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

[musicmachine]

iPhone 16e 599
iPhone 16 699
iPhone 16 plus 799
iPhone air 799
iPhone 17 899
iPhone 17 pro/max 1099 start

Would of done better as a whole imo

 

[dwsolberg]

Here's the thing from my perspective: The point of the Air is to be incredibly thin and amazing looking, but it has a gigantic camera bump like all the other phones. It's sort of like a stunningly beautiful person but with a gigantic nose.

 

[Neil J. Squillante]

Playing with the iPhone Air in the store my question is, whats the point of such a slim device with such a bug camera bump?
I think expensive one camera smartphones are aimed to medium to old age people with no interest in pictures/ video beyind basic function, so the 12MP old camera would do the trick, and the slimmer, the better

I would not have purchased the iPhone Air if it had an old camera. How many times must it be stated in this forum that the Air is a Pro with one camera (same main camera, same processor, same memory)? The bump doesn’t detract from pocket fit or feel in the hand (you don’t hold it by the bump). Most people (not just the elderly) use the main camera most of the time. Search your Mac Photos library by lens and break down the percentages.

 

[Le0M]

Apple should lower the price, not add components.

 

[kiranmk2]

I use the telephoto lens much more often than the ultra wide. I guess I’m in the minority.

Probably not - Apple likely knows a lot of people want wide/telephoto as their two cameras, but locks the telephoto to the Pro models. The telephoto camera, is the only reason I'd consider a Pro over a base iPhone. But (for me) it's not worth the £300 price increase.

I never understood the idea of the air, a phone that is more expensive, potentially slower, has less features including the cameras then the base mode. Its only "advantage" is that its thinner.

Thinner/lighter/"new" often carries a premium price. Remember when the MacBook Air launched, it was a terrible laptop: slow processor, low storage, reduced batter life, but commanded a much higher price than other Macs of the day as Apple figured a certain set of users valued low weight & thin form factor.

Good phone at extremely poor pricing. It should have been slightly lower priced than plain 17 series to see traction. Apart from form factor, there is nothing premium about it and people of 2025 are far more intelligent to understand that concept.

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.

Apple will always price what they thinkthey can get away with: iPhone X increased price from £749 to £999; iPhone Pro Max introduced/increased to £1199; iPad Pro price has increased from £599 to £799 to £799 over the years - all of these have resulted in minimal complaints and robust sales, so it's no surprise Apple would go forthe £999 price point for the Air to see if it sticks. The real question is whether they will admit defeat and lower the official price this year. Probably not, but you will likely see lots of deals/reduced prices from 3rd party retailers (which I believe is Apple's way of discounting prices without discounting them themselves overtly).

 

[TimAppleObamna]

It is just embarrassing that Apple wasn’t able to launch the Air with two cameras in the first place.
Samsung did it…
Same goes for the speakers.

Dual speakers, dual cameras and silicon-carbide battery and there would not be as many compromises as there are now.
999$ is a joke for the kind of hardware we have on the Air now, not to mention the MRSP of 1200€ (!!!) here in Germany. It quickly dipped to around 900€ after release.

 

[Return Zero]

It's right up there with the 5S and the mini as my favorite iPhones ever. I honestly think it was a marketing flop more than a product flop. This includes the price which, yes, probably should have been lower. People who like a form-over-function device seem largely fine with every sacrifice they made, except the battery life being worse than the base iPhone which is indeed a tough pill to swallow. If they gave this thing a silicon carbon battery, priced it to $899, and advertised better, I think it would have had way more success. The number of times I've been holding it and been asked what kind of phone it is anecdotally proves my point. People don't even know it exists! Everyone knows the triple-camera pro. The orange color especially made a big splash and the ads for it are everywhere. It's a big flop in my opinion for the biggest redesign since the X to not have more marketing push behind it. Give it a special table at the store, at least. I will say... The fact that it's arguably the most durable iPhone ever made is absolutely incredible.

 

[G5isAlive]

iPhone was once best camera for me, I mean best pocketable camera. It kinda went downhill after many years. I remember how older iPhones even had better natural bokeh (non-computational) than current ones, focused much closer and also had much less processed photos, more natural and true to life.

