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iPhone Air The Air reviews have dropped and the speaker's junk

HouseLannister said:
It's a phone of many compromises. Not for most people. Pro and Pro Max shipping in early- to mid-October after a few hours of preorders, but Air is still available for a Saturday pickup or delivery next week. Unsure if either they made a ton of them because they overestimated demand or it's just that no one is ordering it.
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For sure no one is ordering them. Usually, where I live, you have to wait till November/December to get a pro max ( small country, no official Apple Store, etc.). But iPhone Air is in stock on all retailers, which is crazy to see. So yes, nobody cares about it apart from very few people.
 
The speaker loudness/quality is just fine. The only annoying thing for me is watching a video horizontally all of the sound comes from the left of course. That tradeoff is easily worth it though for the form factor.

I expect they'll add another speaker eventually and keep it as thin or thinner. But I bet this model will just be sold again next year for a discount though and we won't see an Air 2 for a couple years.
 
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James6s said:
I got my Air yesterday and the speaker is better than I thought it would be. Nice sound, loud, crisp & clear. Been watching YouTube and listening to some music.
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Same for me even if the speaker is honestly worse than on 16 Pro. However, it's enough for my daily usage.
 
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JPack said:
Nobody is saying the Air won't improve.

What Apple is likely to do is make the device even thinner rather than add back a second camera or speaker, both of which would increase depth. You have foldables like Mate XT that are down to 3.6mm thin per slab.

Apple's own folding device will be "4.5–4.8mm thick when unfolded" per Kuo. When those devices launch, the new benchmark will be that depth, not the Air's current 5.6mm.
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Apparently one of the main changes with the S26 Edge is supposed to have is its thinner than the S25 Edge.
 
Been using the Air for a few days now and can confirm that the mono speaker is not that good imo.

Hopefully the Air 2 will come with stereo speakers.
 
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When I play music loudly and cover the entire speaker opening on my Air, I swear it seems like the sound is escaping from multiple areas.

Almost like it’s either using the frame to make the sound travel further or using the mic holes to release more sound or something… is it just me?

If I cover both speakers on my 16PM, less sound comes out than when I cover the speaker on my Air.
 
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Brettka7 said:
When I play music loudly and cover the entire speaker opening on my Air, I swear it sounds like the sound is escaping from multiple areas.

Almost like it’s either using the frame to make the sound travel further or using the mic holes to release more sound or something… is it just me?

If I cover both speakers on my 16PM, less sound comes out than when I cover the speaker on my Air.
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If you look at teardowns of where the speaker is, it’s actually to the extreme left of the earpiece, firing into the body of the chassis. Looks like they did this for space.

The right side of the top chassis is occupied by the rear camera.

The middle is the front camera/Face ID.

It makes sense why there is no room for a second rear camera.
 
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JPack said:
If you look at teardowns of where the speaker is, it’s actually to the extreme left of the earpiece, firing into the body of the chassis. Looks like they did this for space.

The right side of the top chassis is occupied by the rear camera.

The middle is the front camera/Face ID.

It makes sense why there is no room for a second rear camera.
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Do you think the placement is possibly why I’m hearing it so clearly when the opening is covered? Maybe it’s either firing noise through the thin display or reverberating through the titanium?
 
Brettka7 said:
Do you think the placement is possibly why I’m hearing it so clearly when the opening is covered? Maybe it’s either firing noise through the thin display or reverberating through the titanium?
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yes, it looks like it was designed to use the whole frame as a speaker "box".

Sort of like my Sony TV that uses the whole screen as the speaker "bar".
 
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blairh said:
You need data to know if a tiny earpiece speaker is quieter than a much larger bottom speaker?

This community is really hilarious sometimes.
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Yes. I’d love to see if one premium speaker from 2025 is better than two of any speakers from a decade ago. Seems like a pretty reasonable question to me 🤷🏼‍♂️

Two is not always better than one
 
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Yup, it sounds like trash and completely unacceptable. Wait a year or two for them to find the space to add one to the bottom, and a 2nd ultrawide camera on top, then it'll be a great device. This is just a proof of concept release that they'll move all models towards in a few years
 
tomtad said:
9to5mac.com

iPhone Air review: The thinnest iPhone ever, but at what cost? - 9to5Mac

Every so often, Apple makes a design decision that draws a line in the sand. One that feels like a...
9to5mac.com 9to5mac.com

  • The iPhone Air has a single speaker, located in the earpiece at the top of the device. There isn’t a speaker on the bottom like there is on other iPhone models. This was noticeable right away to me. If you regularly listen to podcasts or music using just your iPhone speakers (especially in the shower), you’ll want to invest in a Bluetooth speaker.

It's a no buy from me
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I never use the speakers on my phone, always AirPods 🤣 if I really wanted to be watching something with speakers, it would be on my tv or iPad pro
 
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I’ve noticed that when I put my Air on speakerphone at maximum volume, the speaker seems to produce a bit of distortion, especially during calls. It’s more noticeable with voices rather than music or videos.

Anyone else notice the same?
 
My Air speaker sounds rattling / distorting especially with voices at anything above 60%. I’m unsure if this is just my unit or just the phones themselves. It’s especially noticeable on phone calls and videos with voices as the main bit of audio..
 
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