Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
All valid points. My biggest concerns about the Air are that I'm a little hesitant to buy first-gen Apple products, and I personally value battery and camera ahead of weight. With the Pro (not the Pro Max or the Air), I can get the best camera available, second-best battery life, and less weight and bulk than the PM.
Totally fair and valid perspective as well!

As somebody who has been a Pro Max user since the 11-series, I’m more than ready to downsize. But the standard 17 Pro (and regular 17) just does nothing for me comparatively. So Air it is…
 
The reason Apple went to ceramic and aluminum, is to keep phone from over heating. If you have a current iPhone Pro 16 and try taking a 4k HDR video, see what happens? The only thing I have about the orange color, in a couple of years it will tell everyone that you have a 2 year old phone.
As an adult, you really care whether or not other people know you may have a 2 year old phone? Are you serious?
 
There isn't a single thing for the iPhone Air to be any better then the iPhone 16, or 17. The only difference is that it is more compact, which by the way has nothing to do with with technological improvements.

Not a single thing better than the iPhone 16, really? For one - the display, 120hz promotion, 3000 nits peak & AOD. That’s enough in itself with no need to carry on with the rest.
 
Not a single thing better than the iPhone 16, really? For one - the display, 120hz promotion, 3000 nits peak & AOD. That’s enough in itself with no need to carry on with the rest.
The display would make a difference to some, but would a better screen alone be the sole reason to purchase an iPhone Air by most of the buyers? To me at least it makes more sense to look at the entire package based on my needs or wants, just like when purchasing any other product.
 
Last edited:
Totally fair and valid perspective as well!

As somebody who has been a Pro Max user since the 11-series, I’m more than ready to downsize. But the standard 17 Pro (and regular 17) just does nothing for me comparatively. So Air it is…
What's wrong with the Pro?
 
I think that’s because it’s getting heavier and bulkier year after year ever since the 13 series. We have to remember that this thing primarily is supposed to be a phone.

Understandable but I can honestly say I rarely use it as a phone. I mostly use it for the apps, internet, CarPlay is a very big one, Apple Pay another big one, emails. My call time on the phone for its entire life is 4 days 10 hours. Less than a work week talking.
7a16f061008d7c0af44f749eb3fc9a8b.jpg
 
Ew, who uses cases!

Who asked for a thicker heavy phone, who asked for bigger phone, who asked for a smaller phone, who asked for a foldable phone, who asked for any phone or new piece of tech that’s been released. It’s nice to see Apple trying something different and pushing some boundaries giving people more choice.

“No need to post about it” LOL… Last time I checked this was a forum dedicated to iPhone on an Apple fans site. What a ridiculous thing to come out with 🤣🤣
Pretty much everyone.
 
Who asked for a thicker heavy phone, who asked for bigger phone, who asked for a smaller phone, who asked for a foldable phone, who asked for any phone or new piece of tech that’s been released. It’s nice to see Apple trying something different and pushing some boundaries giving people more choice.

“No need to post about it” LOL… Last time I checked this was a forum dedicated to iPhone on an Apple fans site. What a ridiculous thing to come out with 🤣🤣
???????????????????????????? Apple copying the Samsung thin phone is trying something different and pushing boundaries? LOL OMG dude they’re copying if anything. Too funny!!
 
  • Like
Reactions: AppliedMicro
ITT: folks who weren’t around to see the Razr become the biggest phone on the market. Super expensive, worse camera than other options, garbage battery life. GPRS. Design got it there. Normal people don’t care about specs, and buying isn’t based on logic.

Or how about the first iPhone? 2-2.5x more expensive than the status quo. Did maybe 25% of what a smartphone could do. Slow internet. Low quality camera. No video. And yet…

Will this phone have that level of impact? No, we’re way past peak-cell phone at this point. But the counter arguments about cameras and weight difference and stereo speakers … no one will care. That’s nerd **** for nerds. This is a mass market product.
 
  • Like
Reactions: dca100
Your points are quite valid.

I was using a 1-inch thick, 4 lb. Laptop when the original MacBook Air was slipped out of the Manila envelope onstage by Steve Jobs and shown to the world. What a moment that was in Apple history. Traveling extensively for work, my MacBook Air was delightfully easy to carry.

