The iPhone Air is a kind of telephones that it’s important to maintain to imagine. It is tremendous skinny and lightweight, but feels tremendous sturdy in your hand due to the titanium design. However I do know what you are considering. What concerning the compromises?
There’s not a ton right here. You get an enormous and vibrant 6.5-inch OLED show, highly effective A19 Professional chip and a flexible 48MP digital camera with 2x optical zoom. And Apple guarantees “all-day battery life,” although we’ll be the decide of that in our testing.
There are some trade-offs while you examine the Air to the most effective telephones. You aren’t getting an ultrawide lens. And the iPhone 17 Professional and Professional Max have higher cameras. However for $999, the iPhone Air may hit that candy spot for many patrons who need unimaginable portability paired with Professional-ish efficiency.
iPhone Air launch date and worth
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The iPhone Air begins at $999 for 256GB of storage. That is $100 greater than the iPhone 16 Plus that this mannequin replaces in Apple’s lineup, however that telephone began with 128GB. So it is technically not a worth hike.
The iPhone Air is obtainable for pre-orders September 12, and the discharge date is September 19.
iPhone Air specs
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Beginning worth
$999 / £999 / AU$1,799
Display screen dimension
6.5-inch Tremendous Retina XDR show
Refresh price
120Hz
Chipset
A19 Professional
Storage
256GB, 512GB, 1TB
Rear digital camera
48MP Fusion
Entrance digital camera
18MP Middle Stage
Battery life
As much as 27 hours video playback
Measurement
6.2 x 2.9 x 0.22 inches (156.2 x 74.7 x 5.64mm)
Weight
5.82 ounces (165 grams)
Colours
Sky Blue, Mild Gold, Cloud White, Area Black
iPhone Air design and show
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The iPhone Air is a contradiction in your hand — and I imply that in a great way. It feels virtually impossibly skinny and lightweight but it additionally feels rock stable.
Measuring 5.6mm, the iPhone Air is thinner than the Galaxy S25 Edge (5.8mm). And I may inform as I held them each aspect by aspect. However the Samsung telephone is definitely a bit lighter at 5.75 ounces versus 5.82 for the iPhone Air.
(Picture credit score: Tom’s Information)
Regardless, this telephone virtually disappears while you maintain it with the aspect of the iPhone Air going through you. Regardless of this thinness, Apple guarantees a really sturdy design, full with a titanium body.
To assist your funding final, the iPhone Air includes a Ceramic Defend 2 entrance cowl with 3x higher scratch resistance, and the again additionally makes use of Ceramic Shiled for 4x higher resistance to cracks.
By way of colours, you possibly can take your decide from Area Black, Cloud White, Mild Gold and Sky Blue. I am a fan of the blue and white as they actually spotlight the thinness extra.
iPhone Air cameras
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The iPhone Air makes do with a single rear digital camera, nevertheless it’s pretty versatile. The primary 48MP Fusion digital camera provides you the equal for 4 lenses, together with a 2x optical high quality zoom. The digital camera samples on show appeared spectacular, however I stay up for actually testing this digital camera out.
The iPhone Air additionally will get an up to date Photonic Engine that guarantees to seize higher particulars and shade. And the big sensor ought to seize high quality photographs in low mild.
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The 18MP Middle Stage entrance digital camera does not simply offer you extra decision that the earlier 12MP entrance digital camera. The sq. sensor is sensible sufficient to know when you’ve extra individuals within the body, robotically switching from portrait to panorama mode on the fly with out requiring you to carry the telephone any in another way. It was fairly cool to see it in particular person.
iPhone Air efficiency
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The iPhone Air is powered by the A19 Professional chip, which is similar chip contained in the iPhone 17 Professional — minus one graphics core. You get a 6-core CPU and 5-core GPU, so it is best to have the ability to play demanding video games with out a downside.
What you aren’t getting versus the iPhone 17 Professional and Professional Max is the sustained efficiency afforded by the vapor chamber cooling system that is now within the Professional fashions to maintain these telephones from overheating.
Nevertheless, the iPhone Air does pack in a whole lot of different superior applied sciences, together with a brand new N1 networking chip that homes the Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6 and Thread connections. Plus, the iPhone Air boasts Apple’s new C1X modem, which guarantees 2x quicker connectivity than the earlier C1 contained in the iPhone 16e.
iPhone Air battery life
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The excellent news is that the iPhone Air guarantees “all-day battery life.” However you should not anticipate the identical stage of endurance because the common iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Professional or Professional Max.
Apple crammed a pretty big battery contained in the iPhone Air (although we do not know the capability but since Apple does not publicly disclose battery sizes), because it moved a number of key parts to the digital camera bump space, which Apple now calls the plateau. And thank to the Adaptive Energy Mode in iOS 26, the iPhone Air ought to give you the chance that will help you preserve juice over time because it learns your battery consumption patterns.
The iPhone Air is rated for 27 hours of video playback, which is 3 hours lower than the iPhone 17 and 12 hours lower than the iPhone 17 Professional Max. Apple sells a slim MagSafe battery pack for the iPhone Air that brings the endurance to 40 hours, however to me that defeats the aim of carrying round a skinny and lightweight telephone.
iPhone Air outlook
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The iPhone Air is extra than simply one other skinny telephone. It guarantees flagship-level efficiency in a design that feels virtually unimaginable. I am significantly impressed with how sturdy this handset feels, and I am certain there will likely be a number of bend assessments popping out quickly to place Apple’s claims to the take a look at.
For me, the battery lifetime of the iPhone Air will make or break this telephone. It could not have the endurance to make our greatest telephone battery life checklist, however the Air must final by most of your day to be value $999. Keep tuned for our full rated evaluate.
