Apple’s iPhone Air reveal was a lot of hot air – and revealed too many compromises
Apple wants you to believe thin is in. But so are the compromises with the iPhone Air: a single camera, less battery life, and the looming threat of Bendgate 2.0
iPhone Air is unlike any smartphone you’ve ever experienced before. iPhone Air is a total game changer. And iPhone Air is so light that you’ll need to use the new Apple crossbody strap with it, because if you accidentally release the thing from your grasp, it will soar up to the heavens like a helium-filled balloon.
Apple CEO Tim Cook definitely said at least two of those things at the company’s September event, causing me to emit some air of my own (Sighing! I’m talking about sighing!) at yet another waft of Apple hyperbole.
Look, it’s not that the iPhone Air is a bad phone. It isn’t. I’m not even going to pretend that’s the case for Internet Points™. It has a swanky new chip inside that’s far more powerful than 99.9% of people using a phone will ever need. Despite not being a ‘Pro’ iPhone, it has a ProMotion display (all the way up to 120Hz and all the way down to just 1Hz), making it harder for Android folks to point and laugh. And yes, it’s thin. According to Tim Cook, that was the point. He said this phone is “designed for customers who want pro performance in an unbelievably thin and light design”.
Thin air
Whether there are millions of customers desperate for that specific combination remains to be seen. But it does mean thinny thin thin is back on the agenda – an old Apple obsession is new again. Which doesn’t always end well for the company – remember its prior ‘bendy’ devices and super-thin MacBook keyboards? And now we have the thinnest iPhone that ever thinned. That is, if you entirely ignore the chonky camera bump – sorry, camera plateau– sticking out of the back. Which you probably shouldn’t. Because that camera plateau (Argh!) is where the dream of the iPhone Air starts to whiff a bit.
During the event, it was important to explore between the words Apple execs uttered. Almost like you needed a translator: Siri, tell me what Apple really means here. On the snapper, Apple enthused: “The camera system in the iPhone Air delivers the most popular features that make iPhone the world’s favourite camera”. Which sounded… strange. The most popular? Odd phrasing. Like something’s missing. And then you realised when Apple squashed the iPhone Plus flat with a rolling pin, that cost the device an entire camera. No ultra-wide shots and macro for you, iPhone Air!
Air apparent?
Then there’s the battery: “All-day battery life”. How many hours? “ALL-DAY.” OK, then. And this was delivered with such confidence that Apple lobbed in a sweet, sweet battery pack solely for the iPhone Air. Hmm. Apple reckons that pairing would get you through 40 hours of For All Mankind. Without it, I’m sceptical.
Even if the new Air can outlast my year-old iPhone 16 Pro (which often struggles to get through a day under normal usage), that Apple feels the need to assuage people’s battery anxiety with the Air doesn’t feel ideal. And finally, it had another worry to crush: “Our most durable design yet,” Apple said of the Air. Alarm bells. The nightmare of Bendgate. The prospect of its terrifying sequel, with YouTubers holding up curved iPhone Airs, while screaming into the void.
Still, perhaps the iPhone Air will be durable in another way: the first ‘iPhone to move beyond also-ran status in the ‘other’ slot, surviving the game of musical chairs that ousted the mini and the Plus. Time will tell. And perhaps I’ll discover I wouldn’t want to spend an extra hundred bucks on a Pro (more battery, amazing new camera) or save 200 for a vanilla 17 (only 12g heavier, extra camera, only marginally less powerful). Although that feels about as likely as the existence of this phone’s new design, according to Apple – something it said “frankly seems impossible”.
Craig Grannell
Contributor 
