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"Virtually no one" asked for two cameras or three cameras. iPhone started with one camera.

"Virtually no one" asked for bigger phones. iPhones were smaller to begin with.

"Virtually no one" asked for LiDAR scanner. iPhones had no LiDAR scanner.

If you always follow "virtually no one" then we would still be using a similar phone to the original one.
Those are all meaningful improvements while the air is full of compromises for some strange aesthetic fetish Apple has always had that has bit them in the past.

Not even remotely the same lol.
 
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It’s a gorgeous phone in person and feels great, actually. Fits perfectly in the front pocket, etc. the issue for me is the price and mono-speaker. People these days are never too far from a charger and phones don’t take 8 hours to charge like back in the Nokia days. Battery life isn’t an issue for me. The price and lack of dual speakers is what sealed the deal for me not giving up my 16PM for one. If it was priced $799 then it would be a deal that I could live with even though it’s missing a speaker. Again, gorgeous phone that should have been priced differently and marketed better
 
Those are all meaningful improvements while the air is full of compromises for some strange aesthetic fetish Apple has always had that has bit them in the past.

Not even remotely the same lol.

It is meaningful to someone who prefers slimmer/lighter profile. Look, Apple has options for everyone. Let Air owners be happy with their phone even if you think Air is full of compromises. You enjoy your Pro or Pro Max.
 
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They shouldn’t have focussed on the thinness of it. It’s the lightness of it that really matters. Plus how it feels in the hand and in the pocket.

Yes, weight is really important.

200g is 50% heavier than 150g. 250g is 50% heavier than 200g.
A 100g phone weighs nearly nothing, less than 50% of a 150g phone.

But thinness is also important, I don't want to walk around with a brick in my pocket.
 
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Apple has invested too much money in the development of the Air to give up on the Air. Even if sales are slow they will improve the value proposition through closing feature gaps (2nd camera, stereo speakers, etc.) and reducing price before they give up on it.
it wont go to waste. The fold will be based on the Air and I’m certain so will the 20th anniversary model which will look like a sheet of glass.
 
I don't think you know what the word "objectively" means. And literally nobody in the industry agrees with you here (though, notably, even if they did the Air would still be significantly thinner than any other phone).
Apple certainly knows what objectively means given they just cut production to zero because of dismal sales for the objectively terrible iPhone Air. Everybody in the industry agrees the Air will be discontinued as a failure shortly. Ciao
 
Apple certainly knows what objectively means given they just cut production to zero because of dismal sales for the objectively terrible iPhone Air. Everybody in the industry agrees the Air will be discontinued as a failure shortly. Ciao

Literally not one single part of this comment is accurate. Objectively. 😂
 
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Compromises:
1. Single speaker
2. Single camera
3. Extremely poor battery life (due to thinness)
4. Inferior C1X 5G modem compared to SD X80 in Pro series
5. Too thin to hold.
6. Busted Wifi 7 that is incapable of 320 Mhz channel width on 6Ghz.
7. No mmWave which is in Pro models.
8. No display output via USB-C to an external monitor or TV.
9. Still USB 2.0 speeds for a premium device in 2025.
10. Slower binned SOC (again due to thinness and heat concerns)

Did I miss anything?
It's not too thin to hold and the battery life is not "extremely poor"... in fact it's better battery life than my iphone 14 Pro....

Outright lies by people who have never even owned the iPhone Air. It's really something.
 
Just download a damn app like Halide to capture RAW on ANY iPhone. Everyone acting like the Pro models are the only devices capable of RAW is total misinformation. Get Halide and learn how to edit. Done.

Nope, not misinformation... Never acted like your above assertion. And having processed many tens of thousands of photos in Lightroom, I do know how to edit. And don't want to use Halide for capture.
 
Lots of people fall for numbers and sophisticated specs because marketing (including by competing brands) makes them think that they need those “corners”. Most people have no idea.
Lots of people pay attention to the price tag and a water downed product with less features isn't appealing!
 
I hate the "Air has terrible battery life" narrative. It's battery life has been on par with my old iPhone 16 Pro (which I happily traded on release day) given the same workload.

The Air has been an extremely refreshing departure from their thick and heavy Base and Pro models. This phone is the first iPhone I haven't hated using in many, many years. Having a single camera and speaker are unfortunate compromises, but they're temporary, just like the first iPhone models against their more fully-featured competition.

I really hope that Apple doesn't kill the Air. It would be a real shame to have to go back to that because the majority wants a TV in their pocket while they're more than happy to burn massive amounts of capital on significantly-more-expensive Vision Pro headsets that also don't sell that well.

I don't know what I'll do if Apple cancels this phone. I don't want to await its eventual demise like I did with the mini, and the Android ecosystem seems to have zero interest in making anything other than big and heavy bricks. Maybe I'll go back to dumb flip phones. They'll probably be cool again by then anyway.
 
