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Kuo: High Demand for iPhone 17 Models, But Questions Remain About iPhone Air

I think what Apple is doing here with the iPhone Air and Pro series. Basically to an extent they demoted the iPhone pro ( only in the sense of luxury)series by adding a third product category ( The new design/luxury category) in which for this category you pay to have a luxury (Titanium) new design but miss out on all the bells and whistles which is only for the Pro category. In this way you have these three categories.

Budget: Having passed along bells and whistles for a fair price and having a repeated design of last year. However you save money.

Pro: Having the most powerful top performing iPhone with all the bells and whistles but with a rugged design (no longer with the premium materials) but getting what you paid for.

New Design/ luxury: The new cool design! The one that is hip! Jony Ive’s voice could still be heard introducing us this new iPhone! With premium materials (minus bells and whistles). Basically you are paying for being the first to have a futuristic design minus the goodies that the Pro has to offer.
 
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Yeah. I might resist walking into a store because I know I would lament the lack of battery life, optical zoom and stereo sound, all being a step back from what I have now in the 15 Pro. However the 6.5" screen would probably prevent me from buying one anyway, returned a Plus because I couldn't stand walking around with it in my pocket. Look nice, but not for me...not for me...
 
Mazda 3s said:
A lot of what I'm hearing in this thread is, "I don't like the Air, so NOBODY should like the Air."

You do know there is something called choice. If you won't like the Air, Apple will gladly sell you the 16e, 17, or 17 Pro. I just don't get the idea why people are so giddy for something to fail before it's even hit the market -- and when they don't even have to buy it. It's not being forced upon anyone.

So much negativity online, it's hard to escape.
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Yeah, it’s really bizarre how adamantly hateful these people are when it comes to options. I never see people complaining about the “lesser” models any other year. They exist for people who want them, and that’s all there is to it. Why is it such a big deal with the Air?

I think it boils down to jealousy. They are jealous the Pros no longer have the “premium” look and feel in the lineup, so they must spread hate to justify their purchase and make themselves feel better.

I am guessing the majority of Pro users are not even close to “pro” users at all. Barely ever even using the features they tout the Air is missing. How often does the average user use the ultra wide or 5x telephoto lens? Do they think everyone is a professional photographer nowadays? They can’t accept that some people just want a good phone in a nice form factor?

If you want the Pro… Good for you? You don’t need to justify it to the internet. Nobody cares.
 
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aue123 said:
every poll that has ever been conducted in the history of this website, having more battery is way more popular than any other option
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Has there been a poll for choosing between fat phones with fat battery, or slim phones with still decent battery?

Or simply a poll choosing between just the Pro vs Pro Max, weighing battery life against size?

Many people still choose the Pro because of the size.

Many people will also choose the Air for the size.

Battery is not the singularly defining feature you think it is.
 
robvalentine said:
I feel the Qir might be the new Mini, poor sales, but a vocal minority complaining when it's cut from the range.
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I’m one of those you speak of. I want 12 mini, 14+, 15, and am not sure if I want to upgrade this year. Still happy with the 15, I will never buy a pro phone as there is nothing compelling about them. My debate is the 17 or the Air and there’s a lot to like about the Air. Honestly, I would consider waiting for the 17e if I knew it would have MagSafe.

I’ve always chosen one of the lighter phones in the lineup.
 
TechRunner said:
That's what would be the most compelling for me. It will be interesting to see how it reviews after a few months of user experience.
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Credible reviews from credible sources was what I was waiting for on the 17 Air. I really wanted a thinner iPhone (now having a 16 PM).

But... in the meantime, I learned that the 17 Air does not support Apple Pro Raw image capture. So... as much as I wanted a thinner iPhone, not having Pro RAW support means I need to pass on the 17 Air.
 
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Rest assured, the Air isn’t going away.

The Air will be the new base phone in 2027 or 2028.

Wait ‘til you see the Air Pro Max in a few years…… 😁
 
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DDustiNN said:
Yeah, it’s really bizarre how adamantly hateful these people are when it comes to options. I never see people complaining about the “lesser” models any other year. They exist for people who want them, and that’s all there is to it. Why is it such a big deal with the Air?

I think it boils down to jealousy. They are jealous the Pros no longer have the “premium” look and feel in the lineup, so they must spread hate to justify their purchase and make themselves feel better.

I am guessing the majority of Pro users are not even close to “pro” users at all. Barely ever even using the features they tout the Air is missing. How often does the average user use the ultra wide or 5x telephoto lens? Do they think everyone is a professional photographer nowadays? They can’t accept that some people just want a good phone in a nice form factor?

If you want the Pro… Good for you? You don’t need to justify it to the internet. Nobody cares.
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I hear ya!

The only reason that I even went with the Pro in years past was for the 120Hz display, the 5x zoom, and the fact that it was the more "premium" option. However, I found that I don't even use the 5x camera that often, and my use of the wide-angle camera is even rarer. I have access to a charger all day long at my desk and in my car, so the battery life isn't a concern.

For that reason, I chose the Air. But for those people who want longer endurance, better cameras, and all the other "Pro" perks, Apple actually listened. They made the phone thicker (like people were asking) and delivered insane battery life as a result. And they're using 48MP sensors for all cameras, which should prevent the quality mismatch compared to the primary sensor that we've seen in years past.

I'm happy for the Pro users, because they are getting a much nicer phone this time around. I don't feel the need to be negative about it.
 
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Ctrlos said:
The thing is many of the criticisms are just repeats of those aimed at the original Macbook Air.

