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I honestly couldn’t care less about speaker quality.

Speaker quality is probably at the absolute bottom of my list of things to consider when buying a smartphone. No device that small has great speakers.

They’re just less crap.
That's you specific. I loved the speakers on my previous 16 Pro Max and now on the 17. It makes a world of difference when watching video, listening to podcasts, and taking calls on speakerphone.
 
Of course, but this is more about how it compares to the other phones with mixed usage. Toms guide did a simple battery test as well. I’ve seen reviewers say the phone lasted the day with anywhere from 5-7 hours screen time. That’s more than I personally average so it should be adequate.
Yeah i just watched the Toms guide video and it seemed very promising! I am pretty sure I am going with the Air in black. I want to love the blue but i just think it looks too white.
 
Yeah i just watched the Toms guide video and it seemed very promising! I am pretty sure I am going with the Air in black. I want to love the blue but i just think it looks too white.
Black looks super sleek as always, but I use my phone naked and the rails tend to show more nicks and scratches over time so I choose the silver/natural options now. I chose sky blue because it looks like cool white. I don't actually want a baby blue phone 🤞
 
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Speakers are a big deal to me as I like to casually watch youtube and videos online and the dual speakers of modern iPhones sound incredible to me.

I bet you guys Apple will make the iPhone Air 2 have 2 speakers, maybe another camera if possible too. It will sell like crazy once they "fix" some of it's shortcomings
 
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Black looks super sleek as always, but I use my phone naked and the rails tend to show more nicks and scratches over time so I choose the silver/natural options now. I chose sky blue because it looks like cool white. I don't actually want a baby blue phone 🤞
Same. Wish they'd done back glass like the grey/silver Natural Titanium models but I'm happy with the white.
 
I compared the speaker of the air with my pro max 14 and when in portrait mode there is not much of a difference. The Air has a very solid speaker with clarity and punch. It is loud enough for FaceTime and casual listening.

When used in portrait, it is quite obvious that stereo is better. But I still would say the speaker of the Air is good especially considering the thinness of its profile. `But yes, please next year 2 cameras and 2 speaker (which will definitely be coming)
 
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I certainly agree with your choice of team. MOT
I was looking at the Air in the Leeds Apple Store last night and it certainly is a beautiful device, but the single mono speaker is a non starter for me.
 
Apple is rumored to not be releasing the iPhone 18 until the Spring of 2027. Why would they do that? Because it will matter less in their lineup with the Air getting better year over year. In due time, maybe even by next year, the Air will have dual cameras and stereo speakers. At that point, what importance does the vanilla iPhone even offer Apple beyond being able to offer it as a lower price point than the Air?

I'm confident Apple wants their vanilla iPhone in the near future to be as thin and light as the Air.

In 2026 we get the Air still at $999 with dual cameras and stereo speakers. In 2027 we get the Air with the same features as the previous year but with a new chip and better battery for $899. At that point, they can ditch the vanilla iPhone entirely. Wouldn't surprise me.
I don’t think the Air is going to get a yearly refresh and that’s why it’s simply “Air” rather than “17 Air”. Similar to what they did with the SE.
 
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I don’t think the Air is going to get a yearly refresh and that’s why it’s simply “Air” rather than “17 Air”. Similar to what they did with the SE.
Completely disagree. They called it simply 'Air' this year because it is the first of its kind. Next year it will either be called the iPhone 18 Air or the iPhone Air 2.

It's absolutely going to get a yearly refresh. It's (potentially) the future flagship iPhone.
 
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I do not think there will be a second version. I think the iPhone Air was made for Apple to prove they could fit all that tech in that small of a frame, and next year the foldable iPhone is going to be two iPhone Air’s put together. If there is no foldable iPhone next year, then yes, there most likely will be another Air, but the reports as of now are foldable iPhone in 2026.

Apple will pay close attention to what works on the Air, and what needs some refinement/attention and fix it for the iPhone Air Foldable or whatever they will call it.

Just my prediction!

:apple:
There will absolutely be a second version, it’s already rumored.
And this phone and a folding phone are targeted at completely different customers, even if they share technology.
If any phone is possibly on the chopping block, it’s the standard iPhone (number), which at this moment in time is the one phone that’s rumored to *not even receive a single upgrade* next year.
The timeline, which the three biggest sources of Apple news, the information, Kuo and Gurman all agree on…
Fall 2025: 17, Air, Pro/Pro Max
Spring 2026: 17e
Fall 2026: Air2, 18 Pro/Max, Fold
Spring 2027: regular 18 and/or 18e
Fall 2027: Air3 with bigger screen, Pro/Max (20th anniversary) and Fold2.
Given that the air is being pushed during the holiday quarter and the standard is getting relegated to the spring, plus the fact that they are already working on a third generation Air, tells me that much like the MacBook Air before it, they fully expect this to become the “regular” model within the next two years.

