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right ?

don't understand why people would denigrate, defile, disparage, and tear down a new form factor that obviously people enjoy having ?

is it because the pro crowd feels threatened by the newest generation iPhone Air???
I think it's bc the pro ppl wanna say they made the right choice. I got 17PM kinda feel that way but not to denigrate. But I just know if I get the Air I will prob wish I had the 17PM so with me I can't win.
 
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I can’t catch mine… little bugger is zipping all over this place constantly pinging beeping sounds.. I need to call someone.. I don’t know what to do..

The pro is kind of a new form factor too, it looks totally different this year.. I don’t get why hate when we all got a new shiny.
 
Most iPhone Air users will never encounter thermal throttling, because they’re not using the device in “Pro-level” ways. Scrolling through social media, taking photos, doing light edits, or playing casual games like Candy Crush barely stress the CPU. Realistically, how many iPhone Air owners are pushing it with console-grade AAA games or heavy video editing?
The secret they don't tell you at the store is that Pro buyers don't do those things either. Its an amazing flex that the 17 Pro has the graphics of a PS4 but hobbyist gamers tend to look at phones with derision or otherwise have a portable console. I game a lot on my iPhone but you're talking titles like Balatro and Vampire Survivors, maybe a spot of PSP emulation when the mood calls. These all run at 60fps on an iPhone 12.

People might capture 4K footage on their iPhone but its being quickly offloaded to a computer for editing.
 
Most iPhone Air users will never encounter thermal throttling, because they’re not using the device in “Pro-level” ways. Scrolling through social media, taking photos, doing light edits, or playing casual games like Candy Crush barely stress the CPU. Realistically, how many iPhone Air owners are pushing it with console-grade AAA games or heavy video editing?
I personally barely do any gaming on my phones…ever since phones went full touchscreen I have always found gaming less than satisfactory on them, though I am impressed by the graphics but for the most part I play very lite games.

The reason I tend to find things like thermal management important in my smartphones is that although I don’t game, I do use the Camera a lot for both Video and Photography, as well as using GPS as I use Waze on Apple CarPlay while driving (very helpful in terms of keeping track of speed limit changes on some of our highways).

Both Camera and GPS usage can drive the SoC to high temperatures pretty quickly, along with Battery drain, so the balance of lower thermals and longer battery life become very important.

What I have loved liked with my 17 PM is how it has done a good job of both lower thermals and longer battery life when using Camera or GPS extensively, especially when out and about or at a festival.

One doesn’t have to use a modern smartphone at “Pro-level ways” to hit the thermal ceiling, a combination of apps can easily do that sometimes, but this all depends on ones usage patterns, mine vary widely so I know I benefit from what a Pro Max brings, but another person may have much more limited usage patterns that don’t stretch the phone much and may not need all the stuff that makes a Pro.
 
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I would love to see an example of an air throttling because of using the camera or gps/both. I’m not saying it can’t happen but I find it unlikely. I have played all the crazy games on my air and it gets a little warm.. but so far that is it.
 
I would love to see an example of an air throttling because of using the camera or gps/both. I’m not saying it can’t happen but I find it unlikely. I have played all the crazy games on my air and it gets a little warm.. but so far that is it.
Same and when I owned the iPhone 17 Pro, I think it got hotter than my Air did. Did not notice the 17 Pro anymore cooler than my 16 Pro.
 
I personally barely do any gaming on my phones…ever since phones went full touchscreen I have always found gaming less than satisfactory on them, though I am impressed by the graphics but for the most part I play very lite games.

The reason I tend to find things like thermal management important in my smartphones is that although I don’t game, I do use the Camera a lot for both Video and Photography, as well as using GPS as I use Waze on Apple CarPlay while driving (very helpful in terms of keeping track of speed limit changes on some of our highways).

Both Camera and GPS usage can drive the SoC to high temperatures pretty quickly, along with Battery drain, so the balance of lower thermals and longer battery life become very important.

What I have loved liked with my 17 PM is how it has done a good job of both lower thermals and longer battery life when using Camera or GPS extensively, especially when out and about or at a festival.

One doesn’t have to use a modern smartphone at “Pro-level ways” to hit the thermal ceiling, a combination of apps can easily do that sometimes, but this all depends on ones usage patterns, mine vary widely so I know I benefit from what a Pro Max brings, but another person may have much more limited usage patterns that don’t stretch the phone much and may not need all the stuff that makes a Pro.
Yep, I forgot that CarPlay along with wireless charging can really push temperatures up!
 
