iPhone Air To All the iPhone Air Owners — You Have My Respect

[TechnoMonk]

I finally got an Air in my hands the other day at an Apple Store. It did feel very nice and light to hold, and the sheer size of the thing actually makes it feel lighter than you'd expect it to feel. And I could imagine the general thinness making it disappear in my pocket a bit better. But to me, that screen size is also a bit of a negative for one-handed use.

With my 15 Pro held up with my pinkie forming a "shelf" (as one does) I can get my thumb to reach almost to the top of the display and reach most UI elements. But with a screen the size of the Air, there's just no way I'm going to reach the top one-handed. And while the Air is light enough to juggle it a bit in the hand, IMO it's still out of one-handed use territory without really risking dropping it. For me anyway.

Sadly, I think my ideal phone is as thin as the Air, but a bit smaller. And I'm sure that smaller size that would bring even more compromised battery life, so we will not see it. Maybe someday.

I enjoyed my iPhone 5s for the size. But once I moved to bigger phone, it had lot to offer. I do miss the convenience of the size. My daughter has a 13 mini, and it’s perfect phone for her though she carries extra charging brick in her backpack. I need to figure out what phone replaces her 13 mini.

 

[TechnoMonk]

What're you talking about? The Air had every feature the base 12/13 had. Even compared to the Air, it has;

+1 Camera (ultrawide)
+1 Speaker (for stereo)

which make up 2/3 common complaints about the Air. If feature completeness is the benchmark, the Minis come out way ahead!

You mean mini? Battery was crap, pictures are terrible. My daughter has a iPhone 13 mini. I set it up and know problems in the phone. She carries a battery stick in back pack to get through with minimal usage. My other daughter has iPhone SE 2022, outside of the Touch ID, I find it better than mini.

 

[rui no onna]

You mean mini? Battery was crap, pictures are terrible. My daughter has a iPhone 13 mini. I set it up and know problems in the phone. She carries a battery stick in back pack to get through with minimal usage. My other daughter has iPhone SE 2022, outside of the Touch ID, I find it better than mini.

That's interesting considering the 13 mini had the same camera as the regular 13. Battery is also ~400mAh bigger than the SE 2022.

Now the 12 mini on the other hand had noticeably short battery life.

 

[turbineseaplane]

You mean mini? Battery was crap, pictures are terrible. My daughter has a iPhone 13 mini. I set it up and know problems in the phone. She carries a battery stick in back pack to get through with minimal usage. My other daughter has iPhone SE 2022, outside of the Touch ID, I find it better than mini.

Pictures are absolutely not “terrible” on a 13 Mini.

I’ve even gotten some incredible shots on my old SE1.

Great photos do not require the latest specs.

 

[rui no onna]

I enjoyed my iPhone 5s for the size. But once I moved to bigger phone, it had lot to offer. I do miss the convenience of the size. My daughter has a 13 mini, and it’s perfect phone for her though she carries extra charging brick in her backpack. I need to figure out what phone replaces her 13 mini.

That's gonna depend on hand size. For me, 15 Pro is more usable than the Air but if my fingers were just a little longer, the Air would probably be my pick.

 

[NotApplicable]

Wait! This is the same dude who started the ‘R U embarrassed’ thread?

Would you respect me if I was ashamed?

I think the “Ignore” function is proving very useful

 

[TechnoMonk]

That's interesting considering the 13 mini had the same camera as the regular 13. Battery is also ~400mAh bigger than the SE 2022.

Now the 12 mini on the other hand had noticeably short battery life.

iPhone mini screen has higher nits and consumes lot more power. I think Apple tried to pack too much in mini format and ended up with lot of compromises. I had to lower the brightness and tone down the display on my daughter’s phone to get more battery. iPhone SE 2022 is not better by much but it’s a budget phone.

 

[rui no onna]

iPhone mini screen has higher nits and consumes lot more power. I think Apple tried to pack too much in mini format and ended up with lot of compromises. I had to lower the brightness and tone down the display on my daughter’s phone to get more battery. iPhone SE 2022 is not better by much but it’s a budget phone.

If running both at full brightness, sure. If kept at the same nits, the mini should have the same or even lower power consumption. Both 13 mini and SE 2022 have the same A15 chipset and I believe 4GB RAM.

Mind, I used the SE3 as my daily driver for the past 3 years and I'm back to it again after returning the Air and waiting for the 17 to arrive. I'm a very light phone user and as long as I don't have a CGM connected, I get home with around 20-30% left on the SE3 (2 bars, no wifi which is probably why standby battery drain is so awful). Alas, with a CGM I need to charge it 3x a day.

 

[cnnyy20p]

Yes, it’s a phone with a statement of “I am a rich man”

It’s the first pure luxury phone from Apple. People who buy this phone can afford scarcity.