Camera is a must but on the other hand there are few disadvantages:

- Weight, complicated use. You gotta either buy one good zoom lens+decent body or many lenses and juggle thru them. Minus of zoom lens - it is large, minus of primes - well, you gotta zoom with your crop or feet…

- Lack of good compacts on the market. Smartphones have largely “outsmarted” old compact camera market. Last Sony RX100 was released back in 2019, still has outdated micro USB port, a hard pill for me to swallow considering I don’t even have these cables anymore, all USB-C. Others are kinda lackluster like Canon SX740 (no RAW, blurry noise reduction processing) or Panasonic ZS/TZ99 (sensor smaller than iPhone, though a very decent zoom range);

- Smartphones can shoot in any weather. Snow, dust storm, sand, rain. It won’t probably handle humidity though, but most of the advanced cameras cannot handle those scenarios either, they won’t necessarily break but they are only “sealed”, not fully protected;

- Smartphones got largely normalized as everyday devices. So you won’t even collect looks when trying to take a photo. Standalone cameras, well… some concert and event organizers go as far as ban them, while smartphones are smh allowed. Cameras these days get looks, which isn’t ideal for all shooting scenarios.

Thus I kind of still stick to smartphones for photography these days. Simple, fast and convenient

Oh I totally agree, the best camera is the one you have on you, and smart phones do a reasonable job (usually, except low light) and I also agree to get any improvement with a 'real' camera you have to shell out some bucks because the compact market has been largely destroyed with the advent of smartphones. And let's not forget in Art the book can get thrown out, for example there were art exhibits of polaroid shots which were abysmal cameras systems with only one advantage 'instant pictures.'

But, there are still some of us that when the shot really counts, will use a 'real camera' and hence don't too excited about the spec wars people go on about with phone cameras. The disadvantages you list.. eh.. so? the advantage is better shots. if you want them, you will get them.

BUT, the reason I replied to your original post was I found it ironic in the same post you said (paraphrasing here) if you want a macro shot get a real camera but then you didn't apply the same logic to other shooting conditions where you essentially said phone cameras did poorly. Or did I misunderstand you?

edit: I think I misunderstood you, lol... by main camera you meant on the phone. for me my 'main camera' is a Sony A7 RV. Sorry.

 

[cdsapplefan]

Samsung cancelled their Thin Phone and Apple 🍎 will likely do the same if the Air 2 doesn’t do well sales wise.

 

[NativeMac]

Solid state battery, dual camera, and stereo speakers and you’d have a winner phone. But this phone was always a test run for 1st half of the folding iPhone anyway. So I can see it going away quickly like the iPhone X design did.

 

[Vanarak19]

What you described is the regular iPhone and the Plus. Just drop the Air name already. Its over. What this will do is just increase the price for the base model to 999 just because AIR. That is not good.

It is? Show me the iPhone Plus link? It doesn’t exist anymore. The air is a trial for the new designed iPhone that will replace the current base product. We just saw this with laptops.

My personal opinion is the Air is the future and gen 1 is just working out market kinks. Gen 2 will be the one to buy.

 

[dizmonk]

Playing with the iPhone Air in the store my question is, whats the point of such a slim device with such a bug camera bump?
I think expensive one camera smartphones are aimed to medium to old age people with no interest in pictures/ video beyind basic function, so the 12MP old camera would do the trick, and the slimmer, the better

With all sincere respect (as one of these "old age people you reference) I truly don't get your point. I, for one, did not buy it because I had no interest in photos. I truly have no idea what you are talking about.

 

[ThailandToo]

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.

Have you used one? I cannot explain how it feels until you use it for a week then pickup any other iPhone, they will feel like bricks compared to the Air.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Have you used one? I cannot explain how it feels until you use it for a week then pickup any other iPhone, they will feel like bricks compared to the Air.

I'm not talking about feel, I'm talking about miniaturization.

From what I can see on schematics, nothing really got shrunken so much as moved around and a smaller battery was included.

 

[drsox]

Yea, I think Apple messed up the value to price ratio with the Air. For me, it's neither fish nor fowl, i.e. lacking high end features but high priced. YMMV.

