Yeah... I was all set to purchase a 17 Air. But the loss of RAW format when making photos will keep me using my 16PM for another year.
Using Lightroom for all of my image processing, not having RAW available is too big of an issue for me.
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Here Are 5 Smaller iPhone Air Details You Might Have Missed, Including Only a Single Speaker
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Yeah... I was all set to purchase a 17 Air. But the loss of RAW format when making photos will keep me using my 16PM for another year.
Using Lightroom for all of my image processing, not having RAW available is too big of an issue for me.
Me too!. I have the 15 pro and I find it too bulky/heavy. I don’t even use most of its features, for sure they’re nice to have. But for someone who dooms scrolls, any phone can do it. The air reminds me of the iPhone 6 and that’s all I needed for me to switch 🫡None of those small details seem like a practical impact for meI’m so excited to get the air!
Agreed! I know a lot of people who only do 4 things on their phone. Text, music, social media and selfies. Mostly teens. They don't even consider it a "phone". It's a device. This would make a perfect device for them.
Can confirm. Got rid of my 16 Pro because I could no longer stand the size of the thing. At this rate I'll take anything under 6" - but it seems like manufacturers are afraid of smaller screens.
Trying to reassure anyone considering the Air, despite popular opinion:
- The Air is classic Apple design, typical from the Jony/Steve era. Of course, some people will hate on it.
- One larger speaker might actually sound better than two smaller ones. Let’s wait for reviews next week to see.
- Check for yourself: 90% of your photos come from the 26–52 mm range. You don’t really need three cameras.
- To be confirmed next week, but the battery looks to be in iPhone 16 Pro territory, better than any previous iPhone.
- That's the only way to get the most advanced magnetic power bank on the market. You’ll get more battery life than literally any phone with it. You can replace this battery, have a spare one, burn this one instead of the internal one.
- Tired of the same old silicone cases year after year? The Air gives you a fresh bumper design you won’t find elsewhere.
- You’re paying for advanced design, not just a component list. It was the deal since the beginning.
I ordered a 17 Pro Max. I had to.
I would have gotten the 17 but for the 8gb vs the 12gb RAM on the others. If they need 12gb, why doesn't the 17? Seems like early obsolescence.
I might have gotten the Air if it had stereo speakers - a big beautiful screen with one speaker?
I would have gotten the 17 but for the 8gb vs the 12gb RAM on the others. If they need 12gb, why doesn't the 17? Seems like early obsolescence.
I might have gotten the Air if it had stereo speakers - a big beautiful screen with one speaker?
You can keep your DynaTAC as you're so strong! 😆 The rest of us prefer that things progress.
Explain why Apple markets gaming and video/movie playback on a small device then, would gaming not benefit from stereo sound.
These would all be better addressed with a better mobile game device or even a smart tv, smart box, game console, surround sound system etc. if you want to head down this road why bother with the iPhone Air just get an old school candy bar or flip phone.
USB2.0 is the main reason I’m not buying the phone lol , everything else I could have lived with , use data transfer on my 15pro all the time , convenient and quick!
What we really want is an iPhone 17 Ultra that’s a 17PM with a thick chassis so that the lenses are flush with the back case and use the extra space for battery.
Because GPS, CarPlay, Apple Pay, email, iMessage, Apple Watch/Garmin, Spotify/Apple music, etc. I play zero video on my phone, don't use/browse social media, and I have never played a game on my current phone. (Had it since October).
A flip phone/candy bar wouldn't suit me. There is more to a smartphone than games and video.
The iPhone Air is so good looking and cool that I was considering buying it even though I have the iPhone 16 Pro. I just can't bring myself to pay so much for a new phone that has worse cameras and speakers. If they had just made those better than the 16 Pro I think so many more people would have upgraded to the Air.
Thanks for pointing out the differences. I have been going back and forth trying to decide whether or not to trade in my 16 Pro for the new Air. I am still not sure if I will, but these specs aren't deterring me.
