Apple iPhone Air Review: The best iPhone yet – for some

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Introduction

So, here it is – the iPhone Air. After years of recycling the same iPhone designs, Apple has released something truly new.

Apple’s thinnest phone to date is the antidote to boring devices, but the focus on design here has come with some sacrifices.

With the iPhone 17 packing many previously Pro-only features for £799/$799 and the iPhone 17 Pro (£1099/$1099) cramming a bigger battery, more cameras and extra performance into its colourful shell, the iPhone Air might not be easy to recommend to everyone.

But after spending a few weeks using it every day, I am sold. The iPhone Air is the most fun I’ve had with an iPhone since the iPhone X. Here’s why.

Design

• The thinnest iPhone
• Perfectly balanced and light at 165g
• Four colour choices: Sky Blue, Light Gold, Cloud White, Space Black

The iPhone Air is the radical redesign of the iPhone I have been wanting for years. These huge design updates happen rarely nowadays, and not since the iPhone X arrived has a model in Apple’s smartphone range felt so fresh.

This is the thinnest iPhone ever, but that phrase doesn’t really mean that much when taken in isolation.

Thinness is hard to show in pictures, and when Apple first announced the Air, I wasn’t really interested. It’s thin, so what? Why would I make sacrifices (and believe me, you do make sacrifices here over just getting the iPhone 17 or 17 Pro) just to have a marginally thinner phone?

I am here to admit I was wrong. Yes, the iPhone Air is thin – but it’s more than that.

The sacrifices will mean more or less to different people depending on specific needs, but the thinness is more than just a gimmick. After using the Air for two weeks, I can’t see myself going back to a standard-sized phone again.

With a thickness of 5.64mm (compared to the 8.75mm on the Pro Max) and a weight of 165g (down from 231g on the Pro Max), the iPhone Air feels futuristic.

It’s so light and thin that it sort of just disappears into your hand, leaving you just with a screen. There have been numerous instances where my hand has shot to my pocket, as I have worried I left the phone somewhere. It can be tough to feel the Air in a pocket.

The iPhone Air is such a nice phone to use, and that’s not simply because it’s so thin and so light. It’s perfectly balanced, and the top portion, where all the internals are kept, doesn’t weigh the phone down. The screen sits in the middle of the 6.3-inch iPhone 17 and 6.9-inch Pro Max at 6.5 inches, offering just enough space without the whole thing feeling cumbersome.

While Samsung was first to the ‘thin phone’ party with the S25 Edge, the iPhone Air pushes ahead with a more well-rounded design. The Edge always felt like a prototype to me, like Samsung forgot to design a phone around the main selling point. With the Air, Apple has done quite the opposite.

The camera bar has been redesigned and runs along the top, with the majority of the phone’s internal components tucked behind. The rest of the back is for the battery. Camera Control and the Action Button remain, although the former is a little tough to use accurately as it’s so thin.

My review unit is in the Space Black hue. It’s a deep colour, with sides that contrast the glossy finish of the back’s matte. There are three other colour options: a very light blue similar to the recent MacBook Air, a gold and a white (also pictured). These lighter colours are all very similar, especially the blue and white, which can look the same in certain instances. Hopefully, we get some more fun, standout colours next time.

Apple has garnered controversy in the past with phones bending. And ahead of launch, it felt like the general sentiment was that while the Air would no doubt be stunning to look at, it might also be seriously delicate.

This looks completely wide of the mark; in fact, the iPhone Air seems to be the toughest of the new phones. That’s great, because this is a phone that looks so much better without a case. Even the thinnest of cases sort of nullify the effect of the design.

The Air keeps the same IP68 rating for dust/water protection, has Ceramic Shield on the back and the updated Ceramic Shield 2 on the front. Apple says this offers 3x better scratch resistance, and so far, I haven’t got any of those small micro-scratches that seem to appear almost instantly on most iPhones. The frame is titanium, and it has that soft metal feel similar to the iPhone 16 Pro.

Time will tell how rigid the iPhone Air is, but early tests look to show it can withstand quite the amount of force. I don’t have the confidence to try my hardest to snap the Air, but it doesn’t feel as delicate as I was expecting. In two weeks of testing – without a case – there are no scratches to be seen.

One important aspect of the iPhone Air to note is that globally, it is sold without a SIM slot. While Apple has focused on eSIM devices in the US for the past few generations, we in the UK have always had the traditional SIM versions. That’s not the case with the Air – to use this phone, you need an eSIM.

Before I switched over to the Air, I converted my SIM to an eSIM on an iPhone 16. It was very simple and took less than 10 minutes. Then, when I transferred everything to the Air, the eSIM moved across with my apps and everything else.