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I used the 17 Pro briefly and couldn't even tell there was a new vapor chamber cooling system. It kept getting just as warm as before, didn't notice any improvements on the 17 Pro.
 
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People aren’t talking enough about the vapor chamber. Give it two months and the iPhone Air’s components will start slowing down. The iPhone 17 Pro’s vapor chamber is the real game-changer—it keeps the phone running fast, all the time and indefinitely.

All the iPhone Air buyers will be regretting their decision.
I received my iPhone Air on September 19 and have been using my new iPhone full time since. I come from my 15 Pro Max and have been a Pro Max user ever since it has come out. With this said, I have not changed in how I use my devices and have used my Air no different than how I have been using my 15 Pro Max over the past few years I have been using my 15 Pro Max. From my use case, I have not noticed any slowing in performance of my Air and have iOS 26 developer beta software installed on my device. Still no issue.

I do understand thermal throttling and the importance of cooling. Having the vapor chamber is a new thing and for Pro series iPhones probably the right choice seeing those iPhones are the flagship level iPhones. The Air has never been designed to be at the same performance level as the Pro series iPhones although it does have the same A19 Pro processor with one less GPU core and 12GB memory.

You're comparing apples to oranges regarding comparing the Pro series iPhones to the Air. Both series are designed for a different purpose and as I have said for how I use my devices I have noticed no degradation in the Air's performance in my daily tasks although the camera plateau does get warm when I'm doing some tasks however the iPhone has not slowed down.
 
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I received my iPhone Air on September 19 and have been using my new iPhone full time since. I come from my 15 Pro Max and have been a Pro Max user ever since it has come out. With this said, I have not changed in how I use my devices and have used my Air no different than how I have been using my 15 Pro Max over the past few years I have been using my 15 Pro Max. From my use case, I have not noticed any slowing in performance of my Air and have iOS 26 developer beta software installed on my device. Still no issue.

I do understand thermal throttling and the importance of cooling. Having the vapor chamber is a new thing and for Pro series iPhones probably the right choice seeing those iPhones are the flagship level iPhones. The Air has never been designed to be at the same performance level as the Pro series iPhones although it does have the same A19 Pro processor with one less GPU core and 12GB memory.

You're comparing apples to oranges regarding comparing the Pro series iPhones to the Air. Both series are designed for a different purpose and as I have said for how I use my devices I have noticed no degradation in the Air's performance in my daily tasks although the camera plateau does get warm when I'm doing some tasks however the iPhone has not slowed down.
I could never get the Air to throttle. It was the FASTEST phone to restore my iCloud backup between my mess of getting a 17 Pro, 17 Air, and 17 Pro Max. It has the strongest cellular reception of those 3 phones too, by a noticeable amount. But no matter what I did, even syncing my 64,000 photos/videos to Google Photos (phone got warm) - I never got the overheat message and it did not noticeably slow down. The thing was a beast. Doing same thing I got an overheat message on my 17 Pro Max.

I agree that most people do not use the capability of these phones.
 
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I could never get the Air to throttle. It was the FASTEST phone to restore my iCloud backup between my mess of getting a 17 Pro, 17 Air, and 17 Pro Max. It has the strongest cellular reception of those 3 phones too, by a noticeable amount. But no matter what I did, even syncing my 64,000 photos/videos to Google Photos (phone got warm) - I never got the overheat message and it did not noticeably slow down. The thing was a beast. Doing same thing I got an overheat message on my 17 Pro Max.

I agree that most people do not use the capability of these phones.
Perfectly said! This is why this time around I chose my Air instead of getting the new 17 Pro Max. I decided I did not want to overpay for features I will never use. To me this was a complete waste of money just to say I have the absolute best iPhone but I will never fully utilize what that iPhone has to offer.

At least the Air for what it is, has what I consider the premium titanium frame and futuristic appearance of what I feel the iPhone should be. It has great performance and does not bog down due to overheating as some have put out in their review videos. To keep things in perspective for the "average iPhone user" they will never push their iPhones to where you will receive an overheat message unless you're operating in excessive heat conditions where the average ambient temp around you is over 90 degrees. Then all phones, no matter what they are, will overheat. If you're in a normal setting you will never experience this. I can say from having iPhones ever since the original, I have never experienced an iPhone shutting down because it overheated nor have I ever gotten a message that my iPhone was overheating. Not from my "average iPhone user" experience.
 
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Silly, the vapor chamber is there to keep the bigger battery cool, it has nothing to do with performance of the chip. It could self destruct in four months though and air owners will finally regret their decision…
 
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