Always a problem with pricing a new piece of technology. Only guess-work is available (including fancy focus groups and marketing group think). Best approach is to launch it and then fix it (price and feature content). Remember the first MacBook Air ? Same with the iPhone Air.

 

[drsox]

Have you used one? I cannot explain how it feels until you use it for a week then pickup any other iPhone, they will feel like bricks compared to the Air.

Absolutely. Feels thinner than it really is since the fingers actually touch the thinner part (the back). Sensation is of a thin phone plus the lighter weight adds to the impression.

 

[ctklein]

I strongly considered one however, the single camera and single speaker were the ultimate deal breaker for me. If they add another camera and improve sound quality I'd make the move more than likely

 

[lazyrighteye]

1. Current price, for current offering = dumb.
2. [Somehow] adding a second camera = nonnegotiable.
3. Battery. I bet they're angel to eke out a bit more juice.
They address those three things, in that order, and I think v2 will prove way more popular.

That said, we all know Apple isn't budging on price. Specifically, they're not reducing price. Not quite sure how they'll fit another camera in that already jam-packed space, but maybe? The most likely thing I can see them addressing is battery. Matter of fact, I can see a v2 that improves battery/processor and that's it. They tend to try and get a cycle or two out fo their form factors. Maybe v3 adds another camera? At that point, with better processor/battery and another camera, that current price begins to make more sense. IMO, price was the death knell for v1. The thin/light/in-hand feel - while refreshingly impressive - wasn't enough [alone] to justify the compromises and price. Clearly.

I do hope they continue iterating on that form factor. For me, the Air is THE form factor I want in handheld. But ther his no way I could move from years of Pro devices to the compromises of an Air. Still, keep iterating. You never know...

 

[ab2c4]

I have the Air and am very happy with it. Neither a second camera nor a second speaker would get me to upgrade. What I want most is rounded sides. Secondly, while I really really really like the low weight of the Air for its size, I would still prefer a phone that is 5 ounces or less. I would be all for a 6.1" Air weighing 5 ounces.

 

[davidg4781]

This was the biggest reason I skipped the Air. I had several comments on how clear the pictures from my 11 Pro were. And I had a coworker who went from a Pro to base model (I forget which iPhone model) but she would say she missed having that extra zoom camera to get better details.

I may have taken the risk with 2 cameras but after watching comparison reviews, I didn't want to risk it. Maybe for my next iPhone. Right now, with my work, I'd like to make sure pictures look as good as can be.

 

[MaaK]

I love the Air and would be in for a second generation in a heartbeat.
In Germany you can get it for under 1000€ - the original price is 1199€. That’s a great deal and for this price the phone is perfect. Still a little more expensive than the base 17, but it looks and feels amazing.

 

[uacd]

BUT, the reason I replied to your original post was I found it ironic in the same post you said (paraphrasing here) if you want a macro shot get a real camera but then you didn't apply the same logic to other shooting conditions where you essentially said phone cameras did poorly. Or did I misunderstand you?

edit: I think I misunderstood you, lol... by main camera you meant on the phone. for me my 'main camera' is a Sony A7 RV. Sorry.

Haha, true🙂 Indeed, I meant main camera on the iPhone, the notorious 24mm equiv or 26mm on some models. Can’t get used to call it “properly” as “wide”.

For me it is kind of a double edged sword: iPhones suck in terms of photos (often due to computational photography pipeline) but at the same time they are… irreplaceable currently. Indeed a modern paradox. I hope companies (not just Apple) realize majority of people are fine with imperfections like noise and just want a true to life image. But considering they all double down year after year, probably won’t happen in the near future.

But yeah, indeed. I would wish future iPhone iterations focus closer with wide angle camera without relying on UW crop, I believe they need to improve lens system to achieve that. After all, lens is 95% of any photo, the other 5 is a computer painted B&W image

 

[Charliebird]

Add the cameras, give it a bigger battery and call it the plus and they'll have a winning design.

 

[Apple Fan 2008]

Yes please, no ultrawide lens is the main thing scaring me away from it.

 

[MrTemple]

I think we can stop pretending Apple "knows what the customer wants".

I think they're demonstrably great, but not 💯 perfect, at knowing what the customer wants.