iPhone Air was designed with iOS 26 Liquid Glass in mind, it was said in one of the interviews I viewed and maybe others but I am unable to confirm.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iPhone Air's Resale Value Has Dropped Dramatically, Data Shows
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Businesses don’t go out of business when they sell profitable (but not the most profitable) products. Plenty of companies serve their customers, not their shareholders. There’s no need to justify endless corporate greed. Producing a mini periodically wouldn’t violate Apple’s fiduciary duty to shareholders or put a dent in their endless cash pile. This is a straw man.
Agreed ... in fact, I'd argue it could be violating the fiduciary duty as it's putting at risk my remaining a customer at all (which includes iPhones, iPads, AirPods, Macs, Services, etc).
Their whole strategy now hinges on keeping folks in the ecosystem.
That should not be getting put in jeopardy by trying to jam everyone into one of only a few iPhone options.
The iPhone is THE thing. It should have the most lineup diversity of anything they make.
Produce iPhone mini - profit $150. Produce different iPhone - profit $300. *purely hypothetical here, but you get the point, more about sales margin not actual profit per phone*
Yeah... I'm sure shareholders, executives will understand coming out with a phone that sold poorly every few years to appease the minority...
Not really. At a certain point the profit is low enough that it just isn't worth the aggravation and risk.
Also, remember, Apple did actually try with the mini, and the problem isn't that Apple just arbitrarily cancelled it. They cancelled it because it was a lousy seller. A few loud MacRumors users isn't enough to sustain such a product.
Apparently Apple making a mini means they can’t make other phones at the same time. They are trying to produce the fewest models that reach the broadest base. Most revenue at the lowest cost. That’s not a user centric approach. It’s the complete opposite.
There's only one tiny team that has to make all the iPhones.
It's like the elves in Santa's workshop.
We can't expect a multi trillion dollar company to make multiple sizes.
It's just too much for such a small operation to handle.
What I don't get is why you would be surprised by this (or anyone... not singling you out, your post was just a handy hook for the point I'm about to make).
A company Apple's size doesn't really serve or work for its customers. It serves the massive institutional investors and retirement funds that hold great quantities of its stock and expect stable growth and sustained revenue. Blue chip. To the extent that it needs to create, sell, and (most importantly) market products to audiences that serve that need is its primary focus.
They've tried now three times to expand the iPhone moat. Mini, Plus, now Air. None have worked. They really wanted that additional beach head presumably to ensure the ability to market an iPhone lineup as uniquely new. But what they're finding is they don't need it. The iPhone continues to out-perform. The more people on the fringes complain, the more the top of the bell curve buys. The resounding success of the iPhone 17 lineup (minus the Air) should end up being the final nail in the coffin to the idea that Apple needs to produce anything beyond Value ('E'), Baseline (iPhone) and Aspirational (Pro/Pro Max).
It's not unlike the Mac: They don't produce a sub-note anymore, they don't produce upgradable towers, and they're likely to abandon their high-end tower eventually as well. Why? Because they don't need to make them in order to sustain revenue goals.
It's not about what you or I want as individuals, or what Apple is "capable" of producing in order to be different or identify underserved audiences. They're not that kind of company anymore, and never will be again.
Not sure the battery being big enough is still an issue or at least won't be forever as battery tech gets better. I think space for pro camera modules is probably a bigger issue for a pro phone.
I don't understand what you mean can by same can be said about the mini's form factor? It being much smaller is a much more discernible difference in form factor vs a phone that is nearly the same height and width but a bit thinner and lighter. The Air still fits in your hand and pocket nearly the same as a non max model iphone. There are plenty of people interested in a smaller iPhone even if it means a smaller screen, you see it in this forums comments. But not at the expense of certain features or settling for a non pro model which I think we both agree on.
I did say they could or couldn't build a pro model mini, I don't think either of us can confirm or deny that unless you work in that specific department at Apple then I guess you can, but you're probably right that it's not really feasible, at least right now. I stated in my first message we'll likely never see another mini phone. I still think there would be more demand for a good iPhone mini vs the already proven low demand for the Air. I think that was really the point I was trying to make.
I personally wouldn't buy an Air over any other iPhone 17 but I would definitely by a mini (with sufficient or similar battery life as the Air) over an iphone Air and regular iphone 17, but likely not over the regular iphone pro unless there was a mini pro, which I agree with you likely isn't feasible or would have to be nerfed vs a regular pro model, based on internal space, making it a less attractive buy.
I think the ideal iphone line up should be iphone mini as an entry phone, iphone pro and iphone pro max. Maybe an iphone SE with a similar size screen to the reg iphone pro because your right more people want a bigger screen and it probably easier to make a cheap midsized phone. I think the niche small screen market is still a viable one if your forecast your sales and projections appropriately. Especially if your one of the few companies producing them.
I call this the anti-Ive effect. They didn't learn from the Macbook Pro. Making things thinner for the sake of thinner. The users didn't ask for this. The only thing that makes sense with the Air is if Apple used it as a quasi-experiment for the upcoming Fold.
You are doing it wrong. You could have brand new latest gen phone, for literally zero cost with carrier trade-in promotions. 🤦🏻♂️
That's crap. Widely reported how much iPhones cost to produce. It's how much volume they push them out. But when the volume of the initial supply is not met, price goes down to get rid of product.
The 17 sounds better but its still comparitively crap to even a cheap $20 set of earbuds. The fact is all phones sound awful. Heck, with one speaker the Air only sounds half as crap!
A company being entirely profit-focused or entirely user-focused wouldn’t last long.
There’s no reason Apple can’t make a mini or any other variant alongside their current lineup.
They just choose not to.
If they replaced the Air with a new Mini would they then be user focused?
But then the Air folks would be left out.
I just don’t know how many variants are necessary.
My iPhone isn’t exactly the way I like but it’s not an issue for me.
What I mean is nobody is interested in the much smaller screen size and battery deficiency of a mini. As evidenced by weak sales, we don't know the numbers obviously, but you can venture to say it was as bad, if not worst than the air
What is poor about the same battery life as iPhone 16 Pro? Was that bad battery life and we just didn't know it?
The thinner curved edged was introduced with iPhone 6, one could say it was there from the OG iPhone but that phone also had a larger curvature to the back. iPhone 4 introduced the flat sides and it has been renounced as classic and beautiful industrial design where form, function and beauty.
The audience was split with iPhone X curved sides as some people found it hard to hold for a given period of time while some found it comfortable.
Apple has curved the flat sides on recent iPhones but it seems some are not happy.
Technically speaking rounded sides takes more space and offer very little if any engineering value being empty space.
If curved edges is your thing then a suitable case with curved edges may be a solution but if cases are not your thing you maybe out of luck.
There are a dozen reasons to not buy through your carrier.