Screen

• Sits in the middle of the iPhone 17 and 17 Pro Max with a 6.5-inch size
• Gets very bright
• 120Hz ProMotion support

The iPhone Air has a glorious screen. All the new iPhones have 120Hz ProMotion displays this year, finally bringing parity to the range. Bye-bye 60Hz displays.

There’s not much to actually separate the Air from the Pro models in screen terms. They both support 3000 nits maximum and 1 nit minimum levels, making them fantastic in both bright conditions and when it’s really dark.

As it has a ProMotion panel, the Air has the Always-on display feature to make the clock and elements of the wallpaper always visible.

The real differentiator with the Air’s screen is the size. There’s only one size, and it sits bang in the middle of the iPhone 17 and 17 Pro Max at 6.5 inches. For me, it’s the perfect size – big enough to watch a bit of Netflix on the train but small enough so that I can hold it in one hand, something I can’t do with the 6.9-inch Pro Max.

It’s a little smaller than the 6.7-inch Plus models it essentially replaces, but that’s not an issue. You still get the larger layout style in Apple’s apps, and that includes the horizontal multi-panel views in Mail too.

The Dynamic Island remains, and it’s situated a little lower on the Air than on the 17 Pro. This does get in the way when full-screen video is playing, but it’s not hard to get used to. 

Camera

• Single 48MP rear camera
• Excellent Center Stage front camera
• Misses many of the Pro photo and video modes

There are two big areas where sacrifices have been made to give the Air its name. The first of those is the camera system, and for me, it’s the one area where I miss the iPhone 17 Pro’s skills the most.

There are just two cameras on the iPhone Air. On the back, there’s a single 48MP sensor, with sensor-shift stabilisation, and on the front is an 18MP Center Stage camera with a unique square sensor. I’ll focus on the rear camera first.

Having a £999/$999 with one camera on the back will be an instant turn-off for many looking for the best camera phone. Those used to setups with an ultra-wide, multiple focal lengths and all the versatility that comes with two or three separate camera units will feel a little out of place here.

The single camera is 48MP, and can use some of those pixels to punch in and jump to 2x zoom without sacrificing lots of quality. But that’s pretty much it. The iPhone Air feels like jumping back a decade in terms of iPhone camera versatility, and on numerous occasions throughout the review process, I have longed for a bit more zoom for portraits or the ultra wide for landscapes. There are also a lot of customisation options missing: no spatial photos, no ProRAW and no macro. 

At least what is here is very good. For standard 26mm or 35mm pictures, the camera is great, adapting to light or dark environments and quickly snapping accurate shots without much faff.

The updated Photographic Styles, introduced with the iPhone 16 Pro, are here too – and these really let you craft an image that plays into personal preferences. These styles can tweak the colours, and alter the whole image pipeline. For instance, I tend to like my images warmer, so I’ve tweaked this and now all my photos follow the settings.

There’s nothing new or radically better about the camera here that’ll redefine mobile photography. That feels like the groove we’ve settled into though, with the real innovation being in secondary lenses and zooms.

Still, the iPhone Air can take very good pictures. Lots of detail is pulled out, especially on objects like flowers and animal fur. Colours are rich and the Air is excellent at capturing lovely skin tones, without adding too much fakery to smooth out highlights and shadows.

Low-light performance is great too, whether the phone jumps into the dedicated night mode or not. You can see there are lovely colours in darker images below, and importantly, it doesn’t take an age to capture a photo at night.

While there’s no dedicated telephoto sensor, there is the option to punch in 2x to get a bit closer to a subject.

This mode uses the middle pixels inside the 48MP image to give a sort of optical effect, and the results are good. 2x is 52mm as opposed to 26mm, so you’re not getting that much closer, but at least it offers some hint of versatility without too much sacrifice.

Video capture is great, typical for an iPhone. Footage is just as colour-accurate and sharp as the photos, and it’s reliable. However, the Air misses out on so many videography modes found on both the iPhone 17 and 17 Pro series that it once again lacks any sort of versatility.

Cinematic mode, for example, is found on the cheaper iPhone 17 – but it is absent on the Air. Compared to the Pro series, there’s no ProRes RAW, Log 2, Dolby Vision 120fps or Dolby Vision slow-mo.

There’s more parity across the iPhone models with the front camera. And this is probably the biggest photography update this year.

On the front, inside the Dynamic Island, is a new 18MP Center Stage camera. This is a square sensor, so it can take both portrait and landscape shots without moving the phone, just tap an icon in the app. This is a small tweak, but one that makes a huge difference to how easy snapping great selfies is.

Performance

• Similar A19 Pro chip to the Pro models
• Starting 256GB storage
• Apple N1 networking chip and C1X modem

The Air’s position is Apple’s range starts to get a bit confusing when it comes to the performance side of things. Even though there’s no ‘Pro’ moniker here, inside there is the A19 Pro chipset, rather than the standard A19 found in the iPhone 17.

