Sure, I get it, my earlier point was that “size” in regards to the Air is twofold: its screen size is large, but its depth and weight are smaller.
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iPhone Air iPhone Air Lack of Popularity
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I didn’t pay much attention to the Air when I was on the Apple Store. Yes, I held it with my hand, enough to notice that the size is too big to be comfortable to use one handed.
If they were going the route of “lightweight and easy to use”, a smaller footprint than 6.5” would have been better, honestly. As I already said elsewhere, a 6” iPhone Air, with a slightly narrower footprint, would have been ideal for me, and I would have considered it… but I guess they needed to fit the entire PCB of the smartphone horizontally in that width, so they went with the minimum width needed for it.
If next year we see a smaller iPhone Air -please don’t put the mini descriptor on the name-, I’ll consider it. But I’m afraid next year’s show star will be the foldable iPhone…
If they were going the route of “lightweight and easy to use”, a smaller footprint than 6.5” would have been better, honestly. As I already said elsewhere, a 6” iPhone Air, with a slightly narrower footprint, would have been ideal for me, and I would have considered it… but I guess they needed to fit the entire PCB of the smartphone horizontally in that width, so they went with the minimum width needed for it.
If next year we see a smaller iPhone Air -please don’t put the mini descriptor on the name-, I’ll consider it. But I’m afraid next year’s show star will be the foldable iPhone…
I don’t think Apple will release a successor next year. However in 2027 we might see the Air 2
I think a lot of it is on the marketing. Outside of the visible extra cameras on the pro, i dont think the regular consumer, (not the enthusiasts that are on here), would notice the differences in power besides when it comes to battery.
If apple marketed this as the iPhone pro air or something like that, that would hint to people it’s a premium device I think it would’ve sold more. I know why they cant call it that, but when folks are used to hearing pro and pro max as your high end devices, that what most people are going to aim for.
If apple marketed this as the iPhone pro air or something like that, that would hint to people it’s a premium device I think it would’ve sold more. I know why they cant call it that, but when folks are used to hearing pro and pro max as your high end devices, that what most people are going to aim for.
My Cosmic Orange PM was due to deliver Friday, but its hung up somewhere in the UPS network.
So while that gets figured out and since the Air was in stock at my local Apple Store, I went and picked one up to try out for several days since we have 14 days to return it. I will say I am VERY torn on what to do when my PM arrives. As I always get the PM annually on the 1UP, this Air is quite impressive in feel, weight, and the ONLY THING that makes me torn to stick with this vs the PM when it arrives is the camera. Dang I love this Air, but I just do not know if I can settle for this one camera that I can even zoom out to get more into the frame.
I do like it way more than I expected.
I have a decision to make when my PM delivers.
So while that gets figured out and since the Air was in stock at my local Apple Store, I went and picked one up to try out for several days since we have 14 days to return it. I will say I am VERY torn on what to do when my PM arrives. As I always get the PM annually on the 1UP, this Air is quite impressive in feel, weight, and the ONLY THING that makes me torn to stick with this vs the PM when it arrives is the camera. Dang I love this Air, but I just do not know if I can settle for this one camera that I can even zoom out to get more into the frame.
I do like it way more than I expected.
I have a decision to make when my PM delivers.
I have been following your angst with interest as I have many of the same questions coming from a 16 PM. I will wade in with my decision tree. Mind you this is ALL theoretical as I don't own an Air and you get what you pay for (in other words I am like 95% of the people with opinions here (and that is being generous), but I am honest enough to admit it).
Performance/overheating : At one point you say the PM wins the specs war. Yep. Except of course convenience form factor. But there have been folks saying for quite a while the A series performance outstrips the actual need by quite a lot (i.e. these monster computers aren't being fully utilized). The only folks that seem to disagree are gamers. Are you a gamer? If yes get the Pro, if not, keep thinking.
Btw, being a gamer is not the same as playing games. I play games all the time, but they are not GPU and CPU intense, they are basically turn based. I have never had one throttle my phone. The you tubers claim there are some action games that throttle even the Pros. They highlight them when trying to show a phone overheating. I do know my Pro would get hot, because the 16 series is known for that. Apple has theoretically addressed this in the 17 pro, but data is still being collected. I doubt (but what do I really know) the Air will heat more than the 16 PM.
So my own thoughts are that the Air performance will be fine FOR ME. BTW, I do find it interesting you never hear from other groups on performance issues (photographers etc), but just gamers. Not sure if that means there are no issues or they are more shy.