Regarding iPhones again I concur, out of the vast group of users at work I cannot remember anyone wishing for a thin phone. Yet here we are, with Apples experience, resources and vast user base, it’s obvious they’ve done the research and determined there is a market for this new model.
The problem is that when people say on the internet that “nobody asked for a thinner phone,” that claim isn’t based on any research or data. It’s just their subjective opinion, or they’re simply parroting what YouTube’s tech-oriented Pro Max–using creators say. And that subjective opinion really comes from the fact that they’re just trying to justify to themselves that they’re users of the thicker models. And as someone once said, you should never ask users what they need, because they can’t answer that; they might not even understand it, and even if they do, they won’t know how to come up with a solution. What you should ask users is what their problem or pain point is. Or even better, you should observe them. I don’t have any data either, but I won’t be surprised if there’s a very large number of users who, in one way or another (consciously or subconsciously) have found themselves in situations where a big and heavy phone has been difficult to use.
 
There isn't a single thing for the iPhone Air to be any better then the iPhone 16, or 17. The only difference is that it is more compact, which by the way has nothing to do with with technological improvements. The Apple's incessant idea relating to "thinness" and "compactness" relates to nothing but to reduce manufacturing costs, and if I take my time to carefully look at the present iPhone, and even the iPad, both are getting "kind of" boring. Now I would find a transparent iPhone interesting :)

It’s thinner it’s specifically not more compact. This is the crux of what I don’t understand about it, people are touting it as being more compact but it just isn’t. It has less features and has a larger footprint.
 
  • Like
Reactions: AppliedMicro
???????????????????????????? Apple copying the Samsung thin phone is trying something different and pushing boundaries? LOL OMG dude they’re copying if anything. Too funny!!
The first leaks/mention of the iPhone Air were last year? Not sure on the S25 Edge, nor do I care tbh lol. It’s a Samsung running Android & each time I’ve tried it, it’s been pants.

iPhone Air all the way, 4 days to go! Bring it on cannot wait 🤩😆🤣
 
What you should ask users is what their problem or pain point is. Or even better, you should observe them
Being able to operate a phone one-handed.

I won’t be surprised if there’s a very large number of users who, in one way or another (consciously or subconsciously) have found themselves in situations where a big and heavy phone has been difficult to use.
Yes.

But I would be surprised if among them are a very large number of users who find it more difficult to use because of 2.3mm (0.09) inches more or less in thickness.

(Especially cause you can’t use them one-handed very well anyway)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sami13496
If this Air is part of the journey to a foldable iPhone next year, it’s still not impressive and is still too thick. 5.6mm x 2 = 11.2mm, which is THICK for today’s foldables and it isn’t even out yet. The Zfold7 is 8.9mm…

It’s not going to be 2 whole Airs though. You’re adding another screen, not everything inside of it. Apple clearly made the Air thinner than the S25 edge purposely. They are obsessed with details like that (sometimes for the worse) and I expect no different for their fold.
 
Being able to operate a phone one-handed.


Yes.

But I would be surprised if among them are a very large number of users who find it more difficult to use because of 2.3mm (0.09) inches more or less in thickness.

(Especially cause you can’t use them one-handed very well anyway)

For me it’s more about weight as I’ve had operations on my hands for Carpel tunnel, my right has been left with complex regional pain syndrome and is reactive to weight.

Would love a Pro Max. The Air is giving me the chance to have a larger screen experience with good specs & great design whilst being lighter than the Pro devices and also less so but still lighter than the base iPhone model.
 
It has terrible battery life when compared the latest models.

Understand that most people do not care about last year's iPhone. This is premium technology. They are thinking about buying a new iPhone today. And the fact is, Air has the shortest battery life of all models launched this week.

27 hours, 30 hours, 33 hours, 39 hours

It's only in specific, tech discussion forums like this are people trying to compare against last year's model and justifying the battery life.

I think comparing it to last years model is valid because that’s all we have at this point. Video playback isn’t the best indicator of everyday usage but it at least gives you a comparison. Isn’t it obvious that this form factor would have the shortest battery life? I think it matters more if the Air can actually hold up to the 16P because people can use that as a real reference point. If you want more battery there’s 3 other options to choose from…

It was an entirely different situation with MacBook Air. Computers were 4-5 lbs heavy and 1-inch thick. There was an appreciable quality of life difference.

