Honestly this has me struggling to ditch the 16e even for the regular 17, which is obviously nicer in a lot of ways. But my 16e just goes and goes... the battery just doesn't drain on that thing, even compared to the 17 I've had for a week (which is better than the Air I tried as well).
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iPhone 17 Weaker demand for Air and fold
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Honestly this has me struggling to ditch the 16e even for the regular 17, which is obviously nicer in a lot of ways. But my 16e just goes and goes... the battery just doesn't drain on that thing, even compared to the 17 I've had for a week (which is better than the Air I tried as well).
But what if we made a $4k folding iPad next? 🤣
But seriously, folding phones are already very successful products among a very small group of business professionals. Can't go on an airplane without seeing at least a few Samsung Z Folds. Apple will likely also launch an overpriced, niche phone in that space. It will probably sell more units than other niche products like the Mac Pro and Vision Pro, but we are still talking about a very small number compared to total iPhone sales. It's just a matter of does Apple continue to work at it each year like Samsung has or do they go a year or two and think no one is interested and move on to something else. Remember that they killed the iPhone mini just a month or two into iPhone 12 mini sales. We still got a 13 mini, but it was already a dead product line. Which brings me to the Air...
The Samsung Edge and iPhone Air are different. No one was asking for those devices. They only got made because the need to shrink things for folding phones led to some wild engineering and they realized they could now make very thin phones. There was no public demand for that kind of device, so it failed to build up any kind of mindshare or marketshare. But it didn't really matter if they were successful products or not. The mere fact that they did the engineering helped them to build the next thing. The device was already made, so why not release it? Now will we get an Air 2? Maybe. Only because Apple probably already made it. It's the same story as the 13 mini. It will come out, sell disappointingly, and there will never be an Air 3.
Yes the battery life on the 16e is too good 🔋 and its not even a silicon carbon battery.
Apple 🍎 may have to use silicon carbon battery tech in the Air 2 if they want it to sell decently well and no returns due to battery 🔋 draining to fast.
You have to charge the Air to 100% and not 80% to maybe get 8 hours of usage. Also gaming on it drains the battery quick.
You have to charge the Air to 100% and not 80% to maybe get 8 hours of usage. Also gaming on it drains the battery quick.
Unless Apple cripples the battery on 18 and 18 Pro/Max with non-SiC, the Air will still have the lowest battery life in the lineup. When people make decisions, they compare it against other current offerings.
Uh, we have actual battery tests showing Air can match even 17 Pro Max when on cellular only due to C1X being significantly more efficient. Basing battery life on capacity is a stupid idea in this day and age.
This is absolutely not true in my experience. Full disclosure: I don't game on my phone and I'm not a "heavy user," but my phone has been off the charger for almost 12 hours and I'm at 68% battery. That included an hour of running errands around town, using wireless carplay for navigation, paying for things using the phone, reading MacRumors while eating lunch, etc.
It punches WAY over the mAh rating; my theory is the suspect the cellular modem is much more power efficient. That's not to say the Air will hold up like a Pro Max when running a local LLM or playing Assassin's Creed or whatever, but people doing that probably aren't in the market for the Air anyway.
thats all good, the air's perfect for me but if they discontinue ill just go back to base.
Most people go by specs. Apple has good credibility so they believe that. Right now, Air has the lowest life if you look at the demo table and website - 27 hours.
This is a problem with the current Apple vs how they worked in the past.
It's cliché now to mention "Steve Jobs era" but back then, Apple would have made... one line of one phone. It was just black and white. The phone was ultra thin, ultra small, and the battery was abysmally small. It had super small camera that barely took "acceptable" photos. And... it also sold enough to become the main driving force behind the current Apple. There was no comparison to other lines needed. There was only one.
The current Apple... has lost touch with that era entirely. It's multiple lines of phones, multiple colors per line. More options is good. But it dilutes the market and confuses users. So in that confusion, most people are of course inclined to only look at "biggest" and "more" to justify their purchases. And that's actually why Air fails. Most people don't have time to go over the nuances. They see... more cameras on the Pro, and bigger size. That's why Pro sells best.
