🍎 Light as air: In the months leading up to the officialannouncement of the 2025 iPhone line-up, the iPhone Air — then presumably the iPhone 17 Air — was hailed by many a review site, tech zines, and Apple fanatics as the multi-tn USD tech company’s next big flagship product. After all, it would be Apple’s thinnest device to date, and one that allegedly packed pro-level power. But the iPhone Air’s release, while initially received with excitement, was soon met with indifference, skepticism, and now… disregard?

Boasting a shockingly slim 5.6mm figure, the iPhone Air is undeniably one of Apple’s most brilliant engineering feats. The slimmest iPhone to date — beating the iPhone 6’s long-standing record of 6.9mm — the Air has nailed the aesthetics, but what of performance?

The key trade-offs: To achieve its slim figure, Apple notably forwent a series of key features that have become synonymous with its pro-level phones (which the Air claimed to be). The Air misses out on the ultra wide and telephoto lenses, its counterparts’ increased battery size, a sim tray, and the newly-introduced vapor chamber you can find in the rest of the pro line-up, which dissipates heat and prevents the phones from overheating.

Minor trade-offs for the average Apple consumer, yes, but ones not to be ignored considering its USD 999 price tag. For USD 1k, should you truly risk diminished battery life and the loss of photo quality when the baseline 17 — at USD 799 — offers both? The logical answer would be no, but walk with us.

The Air still packs quite the punch, with a 120-hz 6.5-inch OLED display, the brand new A19 Pro Chip, a 48MP fusion camera with 2x optical zoom, and the all-new 24MP center stage front camera. Its titanium frame and ceramic shield front also make it surprisingly durable, shutting down concerns of a flimsy build.

Markets, however, remained unconvinced — so much so that the next generation of Air might not see the light of day. Only one in 10 buyers in the US went for the Air within the first week of the line-up’s release, according to a consumer survey cited by the Wall Street Journal. Within weeks following launch, Apple slashed production plans in half, The Financial Times reports. “A marketing W, a sales flop,” The Wall Street Journa l reported, and the numbers add up: the Air boosted Apple website views to 7.4 mn, up 28% y-o-y, but sales stagnated. In a nutshell, there’s “virtually no demand” for the Air, PC Mag reports.

That sentiment has reached home as well. “Apple had big plans, but the Air lacked the value for money,” Senior Director of Merchandising at BTECH Hisham El Hennawy told EnterpriseAM. In some markets, the Air represented only 7-8% of all 2025 iPhone sales, El Hennawy added. Many returns were also made, with initial Air buyers deciding to upgrade to the Pro models. “If you compare it to the rest of the line-up, it offers the least value for money. I think people were able to read that very quickly,” El Hennawy added. Production plans were amended, with more focus going to Apple’s “bread and butter” — the usual line-up — and less on the Air, El Hennawy explained.

Yet is the Air misjudged? We’d say yes. Throughout one week of continuous use as our main device, we’ve had virtually zero qualms. The Air proved capable of every single task we threw its way — heavy gaming, hour-long doomscrolling sessions, and the usual day-to-day tasks. The battery life — initially left blank on Apple’s website but now reading 27 hours of video playback — was surprisingly solid. The phone lasts a full day on a single charge with light usage (i.e. texting, social media, and basic professional tasks), and would need to be charged mid-day in case of heavy usage (i.e. streaming, gaming, or other heavy-processing tasks). In terms of performance and battery life, the Air passed the tests with flying colors, not once freezing or lagging, despite there being scores of apps and tasks running in the background.

Let’s talk cameras — or lack thereof. The Air’s single 48MP fusion lens is, for lack of a better word, a marvel. Images are high-resolution, and night mode works wonders. The absence of a telephoto lens — which offers up to 8x optical zoom on the Pros — is made up for with a built-in 2x optical zoom feature, which for most (including us) proved just enough. And we didn’t notice the absence of the ultrawide 0.5x lens. However, if you’ve grown accustomed to the macro-photography feature, you might find the camera system lacking.

The Air also comes packed with the shiny new center stage selfie setting, which allows you to take wide, horizontal selfies without holding the phone horizontally — a feature that we gladly made use of, with grateful wrists.

Contrary to popular belief, the Air’s slim figure doesn’t solely carry aesthetic appeal — but a functional one as well. The phone’s light weight lends it an ability to feel non-existent in every way that matters. Unlike handling a Pro (or a Pro Max) phone, which come at respective weights of 204 and 231 grams, the Air’s 165 gram weight eases handheld fatigue, making scrolling for those among us inclined towards pre-sleep phone sessions a literally lighter experience. Which is to say, you won’t need to worry about the Air falling smack on your face.

All said and done, a question remains unanswered: Who’s the iPhone Air actually for? “The buyers are business people and executives who appreciate the sleek design and the light weight of the device, without the need of the extended camera capabilities,” Tradeline co-founder and managing partner Mohamed Medhat told us. In fact, Medhat offers an interesting take, noting that while the Air indeed has failed to reach the sales performance level of its counterparts, “its run rates are still as good as expected.”

But it’s not just a phone for the aesthetically-inclined. The iPhone Air proves a worthy upgrade for users who’ve long held on to their since-discontinued devices; namely iPhones 11, 12, 13, and 14 and their respective variants. It’s a powerful phone with an impressive display, a camera more than well-suited for day-to-day needs, and a durable device. If we’re talking numbers, the baseline 17 is the more reasonable choice, but if you’re on the hunt for a bigger screen, a one-of-a-kind design, and a phone you can depend on — and don’t mind spending an extra USD 100 on — we’d argue the Air is a worthy contender.

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