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iPhone Air Phone for 60-something year old Mom?

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brianj922

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 22, 2015
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Hoping for a little advice for a phone for my 60-something year old mother! She's had an iPhone 13 now for three years and is ready to upgrade. We're trying to decide if she should get an iPhone Air or an iPhone 17. Her biggest complaint about her 13 right now is battery life. I told her how the iPhone Air only has one camera on the back and she said, "that's one more than I need."

My thought is the iPhone Air is quoted for better battery life than the iPhone 13 was originally and obviously her phone's battery now dies quickly partly because it's three years old. I also think she would appreciate how thin and light the air is. My bigger concern is will the air's battery last her three years? Or should she just do an iPhone 17 to be safe. I also weighed the option of a Pro just for the bigger battery but I don't think she needs that much phone.
 
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My thought reading the post is three years is an awful short life for an iPhone battery under usual use conditions. I wonder if the device gets exposed to heat, like being left in a hot car, or something like that. Or maybe it is that phone, or rather that battery in that phone. I think the iPhone Air should be fine. If the lifetime of the battery ends up being short, odds are it isn't the phone. Just my opinion.
 
@aihpcfl honestly 100% chance she's done something to her phone. She's very neglectful to it! That said the iPhone 13 was only rated at 19 hours to begin with.
 
I got my 69yo mom the 16e (~4000 mAh battery) a few months back and she’s quite happy with it. Her main concern is battery life but she doesn’t want a large, heavy phone. The 16e is just 2g heavier than the Air and is around the same size as the regular 17.

She’s also quite frugal so she actually appreciates that it only costs $6/mo on our family plan without any trade-ins.
 
If you don’t need the size of the Air (and you don’t seem to, otherwise you wouldn’t be asking this question), I would go for the 16e. Great battery life, almost no camera bump, and weighs about the same as the Air.


 
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I don't think it matters much, I'm already older than your mother and seem to be able to use either (I use a iPhone SE 2nd generation - mainly because the extra features of the new phones don't do much for me) so price constraint might be the key issue rather than features. as for battery life my wife charges hers somewhat erratically so they seem to last from 3 to 5 years unless they suffer a catastrophic mishap (iPhone 13 mini) - she has a 16 max (doesn't like the bulk of it the weight is not an issue) now teaching my parents how to use a cell phone - that was a trip
 
Whatever you choose, you’ll want to replace the battery past the 1000 cycle mark as it will likely have dropped below 80% health. That’s a bit below 3 years of charging it once a day and a battery is considered spent at that point. The 17 will give better battery life for the day, but it won’t have a longer lifespan comparatively.

If she doesn’t care about cameras or having more phone as you said, why not consider a battery replacement for her 13 - it’s still a great device that isn’t much less of a phone unless she wants Apple Intelligence.

Consider that the Air is a lot bigger than her current 13 despite being thinner, and it’s also noticeably bigger than the 17/17 Pro.
 
applepotato666 said:
Whatever you choose, you’ll want to replace the battery past the 1000 cycle mark as it will likely have dropped below 80% health. That’s a bit below 3 years of charging it once a day and a battery is considered spent at that point. The 17 will give better battery life for the day, but it won’t have a longer lifespan comparatively.
Click to expand...

I believe 1 cycle is from 0-100%. So one day of 0-100% is 1 cycle and two days of 50% top-up is also considered 1 cycle.

Just as an example, if she ends the day at 40% on the 17 versus 30% on the Air, then after 30 days, the 17 would have used 18 charge cycles while the Air would have used 21 cycles. In this hypothetical example, the 17 will have longer lifespan than the Air (~1600 vs ~1400 days to reach 1000 cycles).
 
brianj922 said:
Hoping for a little advice for a phone for my 60-something year old mother! She's had an iPhone 13 now for three years and is ready to upgrade. We're trying to decide if she should get an iPhone Air or an iPhone 17. Her biggest complaint about her 13 right now is battery life. I told her how the iPhone Air only has one camera on the back and she said, "that's one more than I need."

My thought is the iPhone Air is quoted for better battery life than the iPhone 13 was originally and obviously her phone's battery now dies quickly partly because it's three years old. I also think she would appreciate how thin and light the air is. My bigger concern is will the air's battery last her three years? Or should she just do an iPhone 17 to be safe. I also weighed the option of a Pro just for the bigger battery but I don't think she needs that much phone.
Click to expand...
hi
if i were you, i would buy her either the 16e or the Air.
the Air would only be if she wants the lightest and thinnest phone. but it is not a small display.
if she can handle the 16e bulk (width) then the 16e is a great choice.
 
My mum is now 75 and we selfishly use her as an opportunity to justify a new phone for us.. so we give her our old phones and then get a newer model.. if you don’t do that I’d just get her the 16E as I think that has all features an older person needs
 
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brianj922 said:
Hoping for a little advice for a phone for my 60-something year old mother! She's had an iPhone 13 now for three years and is ready to upgrade. We're trying to decide if she should get an iPhone Air or an iPhone 17. Her biggest complaint about her 13 right now is battery life. I told her how the iPhone Air only has one camera on the back and she said, "that's one more than I need."

My thought is the iPhone Air is quoted for better battery life than the iPhone 13 was originally and obviously her phone's battery now dies quickly partly because it's three years old. I also think she would appreciate how thin and light the air is. My bigger concern is will the air's battery last her three years? Or should she just do an iPhone 17 to be safe. I also weighed the option of a Pro just for the bigger battery but I don't think she needs that much phone.
Click to expand...
Air seems like a very bad choice here specifically. Battery life of it is optimised, but it's still a relatively small battery that will degrade faster and get drained very fast under certain conditions. Bad reception or unoptimised apps can kill it quick. There are also compromises like very poor speaker output which not very tech savvy people may not be prepared to take or even realise it can be a problem for them. Regular 17 seems like a much smarter choice in this case and an amazing value for your money as well.
 
JamesMay82 said:
My mum is now 75 and we selfishly use her as an opportunity to justify a new phone for us.. so we give her our old phones and then get a newer model.. if you don’t do that I’d just get her the 16E as I think that has all features an older person needs
Click to expand...
My initial thought was that 13 itself is still more than good enough for these needs. Well except as it turns out the battery is degraded... So repairing it may not be worth it, while 16E is gonna be a side-grade and still some money. Barely more and you do get a much better 17 that should last anyone for longer and look more presentable.
 
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