After months of rumors, Apple finally introduced the all-new iPhone Air on September 9. This ultra-thin device challenges the conventional iPhone design by fitting everything under a new camera plateau. This intriguing bit of engineering puts all of the important components into a compact space, allowing Apple to improve battery life not only on this model, but on the Pro versions as well.
With a titanium finish, the same display technologies of an iPhone 17 Pro, and the Ceramic Shield on both sides, there’s no doubt that plenty of Apple fans will be grabbing the iPhone Air on September 19. However, even with its impressive features and specifications, there are some compromises and issues that might give a buyer pause before they put down $999 on the ultra-slim device.
The iPhone Air is full of great qualities, but the lack of important features might make it a device to skip for at least this generation. These are the main reasons to skip the iPhone Air and choose a regular or Pro model instead.
Reasons to skip the first iPhone Air
Even though Apple added the A19 Pro chip to the iPhone Air, it has one fewer GPU core than the same chip on the iPhone 17 Pro models. It shouldn’t impact the performance of your iPhone significantly, but it won’t be as good as the iPhone 17 Pro. Especially because it doesn’t have the vapor chamber exclusively designed for the Pro models.
Apple also put a lot of effort into ensuring the iPhone Air battery life is up to snuff. However, to get the same level of efficiency as the iPhone 17 Pro Max, users will have to spend an extra $100 on the MagSafe Battery Pack, which also kind of defeats the purpose of buying the thinnest iPhone ever built.
It’s 2026, and a phone that costs $999 shouldn’t have just a single main camera. Apple does claim that the Fusion Main camera is “four lenses in one camera,” but users can get up to 12-megapixel photos with a 2x “optical” zoom, and that’s it. Photos taken with this device will likely look great, but users will miss out on Pro features like additional zoom, macro photography, spatial video, and Cinematic mode.
More concerns about the iPhone Air
Digging even deeper into the iPhone Air’s feature set, it’s worth noting that the iPhone Air doesn’t have the same fast charging capabilities as the other iPhone 17 models, which means it won’t charge to 50% in 20 minutes. iPhone Air owners will have to wait 30 minutes instead. Plus, its USB-C port only supports USB 2 speeds, which means it’s slower to transfer data via cable.
Finally, since the iPhone Air is so thin, Apple didn’t put a speaker on the bottom, which means iPhone Air only offers mono sound capabilities without headphones. That said, the iPhone Air is indeed an impressive achievement by Apple. However, it feels more like a sneak peek at the technologies being developed for the rumored iPhone Fold than a flagship smartphone.
These compromises might be worth it for some consumers, but they’re worth knowing either way. Thankfully, we won’t have to wait much longer to get our hands on one, as the iPhone Air will be available for preorder on September 12 and will start shipping on September 19.
