iPhone 17 Weaker demand for Air and fold

[ab2c4]

I use the Air and have every day since launch. I find both the battery and camera to be definite compromises. (I personally don’t care about the single speaker).

I find myself charging my air much more frequently than on my 16PM (even a year after the launch of that phone), and my relative cycle count is evidence. No I don’t use my phone more than I did before.

I enjoy the feel, weight, and therefore will likely continue to use this air til next year when we see what Apple does next. But I’m a user and the compromises are real to me- there’s not a world in which the battery or camera is even close to my 16PM FOR ME - that is obviously a subjective experience.

If you ended the day on a 16PM with 40% and now end with an air at 15%, who really cares right? But for me, I ended my 16PM days without charging (except overnight, and even if I didn’t get to that then I was usually fine til the FOLLOWING AFTERNOON!) and now I have to charge during a day.

I love the phone in general but every device has a compromise. The folks who are getting more cameras and battery life also (maybe, subjectively), get a brick- something that, at least for now, I was ready to step away from.

For me I have had a different experience. Coming from the 16 Pro I’m getting the same battery life. I take it off the charger at 6am until 10pm, have 6ish hours of SoT, and finish the day with 45-50%ish battery left. As for camera I almost always only used the main camera so I lost nothing with the Air. My pictures have been just as good as with the 16 Pro with the main lens.

 

[bbates123]

Your argument is like people who claim sedans are good enough for most drivers. Except the reality is most people buy SUVs.

They want that ability to take the ultrawide shot. They want macro. They want stereo. They want to have that buffer with battery life.

The irony is so many Air owners like fail to understand such fundamentals. We get it. There are weird outliers who don’t care about camera or stereo or battery life. The majority of users do.

This forum is a lot like arguing politics with friends and relatives, it's a no win situation and ultimately only ends in frustration. You have your opinion and I have mine. To call Air users "weird outliers" is a little extreme (and condescending) I think. For the vast majority of users the Air doesn't present a lot of compromises. I still argue that most users couldn't give two shites about the dual speakers. I use my external speaker like zero times, I use AirPods. How many people actually make a buying decision based on external speakers? Again, the battery in the Air is fine...same life as the 16 Pro which nobody complained about 2 months ago. And I really don't think the average person thinks they need all those cameras. I will once again cite my wife as an "average" user who never uses the ultra wide angle in her 16 base. The problem with the Air is one of marketing or lack thereof. People just don't know it exists or why they would want to consider one. I think if more people could hold one and see how they could be freed from the bricks they think they need to buy, it would sell a lot better.

 

[ronno]

I wonder if this is due to Apple releasing the same phone every year that people are so use to the same phone and like things to be familiar? I can’t think of any other reason to be honest. Pre iPhone lots of people went for Blackberry and Nokia which never always had the best feature but had a great design but maybe after a decade of the same phones every year people are simply not use to buying one based on design?

Battery life seems fine to me, the one thing that catches me though is that people said the camera does not do macros / close focus very well or at all. I shoot things close up all the time. That would really bother me to the extent that I would end up getting rid of this phone. Can it be fixed in a firmware update?

 

[Unbiasedhippo]

This forum is a lot like arguing politics with friends and relatives, it's a no win situation and ultimately only ends in frustration. You have your opinion and I have mine. To call Air users "weird outliers" is a little extreme (and condescending) I think. For the vast majority of users the Air doesn't present a lot of compromises. I still argue that most users couldn't give two shites about the dual speakers. I use my external speaker like zero times, I use AirPods. How many people actually make a buying decision based on external speakers? Again, the battery in the Air is fine...same life as the 16 Pro which nobody complained about 2 months ago. And I really don't think the average person thinks they need all those cameras. I will once again cite my wife as an "average" user who never uses the ultra wide angle in her 16 base. The problem with the Air is one of marketing or lack thereof. People just don't know it exists or why they would want to consider one. I think if more people could hold one and see how they could be freed from the bricks they think they need to buy, it would sell a lot better.

