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Two Weeks With the iPhone Air: Is Ultra-Thin Worth the Compromises?
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Betteridge's law of headlines is an adage that states: "Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no." It is based on the assumption that if the publishers were confident that the answer was yes, they would have presented it as an assertion; by presenting it as a question, they are not
Yes, but you get a better battery in the similarly lightweight regular 17, with an additional camera and speaker, all for £200 less
iOS 26 19 aside, if only it came in a less offensively-large screen size. I don't need the semi-thinness (it doesn't really count if you still have a giant camera tumor hanging off of it), but wouldn't mind any of the trade-offs associated with the so-called "Air" if it came in a 5.0-5.4" screen size option.
This year I skipped "pro" because of aluminium. For my use case Air is enough. I love design and premium materials. I am using it without case.
Battery technology and power efficiency has improved since the 13, as has components integration. From a rough size calculation, the battery capacity of an Air mini would be about 70% of the Air, with the smaller display also needing less power. Yes, battery life would be less, but not “atrocious”. Mini users tend to need less screen time anyway.
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People are reviewing it wrong now.. ?
Is this something to be happy about, the same batterylife as a degraded 3-4years old model...?
Would take the extra batterylife anyday of ANY phone in the 17 lineup.
The air is just a gimmick phone
..and I would take less weight over more battery life, since I already get two days with my 16 Pro.
It's not a gimmick if you like it.
i think an iPhone Mini will be coming back, in a sense.
its quite clear that apple will be able to make a great smaller Foldable.
next year's (2026 September) main Foldable will still be about BIGness in the unfolded sense, and about TRUE 24 hour all day battery life.
but i will bet that apple releases a smaller sized Foldable within 1 to 2 years after it launches the first Fold next year.
sorry that it will take so long to get a smaller phone again, but the entire iPhone future is wrapped around the successful launch of the Fold in 2026, first.
I had a iPhone 15 Pro which I liked and was planning on using for a few more years. I went to the Apple Store last week to buy the new AirPods Pro, because my almost 6 year old ones were not working properly any more, and while standing in line for a few minutes I was standing next to the new models, so I picked them up to see…
I was amazed by the in hand feel of the Air!
Kept thinking about how much better the feeling was and went back two days later to buy the iPhone Air in white and I am really happy with it.
The feeling is quite close to my 12 mini with the weight and thinness, it’s obviously bigger, but for some reason that is not something I really notice in use.
Screen is very nice and fast.
Device is very responsive.
Battery is no real concern for me, but it still is way better than the 15 Pro. Speaker is very good for calls and perfectly fine for the occasional short video or podcast.
Cellular connectivity is great and I don’t notice any difference, measured 600/120 down/up which is capped at that by my provider.
WiFi seems better.
Camera is even a little better than the 15 Pro, but I do miss the telephoto lens. I checked before I bought it how often I had used the cameras on my 15 Pro: 7 percent was made with the ultrawide, less than 16 percent was made with the telephoto and 77 percent was made with the main camera. Still, that is the only thing I would prefer to have on this phone. (And maybe that it doesn’t wiggle on a table)
I was amazed by the in hand feel of the Air!
Kept thinking about how much better the feeling was and went back two days later to buy the iPhone Air in white and I am really happy with it.
The feeling is quite close to my 12 mini with the weight and thinness, it’s obviously bigger, but for some reason that is not something I really notice in use.
Screen is very nice and fast.
Device is very responsive.
Battery is no real concern for me, but it still is way better than the 15 Pro. Speaker is very good for calls and perfectly fine for the occasional short video or podcast.
Cellular connectivity is great and I don’t notice any difference, measured 600/120 down/up which is capped at that by my provider.
WiFi seems better.
Camera is even a little better than the 15 Pro, but I do miss the telephoto lens. I checked before I bought it how often I had used the cameras on my 15 Pro: 7 percent was made with the ultrawide, less than 16 percent was made with the telephoto and 77 percent was made with the main camera. Still, that is the only thing I would prefer to have on this phone. (And maybe that it doesn’t wiggle on a table)
For me, I wanted a larger screen than the regular 17, but smaller than the Pro Max. The Air's 6.5 is perfect for me. I also didn't want the added weight of a larger screen. I hardly ever take ultra-wide pics, so the loss of that camera was not important. Neither was the speaker, since most of my listening is via AirPods. The battery life of the regular 17 is marginally better than the Air. I get about the same battery life on my Air as my 16 Pro.
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I'm willing to compromise on just about anything EXCEPT the camera, so unfortunately, this is a no-go for me.
If you get 2 days of batterylife, you better buy a 200$ phone because you don't use it
Yes. My opinion after 10 days or so:
Pros:
Lightweight
Premium feel
Thin AF
Amazing screen
Great performing A19 Pro chip
Neutral:
Battery
Single camera
Cons:
Mono speaker
Overall: 9/10
Pros:
Lightweight
Premium feel
Thin AF
Amazing screen
Great performing A19 Pro chip
Neutral:
Battery
Single camera
Cons:
Mono speaker
Overall: 9/10
I agree with this with one exception: I only ever use the speaker to initially take an incoming call, after which I always use AirPods, so the single speaker is a non-issue for me.