Report: Apple Considers Adding Second Camera to Delayed iPhone Air 2

[robertosh]

It's free to ask, so:

- Reduce the screen to be 6.3"
- Add another camera
- Add another speaker
- Set the price to $899

With battery improvements/efficiency of A20 it may be able to replicate current Air battery life in smaller form factor.
Coming from an iPhone mini, it will be an instant buy for me.

 

[rlewisphilly]

I love my Air. Only a Wide (macro) camera and second speaker would make it perfect. Many years of Pro Max. Tired of brick. Tried a Pro. Smaller, still a brick. Went to Air. Perfect.

I'm there with you. Getting the Wide angle lens would make it perfect for me. I understand the debate over the second speaker. I'm one of those who always uses AirPods...so the second speaker is not meaningful. Other than that the AIR is perfect!

 

[MacAttack2024]

I love my Air. Only a Wide (macro) camera and second speaker would make it perfect. Many years of Pro Max. Tired of brick. Tried a Pro. Smaller, still a brick. Went to Air. Perfect.

Preach. Same.

Apple should listen to those engineers. There MUST have been engineers or leaders who thought the Air, while quite a package, was missing tech for $1000 and got over-ruled.

 

[techspin]

Telephoto please. 20x zoom to the moon.

 

[MNWildFan]

Sooo basically make it just like the base/non-pro phone

At that point, you may as well spring for the non-pro one

 

[Ctrlos]

All it needs is a $100 price reduction so that the 17 Pro looks less enticing at $200 more. Beyond this the phone is faultless. The 0.5x camera suffers from barrel distortion and the macro mode requires being close to the subject making it useless for creative photography of wildlife and nature. Every great Macro shot you ever saw from a DSLR was shot with a telemacro for a reason. All phones have crap speakers so one less isn't a loss. The battery is excellent.

I've been leaning on my DSLR a lot more this year. I found photos from my old 16 Pro to be fine but ultimately disposable. If I'm out with my camera I'm out with my camera, not so much taking photos as making them. A light, thin phone does the job as a point-and-shoot. It doesn't need a 200mm lens or the ability to focus on the veins of a leaf.

 

[AppleTO]

I’m interested, but not $1449 CAD interested.

If it was smaller and lighter… maybe

 

[maflynn]

And crucially...lighter! And I think that's the point that most people who don't care about weight miss about this phone.

I'm going to out on a limb and say that the 12 grams of weight difference will not be noticeable. That's basically one AAA battery

 

[k1121j]

It was a valiant effort by apple to increase their margins. No Sale! Timmy

 

[acblue94]

Apple's reported delay of the second-generation iPhone Air will be used to work on a redesign of the device that could include a second rear camera, according to a news brief from The Information.

A redesign that includes a second camera is said to be one way that Apple thinks it can address user complaints that the iPhone Air, while an impressive design feat, has led to too many hardware compromises, especially given the high price tag.

Apple priced it starting at $999, and that appears to have put off customers, leading to reports of poor sales and manufacturing cuts. The ‌iPhone Air‌ is only $100 cheaper than the $1,099 iPhone 17 Pro, which has a triple-lens rear camera and much better battery life. Adding a second camera to the ultra-slim device would also make it look more feature-equivalent to the standard iPhone 18 and therefore more appealing to consumers.

The report claims that some Apple engineers want to release the redesigned version with a second camera in spring 2027, which is when Apple is expected to release the regular iPhone 18 and iPhone 18e, as part of a new split launch cycle. The iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, and an all-new foldable iPhone are expected to launch in fall 2026, which was when the iPhone Air 2 was originally expected. The Information reported on the delay earlier this week.

The report seemingly corroborates a leak out of China last week that claimed Apple's second iPhone Air model is in development and could feature two rear cameras instead of one, with a 48MP Fusion Ultra Wide camera joining the existing 48MP Fusion Main camera. Multiple technologies are housed in the plateau of the iPhone Air to maximize space for the battery, so Apple would presumably need to redesign the internals considerably to fit in another camera.

Previous reports have said Apple's work on a second-generation version of the ‌iPhone Air‌ is aimed at reducing the weight, adding vapor chamber cooling, and improving the battery capacity.

Article Link: Report: Apple Considers Adding Second Camera to Delayed iPhone Air 2

Add a second camera and a an improved battery and the Air will sell much more.

Yea Cook nice one, I'm sure another lens with that hideous bump will finally trigger sales.

like the hideous bump on the Pro? Or the two tone? Or the cheap aluminum?

 

[Kidseeghost]

They will do everything except address the real reason for the failure, the price. I know its hard for Tim to give up ladder prices and margins but 999 was the wrong price.

 

[Vanarak19]

Here is an idea...

do what you do with laptops.

The MacBook AIR is the base laptop...make the iPhone Air the baseline phone, dump the current 17-base series. Add a second camera, a second speaker, and a little more battery life...along with 2 sizes (you also do this with both laptop line-ups), 6.1 and 6.5". Pro series stays at current sizes (although I wish the 6.9" would shrink its too big)

 

[1037]

Shrink the display size down
Give it usb 3.0

 

[1037]

“The report claims that some Apple engineers want to release the redesigned version with a second camera in spring 2027, which is when Apple is expected to release the regular iPhone 18 and iPhone 18e, as part of a new split launch cycle.”