The word compromise is being misused. Every thread with the iPhone Airs “compromises” make me laugh because it’s the same regurgitated “but SPecs are WoRseR!” As if everyone ever only looks at the spec sheet and bigger number is always “best.” I’ve leaned when someone says the Air has too many compromises. What they’re really saying is anything but the 17 Pro Max Traffic cone 2TB is a “compromise.”

 

[stealthytolkien]

Don’t you all get tired of talking about the same thing over and over again? Lol.

 

[gtjacket123]

Don’t you all get tired of talking about the same thing over and over again? Lol.

I agree - I can’t believe I posted in this thread. I actually face some of the questions/concerns around this “issue” and still find this incredibly boring and narcissistic that we are all stuck on our little phone pros and cons, sorry pros and airs

 

[SoYoung]

I wonder if this is due to Apple releasing the same phone every year that people are so use to the same phone and like things to be familiar? I can’t think of any other reason to be honest. Pre iPhone lots of people went for Blackberry and Nokia which never always had the best feature but had a great design but maybe after a decade of the same phones every year people are simply not use to buying one based on design?

Its simply because, just like computers, the smartphone market matured and we finally have a model that actually work for all important things? In the end, all people want is a reliable phone that can do all they want with a good quality and autonomy and that's exactly how regular phones is.

Fold and thinner phones are for the gadgets enthusiast who like to buy sometimes 2 phones a year and just want a new toy to play with for a couple of months.

 

[huanbrother]

While it is true with the Air, currently there's no data supporting that the Fold is in low demand.
However, it could be, especially in China, for several reasons:
(1) Foldable phones are not novel, Huawei, Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo...the major local brands in China ALL offers a fold phone nowadays and it has been iterated for at least 2 generations now.
(2) Foldables at the moment are about status, not practice, most of the fold phones are sold at a premium price, especially Huawei, and they offer a luxurious alternative to the iPhone Pro Max model, especially when the user is associated with a government job (which is revered in China) and either by protocols (sensitive departments) or by nationalism/collectivism, they are not allowed/can't use an Apple phone, at least in public.
(3) What's "NEW" about a fold phone? We know that Apple is rarely the FIRST to push a certain technology, but rather a POLISHER who delivers a "complete" and "easy to use" version of something novel. Think about use cases for a FOLD phone, are there any demands that the competitors haven't tried to advertise yet may or may not made into a deal breaker --- I MUST HAVE IT?
And in overseas markets like the NA, since the competition was much less fierce and Samsung being the only Apple competitor (Google? Tensor chips suck ok?), they have the fold, and probably the few fold that one could see in those markets on a daily basis, then, Apple could bring some novelty there, but for China, unless Apple is packing Pro Max level hardware into the new form factor (no compromises), I doubt it would sell well.

 

[jntdroid]

Lack of marketing? I’ve seen a lot of iPhone Air ads! Granted, I’ve seen more about the Pro, but the very fact the iPhone Air is new means it gets more impressions without trying. But still— they have been marketing it.

That’s good to know. Most of us here haven’t seen anything anywhere. 🤷‍♂️

 

[James6s]

I see the odd add for the Air pop up on social media from UK mobile carriers, none from Apple or on TV like the 17 Pro series does.

I had a 16 Pro > Air > 17 Pro > Air which I’m using now. I regretted getting the 17 Pro, however my first Air had a manufacturing defect so would’ve returned it anyway.

I do not enjoy watching videos on YouTube or social media any less with the single speaker as it’s loud and clear.

Battery life has been the same as the 16 Pro and not much worse than the 17 Pro I had briefly.

Performance and speed are insane with the A19 Pro paired with 12GB of RAM.

Solid camera on par with the 17 Pro’s main lens, but it obviously gets blown out the water with the Pro’s zoom quality & overall more versatile camera system.

The biggest pleasure to me is the weight and thinness without sacrificing display size or premium build, durability and in hand feel which is incredible.

I highly doubt Apple will discontinue the Air after just one generation as I think it sets the vision for future iPhones in the coming years.

There are obviously things to improve on for those looking at a spec sheet and making a decision based on numbers.

It’s possible to include better battery tech (silicone carbon) & increasing run time whilst keeping the same thinness, possibly adding a variable aperture lens to give it more versatility in the camera department.