However, it’s not the same A19 Pro that powers the iPhone 17 Pro, as that chip has an extra GPU core, along with a better cooling chamber for improved sustained performance. So, the Air has a Pro chip, but that Pro chip isn’t as Pro as the Pro chip in the Pro phone – got it?

I guess that the use of the A19 Pro here is more for its efficiency and better thermal management in the thinner chassis. Titanium phones have often been criticised for poor thermal performance in the past, and with the iPhone 17 Pro moving back to an aluminium chassis, the Air is the only titanium iPhone.

Benchmark tests paint an interesting picture of the Air’s performance. It’s great in short bursts, but it falls off (when compared to the iPhone 17 Pro) in longer tests. This is where the improved thermals inside the Pro keep performance sustained. You’ll only really notice it in real life in intensive games, which can cause the phone to heat up after long gaming sessions.

All the phone’s components are housed before the camera bump, so this area can get warm. During the setup process, with multiple apps downloading, this portion of the phone got very hot, but I haven’t encountered this again since.

Storage starts at 256GB (finally!), going up to 512GB and maxing out at 1TB, and the connectivity is top-notch thanks to Apple’s own N1 and C1X chips. There’s Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, Thread, a UWB chip and sub-6 6Ghz 5G. You can also have two active eSIMs running at once, and more than eight stored to swap to.

A smaller issue I have with the iPhone Air is the speaker. It’s not stereo (there’s only one placed inside the Dynamic Island), and it sounds harsh and tinny. It’s fine for very basic stuff – like alarms, but even for podcast listening, you’ll want some earbuds.

Software

• iOS 26 with Liquid Glass
• Similar UI elements to the larger iPhones
• Apple Intelligence still feels underbaked

iOS 26 is a big shift visually for the iPhone series. Even though it’s not exclusive to the Air, the new Liquid Glass design aesthetic does feel very much at home on this thoroughly modern-feeling phone.

I like a lot of design changes in iOS 26. The whole Liquid Glass look, for the most part, looks ace. Reflections give software elements more of a feeling of movement, and Apple’s system apps feel refreshed. The way album artwork slides behind system buttons inside the Music app and reflects through them adds some immersion that was absent before. 

I am less impressed with the new icons, which have odd borders and remind me of Samsung’s old TouchWiz software.

It seems odd that Apple Intelligence – the brand’s first attempt at an AI solution – isn’t even a year old, and already it feels like an afterthought. I’m sure there’s more to come in the future, but Apple’s AI solution falls so far behind Google’s excellent Gemini assistant that it shouldn’t have any bearing on whether you buy this phone or not.

I appreciate how the 6.5-inch screen displays some of the larger system elements from previous 6.7 and 6.9-inch phones. Apple’s apps have more room to play with, and apps like Mail can display multiple panels when the phone is horizontal.

Battery Life

• Not an endurance disaster, but not a champion
• More in line with the smaller iPhones than the Plus or Pro Max models
• 20w Qi2 wireless charging

If the camera system was the first sacrifice made to make the iPhone Air so thin, then battery life is the second. 

My battery anxiety went into full throttle even before the phone arrived, after I saw Apple listing battery life figures on its website with the £99/$99 MagSafe battery attached. That sort of move doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.

But the truth is probably quite predictable. The iPhone Air is neither a battery champion nor an outright endurance disaster. Light users will get through the day with around 15-20% left, while those who hammer it (and might be used to Pro Max endurance) will likely need to top up in the early evening. I’ve had instances of both scenarios happening during my time testing.

For those who like screen-time metrics, the Air can get about 4 to 5 hours. An hour of Netflix gets through about 8%, 2% more than the iPhone 17. I have been getting similar battery life to the iPhone 16 Pro I was using previously, so if you’re used to smaller iPhones’ battery life, nothing here will be a shock. 

My bigger concerns are how this battery will last a year or two down the line. My iPhone 16 Pro was down to about 85% battery health after a year of charging, and if the Air drops down to 85% capacity in a year, I can see people being very disappointed.

The USB-C on the bottom of the phone is USB 2, so transferring files that way is slow – especially compared to the 10Gb/s port on the Pro. For charging, though, it’s adequate. In my tests, a 50% charge took between 30-32 minutes, and a full charge was around the 80-minute mark. That’s with a 20W plug from an older iPhone and the included USB-C cable.

Apple’s MagSafe battery is a neat solution for those who don’t think the Air will last them all day. At £99/$99, it’s pricey though and can’t give the Air a full 0-100% charge. I’ve been using the Anker MagGo 5K bank, which is very slim and light, plus it’s cheaper than Apple’s version and can easily give a full charge to the Air.

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Should you buy it?