Photography: You are right, we don't know how much the lack of an ultra wide is going to impact us. Your angst seems to be, 'but will I miss it later somewhere down the line?' The good news is, you can do a retrospective analysis on what you have now and find out now rather than later. Scroll through your photos you have taken over the years. Pick out your favorites, the ones you really like, look at the exif data and see what lens it used. There may even be apps that numerically analyze that for you, tell you how many pictures with what lens. Lightroom classic does that for my 'real camera.' You will find edge cases, the odd picture here and there taken with the ultra wide or the telephoto but I bet you will find the majority of the pics you like are with the standard lens and the ones you really like are too. For me that is certainly the case, but admittedly for whale watching you want a telephoto and I bring my real camera with real telephoto lens. Thats hard to do with any camera phone. Majestic landscapes, sure wide angle is nice, but even with my real camera if I am hiking and dont want to carry 4 lenses, a standard lens and taking panoramas pics to stitch together works fine. And this is easier to do on an iPhone with the standard lens..
What I am saying is just use your history to tell you how you use your camera as a predictor of your future.
Battery: this one is more personal. We all use our phones differently, no one can speculate on what works for you (though plenty at MR will try lol). But for me, I can count on one hand the number of times my phone has gotten low to the point I was worried I would miss out. And that is over almost twenty years of use since the original iPhone. One hand. And I have NEVER ran out. On transpacific flights I do carry a battery, but these days most planes have USB outlets. So even then... I am good at battery management. I dont wait to make sure my phone is charged. It's not a worry, it is an easy thing to do, especially with wireless. When sitting at work, put it on a charger. When going to sleep, put it on a charger. When in the car, I use CarPlay, it is charging. You get the idea. Is that you too?
Now my adult sons, routinely, and I mean at least weekly, run out of power. They are always scrambling looking for a charger. They don't seem to think about charging until they need to charge. maybe it's a generational thing. they dont seem concerned about taking care of things, maintenance etc, I view battery charging as maintenance.
if you have rarely or never run out of power with your existing phones (some with far less power than the current air), battery life may not bite you in the future. Again a look at history approach.
Having said all that, FOMO is strong. It is hard to put down the PM and try something different. But in the end, it is only money (yeah I know), how much will you really lose if you keep it, and decide halfway through the year it really isn't for you and sell it and trade up? Is that worth the price of trying something new? Only you know. No phone decision is permanent.
My strategy btw, is doing what you are doing, in a sense. I am currently in a remote part of the country (log cabin in the woods), the nearest Apple Store is 200 miles from here. When I go home, I will go to an Apple Store and pick one up in the store and see what I think, then make my decision. I don't think the air will be a novelty thing, if I like something, I tend to keep liking it.
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Great tip about the photo data! Mine is a heavy mix of main camera and ultra wide.
For games, no I play the occasional light game, never use Game Center or any of the intensive games.
My 16 Pro often needs charging by the evening if I am on safari a lot in the day, but I have no issues making it last if I need to.
My other drawback to the Air is minor but i would prefer the screen to be the same size as my 16 Pro, instead of slightly wider.
I agree with 95% of your comments. I disagree with this one. Apple will release an Air 2 next year, just like it will a pro, and probably the standard. All of these alongside the fold. Why? because eventually apple is headed towards all phones getting thinner and the Air at the very least is their test bed. Next year they will figure out how to put two cameras in and sell it.
Then the air might not be for you. If you use the ultra wide a lot, and it sounds like you do, you will miss it. Have you tried panorama shots? BTW, this not a point of conflict, but I am curious on why you use the UW a lot? Coming from a real camera (as they say) I find the 22 mm equivalent on the standard lens to already be pretty wide. My standard is usually more in the 50 range (they call it nifty fifty for a reason). I find the distortion of the UW too much for family pics (our typical viewpoint with our eyes is 50 mm btw, thats not me, thats Ansel Adams that said that). Is it mostly landscapes that you shoot?
