iPhone Air For those getting the air

[NauticalDan]

Battery life depends on use, but in this test, the iPhone Air actually beat the iPhone 17 Pro Max.

In most tests I’ve seen, the iPhone Air holds up well, but is behind the 17 Pro Max.

 

[Garethe86]

Returning my black for the sky blue has only reinforced my decision to leave it naked - love it. I would like to eventually try a matte privacy protector, but more for the privacy function than actual protection.

What did I miss? Why are you returning the black?

I am happy with the white, the real white, not the colors that appear to be white.

 

[valinda]

What did I miss? Why are you returning the black?

I am happy with the white, the real white, not the colors that appear to be white.

I have the sky blue, but it looks white. Almost the same thing

 

[xenaton]

Battery life depends on use, but in this test, the iPhone Air actually beat the iPhone 17 Pro Max.

In most tests I’ve seen, the iPhone Air holds up well, but is behind the 17 Pro Max.

This test shows the performance of the C1X because it have been made on 4G instead of wifi.
It's interesting because for me, the main potential problem with battery life is when you're away from home (and obviously a power supply) without wifi.

 

[Garethe86]

So it’s a strange feeling. The air looks uber premium and the shiny edges and bright uber thin screen makes it feel like something from the future. But on the other hand the thinness makes it feel flimsy and cheap/plastic psychologically.

It’s a weird thing, a bit like watch straps a hefty metal strap feels premium because of that weight. It’s all psychology I think.

The pro and pro max feel much nicer ergonomically in the had because you have enough to wrap your hand around, the edges are curved.

From a distance the air looks like a budget phone from the back - single camera that tiny bar - but as someone pointed out as the psychology of an iPhone air image gets into our brains it’s an instantly recognisable thing and we override it with premium.

The blue and orange for the pros are actually quite nice colours actually. But, there’s a serious scratch issue. I put my wife’s pro in a case and psychologically the weight went up 1.5x.

So now I’m debating between:

iPhone air - white
17 pro - silver (because of scratches)

The pro max is out because 1) it’s out of stock and 2) it feels like a brick the more you use it eg in pocket. I also don’t need the large screen to open api and stats pages I use to use often.

Dilemmas!



It’s temperature and background syncing. When you charge the first time it can stop a little short. Much like filling gas in your car. A few recharges and it sets the real 100% level.

And second the iPhone is doing housekeeping in the background for the first few days. Spotlight indexing, photo analysis etc.

You should leave it on charge all day if you want to speed this up, or wait 3 days before comparisons.

I think you should definitely give the air a try, you will be pleasantly surprised; you can always pickup a pro someone doesn't want later.

 

[Garethe86]

Battery life depends on use, but in this test, the iPhone Air actually beat the iPhone 17 Pro Max.

In most tests I’ve seen, the iPhone Air holds up well, but is behind the 17 Pro Max.

Michael Fisher had said in his review that he got a full day on normal use and almost a full day on heavy use, it was a hair away from making it. That was good enough for me. And I would never expect Pro Max level battery performance, that's very unrealistic.

 

[xenaton]

Michael Fisher had said in his review that he got a full day on normal use and almost a full day on heavy use, it was a hair away from making it. That was good enough for me. And I would never expect Pro Max level battery performance, that's very unrealistic.

For me it's not.

I have watch for exemple the review of the Air by Brian Tong (Test Iphone Air Brian Tong) and he says that the battery life was surprisingly good.
After that i saw on twitter that he received a lot of messages saying people didn't believes him.
To me, it's because his test was made away from home, at a music festival only in 4G/5G data reception.

If you see what i wrote above, that just shows the efficiency of the C1X modem in cellular mode over wifi.
Only the air have this feature this year.

Thing about it : you have to enable Wifi to active your phone, and of course every Youtuber's that do the side by side comparison do the test at the same place they active their phone, with wifi enable.
And in that case, the logic takes place with the Iphone 17 PM for exemple beats by a laaaaarge amout of time the Iphone Air

But has i said, where is the battery efficiency the most important ? To me it's when i'm away from a wifi....

