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iPhone 17 Air Expected to Have Battery Case Due to 'Worse' Battery Life

As many have commented so far, this seems to defeat the purpose unless the idea is that you have a light phone to carry around most of the time. And, I suppose, for those times when you might be away from a charger for longer periods, you could add a battery at added cost. I still don't get it however, it just seems pointless.

Having said this, all this tells you is that Apple do not have the technical capability to deliver a light thin phone with good battery life and all the attributes of a so called Pro/premium phone. We still seem to be a long way from the ideal of a low weight, strong (does not self destruct when dropped), high performance phone with a decent battery life.

if this does not seem bad enough, this 'thin' phone seems likely to be priced as premium phone and not as a mid range phone which it will be in terms of performance and battery life. This is, obviously, pure supposition at this time, so, until we know, we cannot really make any assumptions about this. But, if this IS priced as a premium phone and we are expected to pay more because it is thinner, I suspect I will not be one of those looking at this as a serious proposition, much as I would really, really like the thought of not carrying a brick around with me.
 
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A company out of ideas and behind the curve, trading on a product that was the baby of their long since passed founder. I recognise this all might sound pretty negative and cynical but this strategy is taking consumers for fools. A thin iPhone with a battery pack is just a deconstructed iPhone in two boxes. Name one person you know who has ever said "gee I wish my phone was thinner". Now ask yourself how often do people wish their battery lasted longer. This is absurd.
 
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People want the thinness of the Air with the battery life of the Pro Max unfortunately that's a big NO from physics 😁
 
I don’t see the point in this ‘Air’ model.

Far too many compromises.
For what real benefit? 🤔🤔

Would much rather have a slightly thicker Pro Max with even longer lasting battery.

In fact, I would love the iPhone Pro Max to have a tapered design, thicker at the top to incorporate the nasty camera bump and thinner, but not too thin towards the bottom. The battery could be shaped accordingly to maximise capacity.
 
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This is going to flop so hard. The Plus and the Mini were not particularly successful either. Apple can't have a "fourth option" that works. People either want the most affordable the base model or they want one of the Pros.
 
Hajj.david said:
Again, nearly every previous iPhone for the past 5+ years had a battery case made by apple in some way shape or form. This isn't new for the Air.

I absolutely hate the weight and size of current phones, they absolutely tug on my pockets as I walk especially if I am wearing sporty clothing like basketball shorts. It also takes up tons of space in my pocket. Id argue who cares about battery life. My house has like 15 chargers everywhere including wireless ones on the couch. My car has a wireless charger (cooled too!), and when I get into work I have a charger as well (I am an app developer so I often plug it in for testing etc anyways). The only time I need to use my battery is when I go to the store or pickup my kids from school.


Why not wait until Apple officially releases something.


I agree with your post except for the EV comment. Most americans don't live in a single family home, and therefore are at the mercy of their apartment complex/condo association to provide EV charging, which almost none do and the few that do have like 1-2 for 1000 residents. This means you have to go to a public charger and sit for 30-40 minutes every few days which is definitely a "hell no" from me.

In addition the 250 miles range is an absolute lie. The second its freezing out, cut the number in half and just a few years of driving will further make that number go to hell. Oh and if you tow occasionally like me that number goes to like 20-30 miles.

I owned a Chevy Volt and I think it is by far the most practical approach. The electric motors do all of the work for 50+ miles then a constant speed gas generator kicks on once you run out of juice.



You don't HAVE to nor do you NEED to use a battery case. Believe it or not you CAN actually use this phone without said case, and for the record iPad batteries have always sucked and it would have been nice if Apple did make a battery case.


Not everyone is obsessed with cameras, I barely use mine. I am buying this because I hate the thickness and bulk of current phones but want a large screen.


We dont know that.
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ok you're like a full on apple apologist. yes battery cases existed - it was a relatively niche product. but the phone itself was designed to last a full day for the majority of people - as it should be. the knock here is that apple expects the majority of people to need a battery case. saying okay to that is absurd.
 
Premium1 said:
It takes a lot of courage to make it thin and also requires it to be as thick as the regular models just to last all day. Apple going back to the Ive days of form over function. People want more battery, not less.
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Yeah exactly, it takes either courage or stupidity and Apple aren’t stupid so they must be very courageous 😂😂
SFjohn said:
There isn’t even an Android phone mini, which tells me the market for that screen size is pretty much in your imagination… 😉
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True it does seem to be in my imagination, as well as millions of other imaginations 😁
 
Hajj.david said:
You don't HAVE to nor do you NEED to use a battery case. Believe it or not you CAN actually use this phone without said case, and for the record iPad batteries have always sucked and it would have been nice if Apple did make a battery case.
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Yeah so if I need extra battery, why would I buy the air and a battery case which probably makes it more clunky than the pro.

Who’s the target user?
 
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Let's make it as thin as possible by removing battery capacity and then make it thick again by adding a separate case with said removed battery capacity - logic 101
 
The only way this would be anywhere near a good thing, is if the batter case made the back of the phone flat when laid on a table..
 
I suppose they must do market research to see whether people prefer thinner phones or better batteries. But it's hard to believe that people would prefer a millimetre thinner phone for a battery that lasts less than a day
 
Make it make sense…

Super thin iPhone that Ive pushed for..

Because of thinness, battery must be thinner…

Because of super thin battery, battery life takes a noticeable hit…

Because of poor battery life, Apple SELLS an optional battery case thereby covering said super thin iPhone AND making it thicker..

That about right? 🤔
1746737953903.png
 
I am really happy with the iPhone Pro Max battery life - I rather have a device that can go a day or two without a charge rather than a super slim phone. These phones are all too big anyways.
 
7thson said:
It’s interesting that Apple will go to this much effort to make “the thinnest iPhone”. I can’t recall anyone saying they want a super thin iPhone, but have heard plenty of calls to get rid of the camera bump with a bigger battery. I’d say they know what they’re doing but lately that’s not necessarily true.
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Johnny Ive started them on this quest for the thinnest possible iPhone and battery life has always taken a hit.

I personally would take a slightly thicker device for better battery life, and I think lots of other users would too.

The iPhone air is just another “bend-gate” waiting to happen.
 
Mazda 3s said:
Maybe I’m an outlier, but the battery life doesn’t really bother me…

I have an iPhone 16 Pro, and I have a wireless charger in my car and a 3-in-1 wireless charger on my desk (iPhone, Apple Watch, AirPods). I’m never wanting for a charge throughout the day.

I can’t think of a time when I’ve ever been under 15%, let alone 10% with the phone by bedtime on a normal work week or weekend. 🤷🏽‍♂️

And my battery health is just fine with this usage. So I just don’t get the hysteria…

View attachment 2507653
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It’s not really hysteria… it’s the fact that Apple has decided to go backwards (reduced camera capability and battery capacity) just to get a slimmer phone when the majority of their user base has been clamoring for years for the opposite.

Yet Samsung has been doing it (better camera and battery & about the same thickness without insane camera hump) for years.

I’m good with the size of my 16 Pro Max. Just continue work to improve battery tech as well as camera WITHOUT going bigger.
 
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