 

[Ta_whirimatea]

Off topic but I just upgraded from 13pm to a 17, love the smaller form, lightness & general feeling of it being a worthwhile upgrade. Although my apple pay is now totally screwed up somehow on the 17 & my awu3?! 🤷
Looked at the air but too many compromises & too high price. Not seen anyone out in the wilds with an air yet. All great phones this year, some beautiful, some practical & some truly Fugly!

 

[arc of the universe]

I enjoyed my iPhone 5s for the size. But once I moved to bigger phone, it had lot to offer. I do miss the convenience of the size. My daughter has a 13 mini, and it’s perfect phone for her though she carries extra charging brick in her backpack. I need to figure out what phone replaces her 13 mini.

i too really liked my iPhone 5s. i also liked the iPhone SE as well.
i ended up not buying the iPhone 12/13 Mini, due to it not being my time to upgrade, but i thought that would be a great phone for me too.
i think that overall my appreciation for the iPhone Air comes from that continuing appreciation for how i like my iPhones to have a feeling of being able to have a nice "holdability".

 

[teh_hunterer]

Is this what a cult looks like? WTH is this? Is it that hard to enjoy your shiny new phone without typing a thesis?

I guarantee you the hate is not towards the phone but to posts like this.

This is what terminally online looks like. Time for me to go touch some grass I reckon.

 

[Ct applefan]

I would never imagine that a phone could cause so much insecurity with the owners that they constantly need to be told its it’s ok to have the Air. Use what ever damn phone you want to use. It’s a phone for gods sake. My 15PM is perfect for me and I plan on using it for a few more years.

 

[klasma]

“Then Tim said, ‘Let it be thin’; and it was thin. And Tim saw the thinness, that it was good; and Tim divided the thin from the thick. Tim called the thin Air, and the thickness He called Pro.”

The thickness He called “camera plateau”.

 

[klasma]

Wait! This is the same dude who started the ‘R U embarrassed’ thread?

Would you respect me if I was ashamed?

He respects your embarrassment.

 

[JM]

As a casual outside observer (I have a gorgeous 14 pro that is amazing), I would say the 17pro is supremely ugly, and the buyers (that justify their purchase or bash the air) are upset bothered the top spec’d iPhone is not also beautiful to look at.

And the Air buyers (that feel the need to bash the Pro, or justify their purchase) are upset bothered that they can’t get Apple’s best spec’d phone with the beauty they prioritized.

Both people just want to feel good about what they chose.

 

[rui no onna]

As a casual outside observer (I have a gorgeous 14 pro that is amazing), I would say the 17pro is supremely ugly, and the buyers (that justify their purchase or bash the air) are upset the top spec’d iPhone is not also beautiful to look at.

The deep purple 14 Pro looks amazing.

 

[teh_hunterer]

Wait! This is the same dude who started the ‘R U embarrassed’ thread?

Would you respect me if I was ashamed?

Ahaha wow you'd think he would have learned from the responses to his last thread.

Edit: ah it's not him. The Air seems to have broken a few people.

 

[JM]

The deep purple 14 Pro looks amazing.

I have the silver (because I missed owning a 5s, and got the blue 5c as my first iPhone. And then my wife got a silver 5s two years later, and I got the black. Jealousy was high. This 14pro reminds me of what I missed), but the purple will definitely be something that will be looked fondly back on.

 

[whizkid11]

When the iPhone Air was announced, there was a lot of noise — people nitpicking, comparing, even asking if Air buyers should feel embarrassed. From the single speaker to its design choices, the criticism came fast.

But here’s the thing: the Air isn’t a compromise. It’s a statement. It’s a beautifully engineered, premium iPhone built for people who value balance — performance, design, and comfort — not just specs on paper.

I was originally going to get the Air myself, but it turned out a bit too wide for how I use my phone day to day, so I went with the iPhone 17 Pro instead. Still, my respect for the Air hasn’t changed one bit.

To all the Air owners out there — ignore the noise. You made a solid, confident choice. You picked what fits your lifestyle, not what fits someone else’s opinion. That’s real tech maturity.

I may have gone Pro, but I’ll always be standing with the Air crew — because real innovation isn’t about chasing trends; it’s about knowing what works for you. 💪📱✨

Lmao. No one cares.

 

[whizkid11]

burp

 

[powerslave65]

The Air is a piece of art. The Pro evenwith some capable parts to it is a Pumpkin Spice or Blueberry flash in the pan. I am a firm believer they made the Pro out of aluminum to keep margins up during all the instability in trade right now. The cooling system? We've seen that before from Apple and it ended up being more of a failing gimmick than anything else. After all the chaos ends and supply chains settle, there will be an Ultra and I expect that will be the Pro we are all looking for.