 

[timeconsumer]

Since I missed the preorder window for the cloud white 256GB to be delivered on launch day, I went to the Apple store to check it out over the weekend. I really liked the feel in the hand so I placed an order for one since they do not have them in stock at any of my local stores. When I ordered it said delivery on either 9/24 or 9/25, but for my order it’s now saying 10/1 or 10/2 even though if I go to configure another 256GB in cloud white, it shows 9/24 or 9/25. Hopefully it shows up sooner because I’m leaving for a week starting on 9/27 and was hoping to take it with me.

 

[vvvvvv]

What did I miss? Why are you returning the black?

I am happy with the white, the real white, not the colors that appear to be white.

Just personal preference. Sky blue looks like your phone after being left in the freezer overnight.

 

[Jakimo]

Glad you’re liking the Air! 😁

What was in your pocket with it to scratch it? The extra scratch resistance has been proven in quite a few tests now to back up Apples claims.

If I start noticing any scratches or scuffs on the display then I may consider putting the screen protector back on. I’m very careful, it’s in its own pocket with nothing else, no dirt, keys, coins etc and never face down in any situation. I’ll see how how get on… 🤞🏻😊

The protector had much more glare and reflections, made it marginally thicker and far more fingerprints than the bare iPhone screen.

No idea. The deeper cut/scratch is near the camera.. many micro-scratches, and a whole group of stronger scratches in the bottom-right corner

I was shocked. I've heard that the displays are made in different places, perhaps the one I have in particular is the lousy one? I'm so surprised, I'm thinking of asking Apple to replace it for me at no charge

PS - my friends haven't been so nice to their iPhone 17 Pro units, and their screens remain perfect. I'm not sure why my Air is so soft, I may research this more later..

 

[James6s]

No idea. The deeper cut/scratch is near the camera.. many micro-scratches, and a whole group of stronger scratches in the bottom-right corner

I was shocked. I've heard that the displays are made in different places, perhaps the one I have in particular is the lousy one? I'm so surprised, I'm thinking of asking Apple to replace it for me at no charge

PS - my friends haven't been so nice to their iPhone 17 Pro units, and their screens remain perfect. I'm not sure why my Air is so soft, I may research this more later..

Well that kind of damage doesn’t happen for no reason! Something must’ve happened to cause deep scratches etc like you describe, post some pics? Apple will probably same the same and won’t replace it.

Your friends must use cases for their 17 Pro’s as the aluminium gets damaged easier from modest drops etc than the titanium Air’s frame (durability & drop tests on YouTube)

 

[4sallypat]

All day of use and the Air is at 70% battery!

Phenomenal.

All those haters, naysayers and Pro only crowd that guessed poor battery life in the Air were totally wrong..

Love the Air!

 

[Jakimo]

Well that kind of damage doesn’t happen for no reason! Something must’ve happened to cause deep scratches etc like you describe, post some pics? Apple will probably same the same and won’t replace it.

Your friends must use cases for their 17 Pro’s as the aluminium gets damaged easier from modest drops etc than the titanium Air’s frame (durability & drop tests on YouTube)

None of those friends have cases.. or screen protectors. One friend did mark up his blue aluminum a bit, by way of a seatbelt that hit it

But all their screens are perfect. I did nothing wrong at all, and there are tons of marks - so much so I'm thinking it was defective glass actually

I don't see others saying the same on the forums. It's only $29 to replace the glass, so if they refuse to do it for free I'll just pony up. I don't think my case is normal at all, as there was no occasion for it to happen

Oh well, so it's quite possible to micro-scratch, scuff, and even scar *MY* iPhone Air =)

Hopefully I'm an isolated case, and to be honest it seems so. I've never been through such a beating on any of my other iPhones, now that I think of it

Anyhow, thanks for hearing my venting.. I'll stop now

Otherwise, what a lovely phone honestly. Glad to have it!

 

[MCKLMT]

I’m very impressed by the WiFi performance. It almost doubled the throughput in the same room.
For the moment, I also see a little improvement in LTE and 5G.