The single USB port was incredibly controvertial when power users of the era needed Firewire to offload video from DV cassettes and a DVD Burner to share their creations. You could equate the external battery pack to the Superdrive. Fast forward 17 years and now everyone picks the Air as the default and nobody misses Firewire.

The OG Macbook Air made people realise just how chonky and heavy their old laptops were. They (and I) happily lugged a 2.5kg beast to campus, work and back. The Air was just 1.6kg by comparison and we didn't know what we were missing.

Power users may not think of a Max iPhone as being heavy but the time I had one (14pm) it was triggering arthritis in my right hand. But we don't think of them as heavy or thick because we have nothing to compare them to. I imagine picking up the Air in an Apple Store and comparing it to the Max will instill similar feelings and in a couple of years we will wonder why we ever put up with such heavy phones.
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This guy gets it.

Assuming Apple had never started R&D for the iPhone Air, future iPhone releases would likely continue along the same path: year by year, they’d get more powerful, with better batteries and improved cameras, but also thicker and larger — to the point of feeling like a brick in the hand. With Apple developing the iPhone Air, however, it’s paving the way for a new generation of iPhones that can be thin and comfortable to hold again, without compromise. It embodies Steve Jobs’ vision of the iPhone as a single piece of glass — a device where the hardware fades away in your hands, leaving you completely immersed in the content.
 
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DDustiNN said:
Yeah, it’s really bizarre how adamantly hateful these people are when it comes to options. I never see people complaining about the “lesser” models any other year. They exist for people who want them, and that’s all there is to it. Why is it such a big deal with the Air?

I think it boils down to jealousy. They are jealous the Pros no longer have the “premium” look and feel in the lineup, so they must spread hate to justify their purchase and make themselves feel better.

I am guessing the majority of Pro users are not even close to “pro” users at all. Barely ever even using the features they tout the Air is missing. How often does the average user use the ultra wide or 5x telephoto lens? Do they think everyone is a professional photographer nowadays? They can’t accept that some people just want a good phone in a nice form factor?

If you want the Pro… Good for you? You don’t need to justify it to the internet. Nobody cares.
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The one time I got a bigger phone was the 14+. It was my phone after having the 12 mini and I really enjoyed the big battery. And it was actually the second lightest phone in the lineup that year, lighter than the regular pro. I think the vast majority of the people with either pro would have been better off with the regular phone or the plus, but for some reason They feel inadequate unless there’s a pro attached to the name.
 
The only way he has to measure anything is based on the same model from last year. There is no same model from last year. But he says it appears to be manufactured at 3x the rate of the Plus model. So why doesn't the headline reflect that?
 
I ordered the Air after years of having only Pro Max models. As little as I take pictures anymore and since the battery is rated the same as the 16 Pro I’m not the least concerned about that either. I’m looking forward to a thinner / lighter phone. Too bad I’m getting the bumper case today and the phone won’t arrive for 2 weeks.
 
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aue123 said:
every poll that has ever been conducted in the history of this website, having more battery is way more popular than any other option
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Because this is an enthusiast website read by tech/apple enthusiasts. The vast majority of iphone buyers didn't read this website.
 
I wonder if the Air would've done better as a spring release alongside the e. Basically you'd have the budget vs a new "premium" option and it wouldn't be overshadowed by the pro's feature set as much.
 
Also don't forget that the Air is a esim only. In the US that's no big deal, but in other parts of the world it still is! A lot of people only know a fysical sim. Also a lot of providers don't support all esim features to transfer to a new phone...

I ordered the base 17, because it's more than enough for me. Don't need the Pro features (certainly not at that extra cost). The 16e also hasn't got the value for money anymore and if I'm honest I also didn't found that value in March eather comparing to my iPhone 11 I used since launch.
 
This does not look like a big seller, since there is no previous version to compare with. I was even hesitant to buy. I went back and forth prior to Friday order day, should I buy or not. I finally decided to buy. I don't want the same pro phone I have bought for the past 5 years. I want technology to move faster. I going with the Air and hope it was not a mistake.
 
Air is gonna be the next Mini.

The people who buy it are never gonna shut up about how good it is and when Apple eventually discontinue it then they will not stop crying and begging for another one. They will hold onto their Air for dear life and swear to never replace it.

The Air makes no sense. If it was between the 16E and standard 17 then maybe but at £999 it's a joke. The only good thing it has going for it is how slim it is...if you ignore that gigantic camera bump where they've squeezed everything into for the sake of thinness. It's only 2.4mm thinner than the standard iPhone lol.

You could argue it is more "Pro" than the standard 17. Yes. It has the A19 Pro and 12GB RAM but the difference is only £100 less than the 17 Pro which has much better camera and battery life in addition to the A19/12GB RAM. It's only ~3.2mm thicker.

2-3mm here and there is not worth it. 99.9% of people are gonna put a case and screen protector on it anyway lol.
 
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I really hope that the Air fails horribly, so Apple changes their minds about making the next MacBook Pro thinner and sacrifice battery life and the speakers. But it's probably too late for that.
 
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aue123 said:
hopefully the Air bombs horribly, then Apple will finally realize the users want awesome battery and not some shmuck thin phone nobody asked for.
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The standard 17 and 17 Pro/Max are quite literally RIGHT THERE in the lineup as well for those who need more battery life, cameras and/or graphics power...

Not everybody has the same needs or use cases in a phone. A truly boundary pushing and innovative product is more often than not one that people do NOT ask for, that makes people question what they truly want and need out of said product.
 
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