Report: 'Virtually No Demand' for iPhone Air

[Adelphos33]

I’ve said this in every similar post, but

1) It is simply not as good of a phone as the iPhone 17, let alone the Pro and Pro Max models. The 17 has better colors, better cameras, better battery life, the same screen, and similar performance.

2) It is more expensive than the 17 when buying outright

3) This isn’t a factor everywhere, but I know with AT&T, you get more money on your trade in if you buy the Pro or Pro Max models. Specifically, I get $1,100 when trading in any eligible phone to buy a Pro or Pro Max model while I get only $700 when trading in any eligible phone to buy the iPhone 17 or the Air. So when buying with AT&T, the phone is also more expensive than the Pro models! I don’t exactly understand why AT&T/Apple does this (they have always incentivized Pro model purchases this way), but it is more noticeable now. With AT&T, my cheapest options are Pro, Pro Max, 17, then Air in that order, as this photo shows

 

[I7guy]

So the market has spoken. The market wants more expensive phones with many features.

Similar to the automotive market. Samsung took a cue from apples page. Tesla just did this with their cars. Decontes the models 3 and Y and are selling them as non premium models for thousands less. We’ll see if it sells.

 

[skottichan]

I'll be honest, I was reeeeally interested in the white iP17 Air, because I don't really uttilize a lot of features of my phone. Like, the phone camera is great for catching moments, but if I'm planning on taking photos, like cosplay photos, I use either my wife's DSLR or one of my old 35mm cameras.

But then, I saw the orange, and I am not a strong woman when it comes to impulse buying.

 

[BruiserBear]

The Air is simply priced too higher for what it is. Apple thought making it really pretty would be enough to make people pay $200 more than the standard 17, but it turns out that was not the case.

What does the weak demand of an iPhone Air have to do with a foldable? Weird conclusion. That's like saying there is no demand for vegan products because some people eat meat

You really ought to spend more than a half second reading before replying.

“A new KeyBanc Capital Markets survey for investors reveals "virtually no demand for iPhone Air, and limited willingness to pay for a foldable."

It says that a survey revealed virtually no demand for the Air phone, and limited interest in a hypothetical foldable. This type of market research is done all the time.

 

[blairh]

A lousy earpiece speaker and a single camera. At a premium price. The Air won’t sell well until it improves its hardware on both fronts.

 

[acblue94]

My non tech friend got one and returned it in a week, siting the camera, usb 2 and battery anxiety. That's a normal non tech person. If Apple dropped the price to match the limitations they might have a huge hit on their hands.

Battery anxiety doesn’t mean it has bad battery. lol. Non tech people don’t care about USB 2. And btw, I know people that returned the brick when they realize they can live without certain things the Air doesn’t have because it never mattered to them.

 

[betasp]

As oppsoed to most people commenting, I have an Air and a Pro (and a Pixel 10 Pro XL, and Fold7).

The only real issue, and it's major, is the camera. Apple really messed up without an UltraWide. No one cares that you put most of the guts of the Air in the 'plateau.' It is too much of a sacrifice.

 

[acblue94]

Agreed. $100 more gets you a screen only .2 smaller, 3 cameras, great battery life.

Go the other direction - to the regular iPhone 17 - and you lose the telephoto lens and a little bit of speed. It’s a fantastic model this year.

Faced with two great options either side of the air, you’d have to really value the thinness and cool factor above everything.

And evidently most people do not.

That’s huge. Form factor and design is a huge thing. Most people get fomo and don’t understand the Air because marketing has sucked on it.

 

[Shalev Lazarof]

I did on day one in the Apple Store in Zurich.

I never disliked the design and concept of any iPhone like this since 2007.

Huge phablet, too bright, too tall — and the thin edge feels completely awkward in hand due to the massive dimensions of this phone.

And that idiotic, absurd, brainless, degenerated, distorted, tasteless, grotesque, misshapen, pathetic, clumsy, ugly, embarrassing, ridiculous, unaesthetic, incoherent, disfiguring, repulsive, atrocious, meaningless, primitive, miserable, dumb, overblown, design-wise bankrupt, illogical, disturbingly intrusive, unbearable, annoying, misengineered, insanely stupid, cheap-looking and visually offensive camera bump is a crime against customers who like asthethics.

OK. stick with the mini.

 

[N0ughtsAndCr0sses]

 

[ab2c4]

Its my favorite iphone I have ever had, I'm glad I have one. I think the Air is doing better than what the media with their agenda wants you to think. Its definitely not the best selling model but if it is selling better than the Plus model that it replaced its probably fine. A lot of people on this site and reddit have the Air.