For iPhone, most people are not complaining about thickness or weight, especially for the base model. Screen time is increasing each year and people want more and more battery life. Yes, there’s a small niche group that wants thinner and lighter.

This is why Air adopters feel they’re being attacked. They don’t seem to realize the majority of consumers don’t have this problem. Instead, they believe anyone who has anything negative to say about Air is just purely there to attack them.

I would agree with this if Apple didn’t give us 4 options (5 if you count the E) that covers most bases. We will see if thinner and lighter is niche but it doesn’t really matter at this point because Apple didn’t take away any models to add this one. Maybe it’s not an attack but I’ve never seen this many opinions about a product from people with no interest in it, outside of consumers of competitor products.
 
It’s thinner it’s specifically not more compact. This is the crux of what I don’t understand about it, people are touting it as being more compact but it just isn’t. It has less features and has a larger footprint.
What are we comparing it to though? A phone with a different screen size is obviously going to have different height and width. IIRC the last 6.5” device was the 11PM and the air is certainly more compact:

IMG_4920.jpeg
 
  • Like
Reactions: profmjh
I think comparing it to last years model is valid because that’s all we have at this point. Video playback isn’t the best indicator of everyday usage but it at least gives you a comparison. Isn’t it obvious that this form factor would have the shortest battery life? I think it matters more if the Air can actually hold up to the 16P because people can use that as a real reference point. If you want more battery there’s 3 other options to choose from…

Let me repeat what I wrote: Understand that most people do not care about last year's iPhone.

The average smartphone replacement cycle is about 3-4 years in the U.S. This means the consumers considering iPhone 17 series currently use iPhone 13 or 14.

The battery life of iPhone 16 Pro is irrelevant to them. When they're upgrading, they're looking at what's available today. This represents the vast majority of consumers. MacRumors posters are not representative.

I would agree with this if Apple didn’t give us 4 options (5 if you count the E) that covers most bases. We will see if thinner and lighter is niche but it doesn’t really matter at this point because Apple didn’t take away any models to add this one. Maybe it’s not an attack but I’ve never seen this many opinions about a product from people with no interest in it, outside of consumers of competitor products.

The level of discussion feels the same as 2020 we saw iPhone 12 mini, or 2022 when 14 Plus was launched. It's a new form factor year, so there's bound to be a lot of discussion.

If Apple had a 17 Plus, it would be fairly competitive. Look at how the 17 has many Pro features including display and 256GB base. The Air replaces that model.
 
  • Like
Reactions: zenmacx
What are we comparing it to though? A phone with a different screen size is obviously going to have different height and width. IIRC the last 6.5” device was the 11PM and the air is certainly more compact:

View attachment 2549134

Well if the idea is to have a compact phone, which is what everyone is talking about surely it’s folly to compare it to the biggest iPhone there is.
My problem with the device is it’s not compact and it lacks features. A 2mm reduction in thickness doesn’t offset the trade offs, in my opinion.
If this had been a thin mini that had reduced features I would ‘get’ it.

People keep comparing it to the pros. Somehow the marketing have positioned the Pros and the Air as a premium device and people are just disregarding the normal iPhone which would be the best choice for most people.
 
  • Like
Reactions: AlaskaMoose
What are we comparing it to though? A phone with a different screen size is obviously going to have different height and width. IIRC the last 6.5” device was the 11PM and the air is certainly more compact:

View attachment 2549134
Quite interesting comparing this and seeing the same size screen of the air comes in a footprint nearly 2 cm less in height of the 11 PM 👌🏻
 
I understand if a particular iPhone or any Apple product doesn’t appeal to someone. Maybe it’s the features. Maybe it’s the price. Maybe they are just happy with what they have.

The intensity that some people have in harshly criticizing a product and the people who like them is stunning.

Is it so preposterous to think that two people could be very happy with their devices and buying choices even though they’ve each made different decisions to meet their own needs and desires?

Is it so preposterous to be happy for someone else?
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.