Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
I was going to get the Sky Blue iPhone Air, but then I realised the differences between the Air and the new 17 Pros:

iPhone Air
iPhone 17 Pro
iPhone 17 Pro Max
5-core GPU6-core GPU6-core GPU
27 hours video playback31 hours video playback37 hours video playback
Camera: 48MP Fusion Main48MP Fusion Main, 48MP Fusion Ultra Wide, 48MP Fusion Telephoto48MP Fusion Main, 48MP Fusion Ultra Wide, 48MP Fusion Telephoto
No macro photographyMacro photographyMacro photography
Dolby Vision up to 4K at 60 fpsDolby Vision up to 4K at 120 fpsDolby Vision up to 4K at 120 fps
No ProRAWProRAWProRAW
Zoom: 1x, 2x0.5x, 1x, 2x, 4x, 8x0.5x, 1x, 2x, 4x, 8x
USB-C, supports USB 2 speeds (480Mbps)USB-C, supports USB 3 speeds (10Gbps)USB-C, supports USB 3 speeds (10Gbps)
MagSafe wireless charging up to 20WMagSafe wireless charging up to 25WMagSafe wireless charging up to 25W

For me, the camera is a downgrade (from my iPhone 15 Pro Max). I need the zoom options, and I love the macro photography. I cancelled my pre-order, and I'm not getting the 17 Pro Max either. I'll likely just replace the battery and live with this for another year.

Yep. It's too much of a downgrade in the camera. I'm also not convinced the battery life will be acceptable. It's a neat looking phone, but not for me.
 
Once they’ll release Air Mini with 5.4-5.8” screen and without a camera bump in matte black i’ll consider buying one.

That'll be a long way off. The bump houses everything except the battery. Removing that means moving things to where the battery is. Making the whole phone smaller (smaller screen) means less battery. I don't think the equation would work.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Zensō
Yep. It's too much of a downgrade in the camera. I'm also not convinced the battery life will be acceptable. It's a neat looking phone, but not for me.
I'm lucky if I can even find most of those features. And that's the difference between Pro and Non-Pro users I feel, I think most people are fine with good reliable basic features, despite the tech bloggers constant attention they give to the cameras.

So perhaps the Air is the return of the "feature phone" category, I'm sure Apple finds out via phone data how little people use certain functions and internal studies probably show the average customer couldn't explain "macro photography" or "ProRaw" if their lives depended on it.
 
I feel really silly for this, but there is just 1 single thing stopping me from getting the Air.... and that's the lack of Ultrawide... every other concession either doesn't affect me or im ok with..... for some reason I never really liked my 16PM and always find myself wishing I had held on to the 15PM...... Anyway if it wasn't for that one single thing I would 100% switch to the air.
 
I'm lucky if I can even find most of those features. And that's the difference between Pro and Non-Pro users I feel, I think most people are fine with good reliable basic features, despite the tech bloggers constant attention they give to the cameras.

So perhaps the Air is the return of the "feature phone" category, I'm sure Apple finds out via phone data how little people use certain functions and internal studies probably show the average customer couldn't explain "macro photography" or "ProRaw" if their lives depended on it.

Totally agree. I think this is a self created issue tho. Apple TOLD us we needed 3 cameras, now we feel like this is sub-par because it doesn't have them.

It's similar with the titanium thing on the pro's, they told us 2 years ago we needed titanium, and now they quetly tell us nope, aluminium is what we needed after all.

In reality it's trade off's and people need to decide if they need these things, and not rely on apple to tell them.
 
I feel really silly for this, but there is just 1 single thing stopping me from getting the Air.... and that's the lack of Ultrawide... every other concession either doesn't affect me or im ok with..... for some reason I never really liked my 16PM and always find myself wishing I had held on to the 15PM...... Anyway if it wasn't for that one single thing I would 100% switch to the air.
For me it’s the lack of USB3 , I’d would of gave up my 15p to try the air if it had USB3
 
I feel really silly for this, but there is just 1 single thing stopping me from getting the Air.... and that's the lack of Ultrawide... every other concession either doesn't affect me or im ok with..... for some reason I never really liked my 16PM and always find myself wishing I had held on to the 15PM...... Anyway if it wasn't for that one single thing I would 100% switch to the air.