Apple's all-new, ultra-thin iPhone Air launches on Friday, and there are some smaller details about the device that you might have missed.
Below, we outline five things to know about the iPhone Air:
Be sure to watch our iPhone Air hands-on video from earlier this week.
- As rumored, the iPhone Air only has a single speaker. The earpiece at the top of the device doubles as a speaker, but there is no speaker on the bottom of the device. The holes to the left and right of the USB-C port are for microphones. For stereo audio, use AirPods or a capable external speaker.
- On the iPhone Air, the Dynamic Island is positioned slightly lower on the screen compared to the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro models. This was likely necessary due to the device's ultra-thin frame necessitating internal design changes.
- While the iPhone 17 Pro models support USB 3.2 Gen 2, for data transfer speeds of up to 10 Gbps, the iPhone Air is limited to USB 2 speeds of up to 480 Mbps.
- Apple says the iPhone Air can be charged to 50% in approximately 30 minutes, whereas the iPhone 17 Pro models can be charged to 50% in approximately 20 minutes. A higher-wattage charger and cable is required to achieve these speeds. In addition, MagSafe wireless charging on the iPhone Air is limited to up to 20W, compared to 25W for the iPhone 17 Pro models.
- In the iPhone 17 Pro models, the A19 Pro chip has a 6-core GPU. In the iPhone Air, it has a 5-core GPU, so graphics performance will take a slight hit.
Article Link: Here Are 5 Smaller iPhone Air Details You Might Have Missed, Including Only a Single Speaker
Speakers - I very rarely rely on the speakers for anything. Maybe while scrolling - but 95% of the time I am listening to music or watching movies/shows through my AirPods Pro (Can't wait for my Gen 3's!!).
Data transfer speed - I haven't used a cable to sync my phone up to anything since maybe the iPhone 10.
Charging speed - whatever.
Not mentioned, but camera - this is what keeps me from hitting that buy-now button. I love having an impressive camera on me at all times, but do I really utilize it to its full potential? Most likely not. Will the Air's camera be enough, maybe??
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I was going to get one after I saw them for the light and thin choice but after reading about all of the compromises I can’t see myself getting one this year. I will now be waiting on the Air 2 for them to hopefully correct all these mistakes.
All my same thoughts. I do use the macro camera on my 16 pro (and earlier models) as I have a side hustle for selling on eBay and Poshmark. I don’t want to buy an expensive camera and lens for this when the macro has been working fine for several years.
It's not even a plateau anymore. More like Olympus Mons in Mars!
I don't see one single reason to get a two seat sports car.
But then again, I understand that not everybody is me, and many people have different use cases for their vehicles than I do.
It's kind of like that.
(FTR, I'm not buying an Air either, it doesn't suit my uses. But that doesn't mean it won't suit a lot of other people's uses, and I don't see any need to make them defend their decision.)
I think things would be different if Jony Ive was still at the company… Imagine him talking about the “plateau”
Bigger, nicer screen. Worth the difference? Probably not. But the Air isn’t for someone on a budget.
Have ordered Air since I am curious. These are my thoughts on the short comings as compare to other phones in the lineup.
- Speaker: I see that iPhone 7 was the first phone to have stereo speaker (Correct me if I'm wrong) so it goes long way back. So this is significant step backwards on paper.
- Dynamic Island: Yes. This may distract at first but minor inconvenience that may be disappear after awhile.
- Transfer speed: This may be major thing but assuming you are not using pro, I doubt most people will be transferring data that will require high speed. Plus most people do wireless data transfer.
- Charging speed: Not a major issue in practice.
- 5-core GPU: Honestly if we are throttled by one GPU core on iPhone or any phone than not sure what to say. In practice, it will not matter much.
Oblivious take. Been lifting for over a decade, just because I can doesn’t mean I want to carry an unwieldy brick around in my pocket. Some people do and it’s fine.