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Compromises:
1. Single speaker
2. Single camera
3. Extremely poor battery life (due to thinness)
4. Inferior C1X 5G modem compared to SD X80 in Pro series
5. Too thin to hold.
6. Busted Wifi 7 that is incapable of 320 Mhz channel width on 6Ghz.
7. No mmWave which is in Pro models.
8. No display output via USB-C to an external monitor or TV.
9. Still USB 2.0 speeds for a premium device in 2025.
10. Slower binned SOC (again due to thinness and heat concerns)

Did I miss anything?
As a "light" iPhone user whose options were previously "thick and heavy" or "mini, but old and slow", this is how I interpret your (temporary, IMO) compromises:

> Single speaker

It's plenty loud IMO. Phone speakers are terrible for consuming audio anyway (in my opinion), and it's mostly unnecessary when you're mostly using AirPods or bluetooth headphones (which I do).

> Single camera

Definitely a compromise, unless you don't take that many photos or don't use >2x zoom often (which I don't; I hardly used the telephoto lens on the 13 mini). Anyway, I'm sure that the next iteration of the Air (if there is one) will get a camera array OR, my preference, a single high-MP sensor with a zoom lens.

> Extremely poor battery life

Not true. It's on par with the iPhone 16 Pro. That tracks with my experience using this phone since launch.

> Inferior C1X 5G modem

Hardly! It's pretty close in performance. Apple is 100% going to move onto this chipset for all of their phones in the next two years anyway. Makes too much sense. Qualcomm's only moat was its library of patents, which Apple doesn't need now that they manufacture their own modems and basebands and have complete vertical control of the stack. (This is extremely exciting to me, as this means faster baseband updates, potentially new features that would historically require modem updates, and much better security). Anecdotally, I haven't noticed a difference in performance at all, and I often use the phone as a hotspot.

> Too thin to hold

Much better than too thick and heavy to hold, IMO. That Popsocket cases exist is absolutely asinine to me.

> Busted WiFi 7

Irrelevant to most people; WiFi 7 is extremely early days, and most people don't have the equipment to notice this con. Anecdotally, I have a three-node eero Max 7 system meshing on an Ethernet 10Gbit backplane with a 5Gbit fiber internet gateway and still get silly throughput numbers on speed.cloudflare.com and fast.com over Wi-Fi.

> No mmWave

Same deal as WiFi 7, IMO.

> No display output via USB-C

I hardly ever use this, as when I've tried to use it, I either had no control over setting display resolution or the apps that I wanted to use it for (Netflix IIRC) block external displays due to DRM. Anyway, that's what my MacBook is for (and what my iPad Pro would be for, if it weren't so artificially restricted).

> USB 2.0 speeds

Can't think of the last time I needed to transfer anything over USB-C. I did backup/restore an iPhone 16 Pro over USB-C using iMazing, and that was pretty neat, but that's it.

> Slower binned SOC

I'm a "light" iPhone user and don't game, so I haven't hit these limitations yet. It's as fast as my 16 Pro was, maybe slightly faster given the A19 SOC.

---

This phone is unbelievable, and I hope that Apple builds on this platform instead of sticking to its outdated "thick phone" slate.
 
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It’s similar to the MacBook 12in. Premium quality finish but undercooked specs. Also was an ultra lightweight product.

I love the form factor of the Air. The price puts me off. I think I could do without the additional lenses and speaker in exchange for such a light phone.

I just got a 16 Pro Max earlier this year so let’s see what the Air is like when I want to upgrade.
 
Way to go Timmy!

I think this would be a fine time to do your long-overdue exit from Apple.
 
Compromises:
1. Single speaker
2. Single camera
3. Extremely poor battery life (due to thinness)
4. Inferior C1X 5G modem compared to SD X80 in Pro series
5. Too thin to hold.
6. Busted Wifi 7 that is incapable of 320 Mhz channel width on 6Ghz.
7. No mmWave which is in Pro models.
8. No display output via USB-C to an external monitor or TV.
9. Still USB 2.0 speeds for a premium device in 2025.
10. Slower binned SOC (again due to thinness and heat concerns)

Did I miss anything?
While the phone is lighter, the bill isn't.
 
If grams are a hugh difference and affecting your usage maybe you have bigger problems.
I had a 16 PM,
Bought the Air,
Returned the Air due to the battery not suiting my usage and then went for the 17 Pro.

Trust me there’s a difference in weight.
 
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The foldable design will likely be based on technology bought from one of the few Chinese or Korean companies, as Apple simply doesn’t possess that technology.
You’re talking about the screen technology, I’m talking about the body of the phone.
 
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