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

Not really surprising, given the 3% of unit sales reported yesterday (vs. 76% for the Pro/Max and 22% for the regular 17).

Too bad they didn't mention how many pros were sold, as pro and max aren't the same

Also I seem to recall seeing the base 17 getting more than 22% . What article ?

 

[mjpearce023]

I'm shocked the brand new device with a marketing budget of 0 isn't selling well. Most people that see my air have no idea that it even exists. Apple and carriers are spending millions on advertising an orange phone when everyone already knows about the pro but nothing on a brand new phone that people don't know about. Then you go to AT&T and you can trade in an iPhone 13 or newer and get the Pro for free or a pro max for $100 or you can get an air for $300. So the phone that's $100 cheaper cost $300 more if you are doing a trade in. So yeah the no advertising plus making the phone $300 more expensive on a major carrier is probably not the greatest sales strategy if apple was planning to sell a lot of these.

 

[ayephoner]

It will be interesting to see the fate of not only the air, but the "4th" iphone is. They moved on from the mini, then moved on from the max, now have the air not selling well. Maybe they stick with the air for another year or two until the fold comes out, but I don't think we'll see any of these models after that.

 

[Adamj53]

I have the Air, holding my wife's iPhone 16 PM (which was mine) feels like holding a house brick now.

 

[canadianreader]

You're spot on here.

There's nothing wrong with having a 'design-led' high-end phone to accompany the 'feature-led' Pro. But it needs to have ALL of the features of the regular iPhone.

Simply put make the Air slightly thicker, put in a second camera, put in a second speaker, put in a better battery, but keep it nice of svelte with glossy titanium sides, a Pro chip, a slightly larger screen, and you've got a winner of a product. And something which regular iPhone users might be tempted by.

The current product is a disaster.

It could work kind of a stylish phone that has all the bells and whistles of the base model but thinner and feels luxurious with high-end titanium frame, better glass and better battery technology and then price it accordingly.

 

[User 6502]

These are fair points, but they're not going to affect the vast majority of users.

The only things you could really make an argument that most people would miss is single camera and smaller battery than the Pro models.

You could start making the same argument for MacBook Air and say it shouldn't exist as well? or iPad Air?

People would definitely make these arguments for the MacBook Air if it were less powerful than a (non existent) MacBook and yet more expensive. The air series in other categories is either cheaper than the pro (but also less specced, see MacBooks) or cheaper than the pro and less performing but also more expensive and more performing than the base model (see iPads). iPhone air doesn’t make sense because it’s more expensive than the base iPhone and yet it has less (battery, camera, thermal management… ).

 

[Haiku_Oezu]

https://www.macrumors.com/2025/10/17/iphone-air-sells-out-in-china/

So what does this means ?

It means analysts will say anything because they know websites like MacRumors will publish them regardless

 

[UnbreakableAlex]

just make it $500 cheaper and it will sell like hotcakes do

 

[ZiBart]

It's still so early in the lifespan of this new product. Who cares about all these speculative articles about the Air not selling or selling out. Just another "boxing bell" article for the forums/comment sections.

 

[joeblow7777]

I never knew how many people apparently care about their phone's speakers until the Air came along. I've honestly never known anyone to listen to much of anything through their phone's actual speakers as opposed to headphones, earbuds/airpods, or bluetooth speakers.

 

[JTK Awesome]

It's an innovation tax. Future phones will benefit heavily from the R&D invested into it.

It's a "hobby" like AVP and the first aTV box.

 

[tomtad]

The average consumer associates the single camera with being budget or low end these days. But then you see the $999 price for the Air and question why pay more for the inferior device? Most aren’t going to trade features for thinness and looks. The 17 is seen as the better value by most consumers. It appears that Apple can’t figure out a true “middle device” between Pro and regular iPhones.

Exactly. The question is why Apple couldn't see this

 

[Happy_John]

All in all, it is probably too expensive. In a lot of the world, people feel like they have less discretionary income compared to a few years ago, I imagine many people, much as they like the look of the air, are probably going for the standard 17 to save some money.

I honestly think it's price, not the specs, that's lowering demand. On forums like this, people focus on the specs, but I don't think that's indicative of the market overall.

 

[canadianreader]

9.) Again, what year is it that a wired connection is required to transfer large amounts of data, excluding professionals who shoot raw files?

You could say that more people in the UK, for privacy reasons will be doing offline backups and usb 2 is too slow for that. The future is less Cloud and more local.