Recently, I came to a realisation – the iPhone Air just isn’t enough for me and my sample is back in its box. That’s not to say it’s bad, because as I said in my review last year, there is much to love.
It’s got a great design, it’s super light. It’s strong. It has Pro-level hardware. The display is bigger than all current iPhones aside from the Pro Max line.
But there are some critical downsides aside from the not insignificant $999/$999 price point that puts it at a massive premium over the standard iPhone 17, which offers a better experience in most ways.
But let’s talk about the phone itself. There are two key downsides. The first is that the single camera is super restrictive. There’s no ultrawide like on the iPhone 17. I repeatedly found that group shots were a challenge as you simply can’t fit everyone in without having to physically move. Landscapes are also more difficult to shoot. I repeatedly found myself having to compensate when takng pretty standard shots.
The big downsides
The other big negative is the battery life. Time and time again I’ve seen people on Threads or Bluesky protest that the battery life is FINE and not a problem. I can only surmise that these people either carry decent-sized power packs around or don’t leave the house. If you use your phone for work on the go it just doesn’t cut it. One guy claimed it had a 48 hour battery life…. perhaps the phone is off?
As I said in my review: “The capacity is 3149mAh compared to the Pro’s 4252mAh and it shows. After a long day, you will need to charge it – or face being in the red during the evening. On one day, after a few hours of work away, it was down to around 20% – rather disappointing yet expected.
“Perhaps the biggest indication that battery life is a bit of an issue came from Apple itself – it sent all iPhone Air reviewers the MagSafe battery pack accessory as well.”
My views haven’t really changed and it got to the stage where keeping the phone powered was dictating how I was when I was out and about, constantly looking for power points even more so than I do usually. So I’ve returned the Air to its pristine white box.
Obviously I’m in a fortunate position – I review phones! So I have been able to switch over to the iPhone 17 Pro. I’m not alone here, I’ve not seen anybody using the Air at various tech events I’ve been to over the last few months… with the exception of one person. And they worked for Apple. Equally, I’ve only seen a couple of them in the wild.
What I miss about the iPhone Air
Yet it’s true, there are a few things I miss about the Air. One is that it has a larger screen size than the Pro (6.5in instead of 6.3in. Unless the iPhone Air 2 can resolve the issues I have with the original, I think I will probably opt for the Pro Max next time, as I prefer a larger size.
It’s also true that an iPhone Air 2 could tempt me back. If it had the same camera setup as the iPhone 17 or 18 it still wouldn’t be a flagship setup, but it would be notably better and enough for many. And a larger capacity battery combined with a still more efficient chip could be a winner. However, inside the current thickness of phone, it does seem unlikely that a bigger battery can be implemented and rumor mongers seem split as to whether Apple will launch a second version or not.
Rumors suggested in the Financial Times late last year that potential purchasers also agreed with these drawbacks – IDC analyst Nabila Popal suggested in November that “Apple had bigger expectations for the Air and it has not delivered on them.” Popal suggested that supply chain figures showed that Apple had only sold around a third of the number of Airs it expected to despite strong sales of other new iPhones.
And yet, despite this disappointment, Apple can still make the iPhone Air into a success. All it has to do is sort that battery and stick on a second camera. Simple, right?
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