Is that a criticism of the market? No. It's a criticism of Apple. Apple is no longer able to make "bold decisions". Say... if they introduced a Pro line this year that's the same camera config but thinner and with C1X chip, but with Air's design? That line would have sold the most. Even if its battery capacity was smaller.
Unfortunately, they "hesitated". They created a thicker Pro line and a thinner Air line. Both with their own compromises. The compromises of the Pro line are less apparent, so people went for it as usual. Because "Pro" is always "best", right?
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And that's why Apple fails at marketing Air. They could have highlighted Air's strengths over Pro and Base lines, but they were afraid it would eat into Pro sales. "Air is the most efficient iPhone to date" has no weight if they don't release the numbers to back it up. And of course they don't want Pro and Base users to realize they got the inferior cellular chip.
The rest is all history now.
For ages apple as a company has consistently mentioned three cameras on the back & how great it is to capture these moments & how amazing the battery is in the pro iPhones to now suddenly sell a premium handset with one camera lens and worse battery then that’s your answer as to why is doing poorly
but you know I can say the same thing about the 12 mini and 13 mini. I used them for 3-4 years and still have my 13 mini around. I can say I love how it feels in hand, and other benefits and most people could care less and it sold poorly. Frankly one main reason why I like the air is.... it feel nice to hold and comfortable. Better then the 16 without a case, and the air also feels like its nothing in my pocket. That doesn't translate to specs or camera but those factors matter to me too.
I didn't know the 16e had the lowest battery life in the current line-up...
But we want multiple colors, in every device. The old Apple didn't omit colors because it was a bold move, they did it because at the time it was probably a bit too expensive to do multiple colors for a new device.
I wish Apple did various colors of the AirPods. When the new base iPhone launches, refresh the AirPods line-up to reflect those colors. When the Pro iPhone launches, refresh the AirPods Pro line-up to reflect those, as well. Let us color match, breathe some life into the hardware.
We had the same dead boring white plastic AirPods cases since their release. Colors aren't the problem is the point, since Apple has enough money to buy the Moon. It's penny-pinching and not wanting to let users have what the company can provide without a problem - they are releasing features on a schedule to bleed us dry because a fvckin bean counter is in charge.
Im sorry how can we be saying there is weaker demand for a 'fold' when no such thing exists.
As someone said earlier, the only people who seem to shout loudly about how bad the Air is, is people who dont own one or havent even tried one.
The Air is a very welcome addition for me this year having been stuck in the Pro Max trench for the last few years.
Cameras dont bother me one bit. Battery life is perfectly good - the same as last years 16 Pro - how is that bad exactly? 2 speakers - again for me subjectively irrelevant as I dont blast media out of the speakers.
I don’t think people value usability and comfort in the hand over longer battery and dual speakers, though. Maybe some Apple fanatics do, but not the average Joe.
I don’t watch movies on my Pro but I do listen to podcasts and watch videos so stereo speakers is a big plus for me. I think some Air users downplay the single speaker to try and justify their purchase.
No the 16e has a way higher battery life than the iPhone Air.
iPhone Air: 3,100 mAh Battery
iPhone 16e: 4,005 mAH Battery
Laptops haven’t changed much in 20 years and they still sell tons of those. ‘Familiarity’ isn’t the negative for the average buyer the internet or YouTube thinks it is.
Oh I see what you meant now... I misread what you said before. Thx
Well it has more mAh, which doesn't translate to battery *life.* That depends on the chipset and whatnot. I didn't catch that the Air has worse battery life than the 16e. If so, that's quite something. Prepare to fight to the death, hater!
Not necessarily low demand for “future” fold iphone. The fold is not released yet 😊 Judging from Samsung fold demand and good sales from multiple sources, Apple fold phone demand and sales will be about the same as or maybe more than Samsung fold phone. Iphone air low demand trend is inline with low demand Samsung air type phone.