhone X) although it would be nice if it were a teensy bit thinner without sacrificing battery. Wouldn't mind further bezel reduction either.
I've used the 17 Pro, Air and now the 17 and have access to a 16e, and I find the 15 Pro to be more comfortable compared to those. I wish the regular 17 had stayed at 6.1" but with smaller bezels.
Comparitively its a can of soup. I held my old iPhone 16 for the first time in weeks and it seems so squat and podgy now. The Air just spoils every other device on the market barring the Z7
My new Air has since become my primary iPhone replacing my 15PM. For my use case the Air has performed perfectly in every way I use my iPhone. No complaints on how it takes pictures although having a wide angle lens sometimes would be nice but is not a deal breaker for me. The battery life has not been an issue for me since I have a power bank to recharge my battery or I'm close to an AC power source to "plug in" my Air to recharge it. As for the lack of GPU core? Not even an issue for me with the YouTube videos or Apple TV movies I sometimes watch on the phone. I don't game . . .
What has become more important to me is just how thin and light this new iPhone is and that it does pack some Pro level muscle inside which in my opinion is amazing. This is seriously an underrated iPhone thanks to various YouTube content creators posting how the iPhone Air is compromised and is a failure. They are the ones who do serious injustice to this otherwise solid product. It is one thing to have a device to review as opposed to having the same device for long term usage.
Since having a phone that is lighter has become more a priority of mine, as much as I like the 15PM . . . I don't see myself ever going back to an iPhone that is much heavier and bulky in comparison. I recently purchased a second iPhone, a Green 512GB 13 Mini as a backup iPhone to my Air. At this point I am looking for something smaller as well as lighter to use as a backup and feel the 13 Mini will serve this purpose fairly well. Yes, I know I'm going back in technology and features going with the 13 Mini but those features such as Apple Intelligence is not an issue for a "backup" iPhone. What I gain in having this Mini is having a wide angle lens even if it is at 12 megapixel and fairly thin and compact footprint. At least in those rare occasions where I would like to have a wide angle lens I can use my backup iPhone for this. Again, my priority and use case has shifted into using light and smaller iPhones.
I don't expect a lot of people to agree or understand the approach I have used but that's okay. This is my choice and how I want to use my iPhones. My use case . . .
EDIT: with the recent iOS 26 Developer Beta 3 update my Air now connects to CarPlay in my Porsche and Mini Cooper.
What has become more important to me is just how thin and light this new iPhone is and that it does pack some Pro level muscle inside which in my opinion is amazing. This is seriously an underrated iPhone thanks to various YouTube content creators posting how the iPhone Air is compromised and is a failure. They are the ones who do serious injustice to this otherwise solid product. It is one thing to have a device to review as opposed to having the same device for long term usage.
Since having a phone that is lighter has become more a priority of mine, as much as I like the 15PM . . . I don't see myself ever going back to an iPhone that is much heavier and bulky in comparison. I recently purchased a second iPhone, a Green 512GB 13 Mini as a backup iPhone to my Air. At this point I am looking for something smaller as well as lighter to use as a backup and feel the 13 Mini will serve this purpose fairly well. Yes, I know I'm going back in technology and features going with the 13 Mini but those features such as Apple Intelligence is not an issue for a "backup" iPhone. What I gain in having this Mini is having a wide angle lens even if it is at 12 megapixel and fairly thin and compact footprint. At least in those rare occasions where I would like to have a wide angle lens I can use my backup iPhone for this. Again, my priority and use case has shifted into using light and smaller iPhones.
I don't expect a lot of people to agree or understand the approach I have used but that's okay. This is my choice and how I want to use my iPhones. My use case . . .
EDIT: with the recent iOS 26 Developer Beta 3 update my Air now connects to CarPlay in my Porsche and Mini Cooper.
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Make sure to unwrap mini and install latest 18.7.2 while available. The last os that will not glitch on minis.
Otherwise soon in a month this option is gone and you will only have ios 26 which is lagging on minis.
Did the same to my new 12 mini. From 15.5 to 18.7.2. Not because i wanted but because shipped oem ios is no longer opening banking apps and such.
Otherwise soon in a month this option is gone and you will only have ios 26 which is lagging on minis.
Did the same to my new 12 mini. From 15.5 to 18.7.2. Not because i wanted but because shipped oem ios is no longer opening banking apps and such.
What I find most curious is how Youtubers bemoan any company for not releasing anything exciting, we get the most interesting iPhone in years with a focus back on design with no real loss of utility and they tell people to just buy Pro Max with all the style and subtlety of a can of beans.
When did design go out the window? When did the commentary stop caring about the experience? I'm not trying to be some sort of design snob or anything: if people want the utility of the Pro line then go nuts. But the Air almost feels like an iPhone 4 built to cater to modern tastes.
Exactly! I feel part of the problem plaguing the iPhone Air sales is that these content creators being biased against the Air then telling people how "compromised" the Air is compared to the Pro series iPhones and not seeming to understand that the Air was not developed to compete against the Pro series iPhones but rather be an iPhone in-between the base iPhone and the Pro series. An iPhone built on form with the same A19 Pro processor and 12GB as the pro series iPhones although having one less GPU core.
Of course the YouTube content creators pointing out this as a liability along with so-called poor battery life and thermal heating issues and making such a huge deal over this when in actual real world daily "normal iPhone user" usage, none of this is or has been a real issue.
Regarding the so-called poor battery life of the Air, yes all iPhones use up battery storage. When it reaches a certain level you recharge the battery, simple as that. Just because you can use a battery pack does not mean this iPhone is worse than the other. I find it amusing how these content creators put out information based on their biasing and tell people what is good and what is bad when this decision should be based on actual long term use of a product with a real world usage review not one based on having it short term, on loan from Apple. This is what have put me off on some of the content creators as they seem to have forgotten what is best for the average user but this is my opinion based on what I have observed.
Apple however have not helped themselves. They’ve priced it too close to the Pro line and have seemingly given it a $0 marketing budget. If they put together a clever advert that quickly told people the benefits of it they might see some sales increase!
Agreed. This is one of the few creators I've found that takes form into account in his reviews.
Is the iPhone Air Really Worth It? / Long Term Review
No arguments there. I think if Apple dropped their pricing $100-$200 this would be a sweet spot but not a deal breaker on an otherwise solid product but this is my opinion.
I’m not sure Apple can afford to price it similar to the regular 17, being that it is probably more expensive to produce. I would bet it is the most expensive for them to produce actually out of them all… I don’t understand why people seem to think they should price it close to what a regular 17 costs, even though a 17 is basically using the same chipset or similar tech as was cutting edge the prior year. Add to that the somewhat custom build for just one phone and I would imagine the air has very small profit margins.
I just think Apple could have lowered pricing on all their models however they are more concerned with profits which is why they are a multi-trillion dollar business today. There is no way the premium Pro series iPhones cost over $1000 to produce. Apple is raking in the $$$$ and serious profit for each iPhone, especially the $2k Pro Max.