this post was submitted on 10 Sep 2025
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Who is the iPhone Air for? (feddit.org)
submitted 2 weeks ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by Ulrich@feddit.org to c/apple_enthusiast@lemmy.world
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Maybe I'm just out of touch, but I don't understand who this is for, and I think it's going to flop.

First of all...who is asking for thinner phones?

Secondly, the price. This is not an Air SE. This thing is only $100 less than a full-fat iPhone Pro, and $200 more than iPhone base (which is a particularly good value this year).

And what do you get for that price?

  • 2 fewer lenses than the pro, and 1 fewer than the base
  • Titanium frame, I guess?
  • Less powerful processor than the base
  • Inherently more fragile frame
  • Less battery life than even the base model (this was often cited as the shortcoming of the iphone Mini)
  • Slower charging speed than both models
  • no cinematic video mode

Are people really clamoring for thinner phones so badly that they'll spend more money for less features?

https://www.apple.com/iphone/compare/?modelList=iphone-17-pro%2Ciphone-air%2Ciphone-17

Edit: 1 week later and the Air underperforms the base model as well (as expected)

Also someone pointed out below that the 16e is only 2 grams heavier and is $400 cheaper.

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[–] simplejack@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

It’s the Plymouth Prowler of phones.

Not the best performance or the most practical, but the bet is that a group of people will gravitate to the design. Also, it will look good in a store window and the learnings from it can inspire other more popular future products.

And remember, the MacBook Air and iMac launched this way originally. The first versions were not super practical when compared to their sibling products. Eventually, as technology progressed, the form factor became easier to fill with practical hardware.