The iPhone Air looks incredible – but you’ll want that battery pack
Nirave Gondhia
It’s finally here! After months of leaks and rumors, Apple has finally unveiled the new iPhone Air during the iPhone 17 launch today. Well, it’s actually called the iPhone Air, and it’s the thinnest iPhone ever released.
Measuring just 5.6mm, it’s 0.2mm thinner than its chief ultra-thin rival, the Galaxy S25 Edge, which was launched earlier this year. It’s also 0.3mm thinner than the new Tecno Pova Slim, but a key area where that phone likely beats the iPhone Air is its 5,160 mAh battery.
Apple somewhat addressed this during the event with strong claims about the battery life, but as always, there’s a catch. That aside, the iPhone Air looks incredible, especially thanks to a range of gorgeous colors. Here’s why I’m excited, and why you’ll probably want to buy a battery pack.
The iPhone Air colors look outstanding
Apple
If there’s one thing that was somewhat disappointing about the Galaxy S25 Edge, it was the lack of color options, as Samsung chose to go with a natural silver colorway.
The iPhone Air takes a different approach, and as part of Apple’s renewed focus on design for its new models, there are four color choices: Sky Blue, Light Gold, Cloud White, and Space Black. It’s hard to say without seeing them in person, but I think I’m loving the Sky Blue option!
Apple made strong claims about the durability and design of the iPhone Air, and based on the design features they showed off, it looks incredible. The Galaxy S25 Edge is more industrial and boxy, but the iPhone Air has a design that’s reminiscent of the curves used in Apple’s design throughout the years.
Concerns about the iPhone Air battery, but there’s a solution
Apple
There’s only one guarantee in technology: there’s no escaping physics. This means that an ultra-thin phone will have a smaller battery than a thicker phone that shares the same features and battery technology.
With this in mind, it should come as no surprise that the iPhone Air battery is our biggest concern. Apple doesn’t immediately disclose the exact capacity of its battery, but during the event, it made several claims about the battery life of the iPhone Air.
Apple
First, there’s its standard all-day battery life claim, which doesn’t explain much. However, it then dove further into these claims, specifically showcasing its new Adaptive Power Mode that can extend your battery life.
Second, there’s the new, redesigned, thinner MagSafe battery pack, which extends the battery life from up to 27 hours to up to 40 hours of video playback. This is a sizeable increase, but it also means you’re committed to an additional $100 purchase for this battery pack.
The iPhone Air camera: one lens with four focal lengths
Apple
The iPhone Air features the same camera bar design — which Apple is calling a camera plateau — as the rest of the iPhone 17 lineup. However, it features just one camera, with the rest of the space used for Apple Silicon, connectivity, and more. Despite this, Apple claims it offers up to four different focal lengths for photos.
The 48MP Fusion camera captures 24MP images at 26mm by default, but there are also 1.2x and 1.5x focal lengths that use in-sensor cropping. There’s also a 12MP telephoto mode that further crops the sensor to offer 2x “optical-quality” zoom at 52mm, with the same f/1.6 aperture as the main camera.
Apple
Regardless of which focal length you use, you also get sensor-shift OIS and 100% focus pixels, both of which are commonplace in the Pro camera used on phones like the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro ranges.
Although it only has a single camera, the iPhone Air camera looks particularly interesting, and I can’t wait to test it further; it’s unclear whether it’s identical to the 48MP single camera found in the iPhone 16e, but as I enjoyed using that camera (albeit while missing the zoom), I can’t wait to see how the iPhone Air camera stacks up.
Apple
I’m also excited to test out the new 18MP Center Stage front camera, which is designed to let you capture full-resolution images in horizontal or vertical orientation, without needing to rotate the phone. This looks fantastic, and could mark the return of a unique selfie camera feature that was previously used on some Android phones.
The iPhone Air has Pro specs in an ultra-thin body
Apple
The rest of the iPhone Air specifications scream of a premium Pro phone, albeit with the same compromises as the other best ultra-thin phones.
The 6.5-inch Super Retina XDR ProMotion display looks impressive and features an adaptive refresh rate that intelligently adapts from 1Hz to 120Hz. The screen is protected by Ceramic Shield 2, which Apple claims offers 3x better scratch resistance, while the rear switches to a Ceramic Shield back that Apple says is 4x more resistant to cracks.
Apple
Then there’s the internals, and the iPhone Air follows the lead of the Galaxy S25 Edge with the best possible chipset. It’s powered by the Apple A19 Pro, which Apple says offers three times the peak compute power of the A18 Pro. The iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max also use this processor, but with higher peak performance and better thermal management.
The iPhone Air also sees Apple debut a new Apple N1 chip that incorporates the iPhone Air’s Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Thread connectivity into a single chipset. Then there’s the Apple C1X mode, the follow-up to the first Apple modem used in the iPhone 16e, which delivers twice the performance while consuming 30 percent less energy.
Apple
The result is that the iPhone Air is purportedly the most power-efficient iPhone ever, although we’ll have to wait for our full review to pass judgment on that. Regardless, this is an impressive set of specifications, albeit with one further caveat.
The iPhone Air is eSIM-only… everywhere
Apple
If you’ve bought a recent iPhone in the US, you’ll be used to the current eSIM-only nature that’s been commonplace since the iPhone 14. However, the iPhone Air will be sold as eSIM-only worldwide, marking a big departure from the status quo, as most of the world still uses a physical SIM.
I’ve previously lamented the chaos that is the current state of eSIMs, but Apple’s choice of eSIM-only globally for its new hero product means the end is near for the physical SIM card. If the result of that decision is more phones like the iPhone Air, I think it’s a worthwhile tradeoff, especially as it was likely a necessary move to maximize the battery life
Nirave Gondhia
It’s finally here! After months of leaks and rumors, Apple has finally unveiled the new iPhone Air during the iPhone 17 launch today. Well, it’s actually called the iPhone Air, and it’s the thinnest iPhone ever released.