EDIT: my view on the camera is skewed. I use phone cameras to capture family moments when pulling out my real camera can be obtrusive. When I know I want a striking wide angle landscape I use my real camera and pick the lens I want (oddly mountains dont complain or duck). I find with any apple camera phone, although they represent it as having a zoom, they dont. they have discrete focal lengths, everything else is digital. I dont do digital. With my real camera I have a 16 mm, 20, 24, 35, 40, 50, 85, and 300 mm primes and real optical zoom lenses in between (and beyond). I am picky about my focal length. If I want to take a good pic, I find just 3 to be too few. shrugs. so for Candids, one has been fine. I know. Strange. I do chuckles that anyone thinks that a pro photographer uses any phone camera to make real money. Sure, there are some exceptions but they are rare. They use real cameras for pro work. Regardless of Apples 'shot on an eye phone' adds. What they dont show you, but you can google, is all the gear that goes into making those shots look so good. You might as well get a better camera at that point. Okay, let me step off this stump.
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I don’t select it by choice, I just pinch to zoom in and out so it must be going to the wide lens when I do that.
I have tried a couple of panoramas since getting the Air yes, and think it’s a reasonable workaround.
My biggest issue with the iPhone Air is the 3,149 mAh battery pack. You either need to get Apple's own US$99 MagSafe battery pack designed for the iPhone Air or get a 5,000 mAh external battery pack with USB Type C connector like the Anker Nano power bank (around US$24 on Amazon US) to "top up" the battery as needed.
Sorry for quoting you out of context but this part at least is very true. Youtube personalities and many others on MR will tell me my Air will not last even a full 24 hours from a full charge.
And guess what, even the most optimistic among them... was wrong.
This is my phone today. I have not charged it for well over 20 hours. Grand total of 3.5 hours of screen-on time yesterday. 4 phone calls (<10 mins each), 1 hour of full brightness navigation, maybe a few snapshots using the camera here and there. I also played Pocket Chess briefly while waiting for my wife.
Air's battery is more than fine for me. This is proof that with my usage, it can last almost 2 full days. Without me having to do anything special like putting the phone into low power mode.
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At least for my use case, I don't need to. I finished yesterday with 20% after a normal weekend day (which are the toughest for me, as I have a MagSafe charger at my desk during the week. I took it off the charger at 6:30am and put it back on at 11pm.
Obviously your usage might vary, and be heavier than mine, but as someone coming from the ProMax I was worried battery would be a significant issue, and it's not. I don't know if it's the new modem or what, but the battery is better than the 3,149 mAh size would lead you to believe. If I end up returning the phone, it won't be because of the battery.
So you have one and have experienced heating issues and have listened to the speaker to judge it as poor? If not, you have no dog in this fight.
It’s not about what people think they want. Hold the iPhone Air and say it’s not the future. It’s just about the most innovation Apple has made in something usable. The Vision Pro is amazing but strapping a bunch of weight to the face makes using it not desirable. I don’t care about the missing cameras as much as I do a titanium iPhone vs aluminum. For me, aluminum is not a good material for a phone. I don’t game. I would take an iPhone Fold right now! Would love it so much. I want the iPad experience on my phone and am so jealous of Samsung Fold users - but I don’t like losing Apple ecosystem as much as I disagree with it.
If people end up seeing and holding an Air, they will quickly realize that all the benefits outweigh the drawbacks for many people. I love my Air. I got it in white and think it’s a dream to use and a marvel to hold. What I have wanted for a long time. The only thing would make it better is to remove the dang island.
aw my wife does that too and gets decent pictures I might add. When I put together family vacation photo books I would say 15% are her camera phone (an older iPhone, gasp), 5% are my 16 MP (or whatever, I upgrade often, she refuses I think out of silent protest to show me it really doesnt matter), and the bulk, 80% is my real camera. I hate that term. You can't see the difference much on a screen, definitely less in instagram, but it is always apparent to me in print. But ... no one complains so what does it all mean? As for pinching in and out for me, I am too much of a purist to let a computer decide my digital cropping but do it myself in post. I actually find it annoying how hard it is to hit those little buttons for 0.5, 1x, and 5x (the true focal lengths) and sometimes miss a shot because the stupid digital zoom thing pops up lol. We are all different.
I messed up over the weekend and got my hands on an iPhone Air and I can't get it out of my mind. Its so sexy and sleek but for me impractical. I wear the heck out of my phones battery with my gig work so I know a pro is the best option for me but the pros look so bland and boring compared to the air. Plus the screen size is perfect too.
I just don’t see that, what is futuristic about it, a slim design? People on MR keep saying how beautiful it is and it just reminds me on my old Samsung Galaxy phones. I was in Bestbuy yesterday looking at the AirPod Pro 3s and passed by two and still didn’t get it. To me the 17s have the best colors while the Airs are very muted and often undistinguishable between them. Again I know it’s not for me for many reasons but I just don’t see how a flattened phone is somehow life changing.