I also feel it’s important to point out that the Air is $999, and the Fold is likely to *start* at $2000 on the low end. Just because these two phones will share miniaturization technology first introduced with the Air does not mean that they won’t coexist.
The Air design is clearly at least at the current moment what Apple thinks the future of the slab phone will be. The fold is very much something completely different.
 
When was the last time you saw an iPhone go down in price?
The XR was released for $749 in 2018.
The 11 added a second camera and a new chip that was basically the same phone, and started at $699, bumping the XR all the way down to $599.
No matter which way you look at it, either that design saw a $50 reduction over a year, or if you just look at the XR on its own it’s saw apple drop the price by $150 in a year.

But I don’t necessarily expect that to happen, what I think is more likely is that we just see more separation between the iPhone lines, just like we have seen with the iPad and the Mac.
At one time, back in 2012, the MacBook Air 13 inch and the MacBook Pro 13 inch were only $100 apart, just like currently the iPhone Air and pro are only $100 apart.
Then the retina MacBook Pro was introduced in that $100 difference became a $600 difference.
What I very much expect to happen is, now that the iPhone is branching off into different lines instead of just the same number with a different modifier at the end, the price gaps between them to widen.
This rumored all scream curved edged 20th anniversary pro iPhone likely will not start at $1099.
I think it’s very likely that within a couple years the lineup could look like…
iPhone: $599
iPhone Air: $999
iPhone Pro: $1299 and $1499
iPhone Fold: $1999

Then they can fill the space in between the different models with the previous generations, just like how they were selling the M2 MacBook Air and the M3 MacBook Air side-by-side just a couple months ago.
For example, I could completely see them keeping around this year’s Air at $899.
 
I already said previously that they could offer the Air at $899 in a few years. In due time, the 'standard' iPhone is going to go up in price.
Yeah, this is something that I feel like people are not understanding.
$599 is the new $429, we literally just saw that earlier this year with the 16e.
Anyone who does some simple quick math can see that $799 from seven years ago is almost $1000 today.
With folding phones and more and more advanced pro phones pushing up the prices of those, it’s clear that just like the MacBook line, $999 is going to quickly become a target for the consumer model.
Once the $599 iPhone gets 120 Hz and the new Chip, there’s pretty much absolutely no reason for the base iPhone to exist.
If Apple relegating it to a spring release isn’t evidence enough that it’s days are numbered, and not really getting a design change or RAM improvement whatsoever isn’t either, i’m not sure what is.
It is literally in the exact same spot the white plastic MacBook was after the MacBook Air was introduced, still technically getting processor bumps and little design tweaks, but clearly just there until it can be fully replaced with the air.
 
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I don’t think the Air is going to get a yearly refresh and that’s why it’s simply “Air” rather than “17 Air”. Similar to what they did with the SE.
Well, all of the sources that reported on Apple working on a super slim iPhone Air over a year and a half ago all say to expect an iPhone Air 2 next fall and an iPhone Air 3 with a bigger screen the following year.
I’m going to go ahead and assume that the iPhone Apple has strategically priced at that very important $999 price slot is *very* likely to be updated every year.
 
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That's you specific. I loved the speakers on my previous 16 Pro Max and now on the 17. It makes a world of difference when watching video, listening to podcasts, and taking calls on speakerphone.
You must live alone or are willing to annoy others lol.
 
I bit the bullet and watched F1 qualifying on the Air with speakers vs. headphones like I normally do. It was more than acceptable for me, even with my son watching cartoons in the background. Clearly not as good as with AirPods, but what do you expect? My 16 Pro Max also wouldn't have sounded as good as listening through AirPods.

I still don't completely understand how people who care about sound quality enough to completely reject a phone because it doesn't have a second, tiny speaker that probably wouldn't actually add anything given space constraints are watching anything through their phone's speakers to begin with. But clearly some people do, so who am I to judge.

Note: clearly I'm not an audiophile.
 
Speakers are fantastic - voice on speaker phone and FaceTime were perfect.

That's all I use it for.

If I want to watch a movie or music video, I would not use the iPhone - it's too small to watch with my old aged eyes.

I'd use my desktop Mac Studio with dual 27" displays and Bose sound system.
 
Is anyone else surprised how good the speaker is on the Air?

Even though it’s at the top, I can feel the sound vibrate through the phone all the way to the lower corners. If I cover it with my finger, I can still hear the sound (though muffled)

If I cover both speakers on my 16PM, I can hardly hear anything. I wonder if apple is using the Air frame to make it sound more whole somehow?
 
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