Measuring just 5.6mm, it’s 0.2mm thinner than its chief ultra-thin rival, the Galaxy S25 Edge, which was launched earlier this year. It’s also 0.3mm thinner than the new Tecno Pova Slim, but a key area where that phone likely beats the iPhone Air is its 5,160 mAh battery.
Apple somewhat addressed this during the event with strong claims about the battery life, but as always, there’s a catch. That aside, the iPhone Air looks incredible, especially thanks to a range of gorgeous colors. Here’s why I’m excited, and why you’ll probably want to buy a battery pack.
The iPhone Air colors look outstanding
Apple
If there’s one thing that was somewhat disappointing about the Galaxy S25 Edge, it was the lack of color options, as Samsung chose to go with a natural silver colorway.
The iPhone Air takes a different approach, and as part of Apple’s renewed focus on design for its new models, there are four color choices: Sky Blue, Light Gold, Cloud White, and Space Black. It’s hard to say without seeing them in person, but I think I’m loving the Sky Blue option!
Apple made strong claims about the durability and design of the iPhone Air, and based on the design features they showed off, it looks incredible. The Galaxy S25 Edge is more industrial and boxy, but the iPhone Air has a design that’s reminiscent of the curves used in Apple’s design throughout the years.
Concerns about the iPhone Air battery, but there’s a solution
Apple
There’s only one guarantee in technology: there’s no escaping physics. This means that an ultra-thin phone will have a smaller battery than a thicker phone that shares the same features and battery technology.
With this in mind, it should come as no surprise that the iPhone Air battery is our biggest concern. Apple doesn’t immediately disclose the exact capacity of its battery, but during the event, it made several claims about the battery life of the iPhone Air.
Apple
First, there’s its standard all-day battery life claim, which doesn’t explain much. However, it then dove further into these claims, specifically showcasing its new Adaptive Power Mode that can extend your battery life.
Second, there’s the new, redesigned, thinner MagSafe battery pack, which extends the battery life from up to 27 hours to up to 40 hours of video playback. This is a sizeable increase, but it also means you’re committed to an additional $100 purchase for this battery pack.
The iPhone Air camera: one lens with four focal lengths
Apple
The iPhone Air features the same camera bar design — which Apple is calling a camera plateau — as the rest of the iPhone 17 lineup. However, it features just one camera, with the rest of the space used for Apple Silicon, connectivity, and more. Despite this, Apple claims it offers up to four different focal lengths for photos.
The 48MP Fusion camera captures 24MP images at 26mm by default, but there are also 1.2x and 1.5x focal lengths that use in-sensor cropping. There’s also a 12MP telephoto mode that further crops the sensor to offer 2x “optical-quality” zoom at 52mm, with the same f/1.6 aperture as the main camera.
Apple
Regardless of which focal length you use, you also get sensor-shift OIS and 100% focus pixels, both of which are commonplace in the Pro camera used on phones like the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro ranges.
Although it only has a single camera, the iPhone Air camera looks particularly interesting, and I can’t wait to test it further; it’s unclear whether it’s identical to the 48MP single camera found in the iPhone 16e, but as I enjoyed using that camera (albeit while missing the zoom), I can’t wait to see how the iPhone Air camera stacks up.
Apple
I’m also excited to test out the new 18MP Center Stage front camera, which is designed to let you capture full-resolution images in horizontal or vertical orientation, without needing to rotate the phone. This looks fantastic, and could mark the return of a unique selfie camera feature that was previously used on some Android phones.
The iPhone Air has Pro specs in an ultra-thin body
Apple
The rest of the iPhone Air specifications scream of a premium Pro phone, albeit with the same compromises as the other best ultra-thin phones.
The 6.5-inch Super Retina XDR ProMotion display looks impressive and features an adaptive refresh rate that intelligently adapts from 1Hz to 120Hz. The screen is protected by Ceramic Shield 2, which Apple claims offers 3x better scratch resistance, while the rear switches to a Ceramic Shield back that Apple says is 4x more resistant to cracks.
Apple
Then there’s the internals, and the iPhone Air follows the lead of the Galaxy S25 Edge with the best possible chipset. It’s powered by the Apple A19 Pro, which Apple says offers three times the peak compute power of the A18 Pro. The iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max also use this processor, but with higher peak performance and better thermal management.
The iPhone Air also sees Apple debut a new Apple N1 chip that incorporates the iPhone Air’s Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Thread connectivity into a single chipset. Then there’s the Apple C1X mode, the follow-up to the first Apple modem used in the iPhone 16e, which delivers twice the performance while consuming 30 percent less energy.
Apple
The result is that the iPhone Air is purportedly the most power-efficient iPhone ever, although we’ll have to wait for our full review to pass judgment on that. Regardless, this is an impressive set of specifications, albeit with one further caveat.
The iPhone Air is eSIM-only… everywhere
Apple
If you’ve bought a recent iPhone in the US, you’ll be used to the current eSIM-only nature that’s been commonplace since the iPhone 14. However, the iPhone Air will be sold as eSIM-only worldwide, marking a big departure from the status quo, as most of the world still uses a physical SIM.
I’ve previously lamented the chaos that is the current state of eSIMs, but Apple’s choice of eSIM-only globally for its new hero product means the end is near for the physical SIM card. If the result of that decision is more phones like the iPhone Air, I think it’s a worthwhile tradeoff, especially as it was likely a necessary move to maximize the battery life
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Summary
New iPhone Air unveiled, thinnest ever at 5.6mm; Four color options: Sky Blue, Light Gold, Cloud White, Space Black; Concerns about battery life, but battery pack solution suggested.