Being futuristic isn’t about this current version, but what they’ve been able to do. The entire computational components are under the camera bump… there’s a pro chip that makes it an excellent performer and with high efficiency for solid battery performance.
Look how slim the iPad Pro is now. Ditto the iMacs, which are as slim as a pro iPhone. These designs are nothing short of remarkable.
Anyone can make something bigger and heavier. Making it lighter and thinner while still offering such a high experience is of course a sign of the future.
Fair enough. Will bookmark this post and come back to it this time next year 😉
You've gotten quiet OP. But me thinks you protesteth too much Sir and don't enjoy the backlash. I do think you were genuine in starting this thread but may regret it now.
If I may offer, the conflicts started with your title. "iPhone Air Lack of Popularity." That's not a question. That's a statement. A question has a '?.' The statement is cat nip for all those that started putting the Air down before its release even, and remarkably have stayed true to their preconceptions. shocker. Conversely, the statement is a poke at those that were excited about the Air before it was released, and again still often seem to be enamored with it. They show up to defend. There seem to be very few undecided in between (but they exist).
And btw, you are wrong. It does NOT lack popularity. You use 'popularity' as a synonym for 'majority.' It's not, it is 'the state or condition of being liked, admired, or supported by many people.' I would argue the Air IS popular. Many people like it. Other phone manufacturers would wish for its sales numbers.
So your question should start with why isn't the air phone more popular. It is all relative
. pun intended.Nit Picking? Language matters. You first statement then is "Now if you are an iPhone Air enthusiast this topic may not be for you so you may just want to scroll on." Because yeah, people like being told to go away lol.
Now you have reduced your question to be 'I thought the air would sell out, but it hasn't. Why was I wrong?'
Not sure who you thought could tell you why your assumptions were wrong. Or be interested. Instead mostly it devolved into another round of people reiterating why they do or do not like the Air, why it makes sense, or does not. You have gamely tried to keep the conversation civil, but you did aid in keeping it going with your frequent comments Shrugs. MR psychology.
Not to mention you asked this without any real marketing data to support any of it.
It remains to be seen if the Air fulfills Apple's expectations. Ours don't matter. Or at least mine don't matter. What matters to me is not popularity but if I want one. If Apple releases Air 2 we will know it hit their minimal expectations, if not, then we will have to agree your assumptions on its popularity were wrong.
But guessing is the primary occupation of people on MR. Congrats on stirring the pot again, even with good intentions. Remember, no good deed goes unpunished.
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I think it will sell very well. It will probably sell better than the mini. I don't know if it will sell well enough to keep so many models in the line up but I guess we will see.
An Air 2, in the regular pro screen size, with more camera options, and battery life would get me, especially if the design stays the same with Ti edges and a nicer 1 piece back.
An Air 2, in the regular pro screen size, with more camera options, and battery life would get me, especially if the design stays the same with Ti edges and a nicer 1 piece back.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the Air form replaces either the base or pro models, depending on what Apple can get into the slim form and whether Fold becomes a reality.
I think base, Air, Pro, Pro Max and Fold is too many options. (Not that Apple will agree, if the iPad range is anything to go by.) I’d like to see a downsized range, personally.
I am not going to be dragged into a discussion on 'best' but suggest you look again about people claims on the iPad Air and MacBook Air. They often claim they like how thin they are, just like they say about the Air. and the MacBook Pro vs MacBook Air is often exactly like this one, people claiming the compromises (screen, battery life, heating, audio) of the MacBook Air makes the Pro which is only a few hundred more a better 'value.' The proponents of the MBA (myself included) claim they appreciate how they like the form factor of the MBA for travel. I own both btw, the only time I appreciate the MBP more is doing computationally and GPU intense work in LightRoom Classic. Then the MBP wins hands down. For 95% of what I do, I chose the MBA for its convenience.
Well except the word 'premium' is not bounced around as much on discussions of MBA vs MBP, but I think that reflects more on the psychology (not using the word vanity) of some iPhone buyers more than any reality. Dont forget, the audience for the iPhone is a LOT bigger than the other products, and often less technically concerned. I am already taking the arrows out of my back for that comment lol.
So yeah tell me why these discussions are not similar?