A very bad release timing, if true, as considering Apple will be also be releasing the rumoured “all glass” iPhone 20 (XX ?) in the autumn 2027, who will want to buy an updated Air 2 some six months before?

People who don't wanna spend $2xxx on a phone.

 

[Kidseeghost]

And it's called the iPhone 18

Watch Tim take away one camera of the regular 18 or make it worse in another way. They want the Air to succeed and make it the base model going forward so they can start at a higher price point selling iPhones. See the whole spring/fall release idea. Soon the base iPhone will be forgotten and get new things once in a while like the regular iPad does.

 

[ThailandToo]

I usually dislike such comments but I miss the days when Apple would decide what we want.

Steve Jobs knew. Tim’s motto is throw it all at the wall and see what sticks! Sure blew through money with Apple Car and Vision Pro. Could have made something insanely great but he hasn’t a clue.

 

[Kidseeghost]

Just drop the line. It hasn’t worked it’s not going to work. I’ve said that before and I’ll say it again. They’re wasting their time. iPhone and iPhone pro. That’s all that’s needed. No air wind sea sky mini tall mini or whatever else.

Never. The bean counter idea is probably if we offer more models we sell more phones. Which is not true and Steve proved that already by eliminating the multiple model offering idea by offering only the minimum. The Air is probably also creating choice paralysis for costumers more than the Plus and Mini did. Some shareholders want probably Apple to offer even more models.

 

[one more]

People who don't wanna spend $2xxx on a phone.

Fair enough, yet with the Fold in the lineup by then the anniversary model might not be so expensive?

 

[Kidseeghost]

All it needs is a $100 price reduction so that the 17 Pro looks less enticing at $200 more.

Doesn’t work either. It needs to drop below the regular iPhone price. It makes no sense to buy the Air over the regular if it offers less and cost more. Were I live the only discounted model of the new line up is the Air (200 less) and it’s offered at the same price point as the regular outside the Apple store and still nobody buys it.

 

[ThailandToo]

Exactly. This phone should be priced below regular iPhone 17 (which is way better), because it lacks features.

Price according to features and everything would be fine Apple 😉

That’s not how technology works. To miniaturize it costs more. It would be better if they just used the better battery tech and charged $899 instead of $999. A $200 up charge is what has people freaking out. It’s a better phone for most people who don’t use their iPhone hard all day or who don’t need all the cameras. I really think one ultrawide 200mp camera would work perfectly. .5 at 200mp , 1x at 48mp and 2x at 12mp. I really think three lenses looks dumb on phones.

 

[ThailandToo]

Doesn’t work either. It needs to drop below the regular iPhone price. It makes no sense to buy the Air over the regular if it offers less and cost more. Were I live the only discounted model of the new line up is the Air (200 less) and it’s offered at the same price point as the regular outside the Apple store and still nobody buys it.

I see a lot of people using the Air. Granted most are not tech enthusiasts.

 

[turbineseaplane]

That’s not how technology works. To miniaturize it costs more. It would be better if they just used the better battery tech and charged $899 instead of $999. A $200 up charge is what has people freaking out. It’s a better phone for most people who don’t use their iPhone hard all day or who don’t need all the cameras. I really think one ultrawide 200mp camera would work perfectly. .5 at 200mp , 1x at 48mp and 2x at 12mp. I really think three lenses looks dumb on phones.

How much was actually miniaturized here?

The battery is 500 mAh less than that on the iPhone 17.

To me it looks more like they moved component locations around so the phone body could be thinner, and keep all the chonk up top.

 

[one more]

It's free to ask, so:

- Reduce the screen to be 6.3"
- Add another camera
- Add another speaker
- Set the price to $899

With battery improvements/efficiency of A20 it may be able to replicate current Air battery life in smaller form factor.
Coming from an iPhone mini, it will be an instant buy for me.

Or you could just get all this awesomeness today in a form of the current iPhone 17 for a $100 less. 😉

 

[dizmonk]

I love my Air. Only a Wide (macro) camera and second speaker would make it perfect. Many years of Pro Max. Tired of brick. Tried a Pro. Smaller, still a brick. Went to Air. Perfect.

You nailed it! 100% correct.

 

[Kidseeghost]

And crucially...lighter! And I think that's the point that most people who don't care about weight miss about this phone. For many it is a feature more important than extra cameras or speakers. For the crowd that is sick of bigger heavier phones ever year, this phone was a blessing.

The weight doesn’t matter because its not that big of a difference. Its not like the MacBook Air. Back then laptops were huge and a light laptop made a difference. You could feel it and was easier to carry around. 177 vs 165 grams. Not much of a difference. Same thing with the iPad. Why is there an Air? Pro is thinner than the iPad Air. The Air name is outdated because tech today is already lightweight and easy to carry around. Come up with something different Tim instead of reheating old nachos.