I always found the UW creates weird CCTV like shots. Portraight always looks the best to me, even when it's not a portraight shot.

What do you use the UW for mainly?
 
I've been on Team Pro Max, 11 through 16 (oh, and XS Max, haha!!).

It was for the big screen. But I didn't like the bulk.

My favorite pre-X iPhones were the 6+/6S+/7+. So thin and light.

The Air looks like it will give me the thinness of the 6/7, big screen, and A19 Pro chip.

I've got a Sky Blue 1TB pre-ordered for tomorrow.
 
Last edited:
For me it’s the lack of USB3 , I’d would of gave up my 15p to try the air if it had USB3
That's really interesting. Why do you care about USB3? I develop apps etc and thought it would be a game changer for compiling and testing, and ocasionally I transfer large files over USB but tbh it hasn't changed much for me.

For most things I use wifi to transfer. Do you do alot of AV stuff?
 
  • Like
Reactions: welles13
I’d would of gave up my 15p to try the air if it had USB3
Genuinely curious: what do you use USB3 for? Frequent large data transfers to an external hard drive? I know some video/photo professionals have workflows that involve this and it makes sense. It’s just probably been 5 or more years since I’ve done a wired data transfer to or from my phone, so I’m curious
 
  • Like
Reactions: welles13
Genuinely curious: what do you use USB3 for? Frequent large data transfers to an external hard drive? I know some video/photo professionals have workflows that involve this and it makes sense. It’s just probably been 5 or more years since I’ve done a wired data transfer to or from my phone, so I’m curious
I use an external SSD to transfer large files like backups , photos/vids and also put 4k videos files (movies/shows) on my phone for VLC. On my 15p it transfers stupid fast.

I lived without this feature on all my iPhones before it but now that I have it , I absolutely love this feature , I could care less about the camera downgrade and other compromises with the air , confuses me they put the pro chip but no USB3?
 
I use an external SSD to transfer large files like backups , photos/vids and also put 4k videos files (movies/shows) on my phone for VLC. On my 15p it transfers stupid fast.

I lived without this feature on all my iPhones before it but now that I have it , I absolutely love this feature , I could care less about the camera downgrade and other compromises with the air , confuses me they put the pro chip but no USB3?
Likely the same reason they gave the 16e so many solid features but left out trivial things like MagSafe. $$$$
 
I feel really silly for this, but there is just 1 single thing stopping me from getting the Air.... and that's the lack of Ultrawide... every other concession either doesn't affect me or im ok with..... for some reason I never really liked my 16PM and always find myself wishing I had held on to the 15PM...... Anyway if it wasn't for that one single thing I would 100% switch to the air.
This is my main dislike with the Air too. I mostly use the ultrawide lens for scenery shots, which is not a lot but I would definitely miss not having it more than any other feature the Air is lacking.
 
Gold, no question. I was sad they got rid of the shiny gold rails with the 15 Pro and 16 Pro move to titanium. Seeing how the polished titanium Apple watch was shiny, I hoped they would do that same polished titanium on an iPhone, in gold. And now they've done exactly what I hoped for.
Finally someone else digging gold! I am still debating between orange pro or gold air but leaning towards the Air.
 
This is my issue too. I currently have both saved as preorders and have to make a decision tonight, but I'm leaning towards the air. It has all the basic Pro features I need, where the Pro with all it's camera functions, 90% I never even touch, I just don't see the point. So why am I hesitating? The larger screen on the Pro and the battery life.
If they only had the Air in orange I wouldn’t think twice lol
 
Has anyone in a hands-on confirmed that the white has a natural polished titanium (the others look “colored”)?
 
Last edited:
I feel really silly for this, but there is just 1 single thing stopping me from getting the Air.... and that's the lack of Ultrawide... every other concession either doesn't affect me or im ok with..... for some reason I never really liked my 16PM and always find myself wishing I had held on to the 15PM...... Anyway if it wasn't for that one single thing I would 100% switch to the air.
Unfortunately, the optical distortion on the ultrawide makes it nearly unusable for me. The macro function is a fun toy, but after the first week I never used it. At least for me, I won’t miss it.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.