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Who is the iPhone Air for? (feddit.org)
submitted 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) by Ulrich@feddit.org to c/apple_enthusiast@lemmy.world
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Maybe I'm just out of touch, but I don't understand who this is for, and I think it's going to flop.

First of all...who is asking for thinner phones?

Secondly, the price. This is not an Air SE. This thing is only $100 less than a full-fat iPhone Pro, and $200 more than iPhone base (which is a particularly good value this year).

And what do you get for that price?

  • 2 fewer lenses than the pro, and 1 fewer than the base
  • Titanium frame, I guess?
  • Less powerful processor than the base
  • Inherently more fragile frame
  • Less battery life than even the base model (this was often cited as the shortcoming of the iphone Mini)
  • Slower charging speed than both models
  • no cinematic video mode

Are people really clamoring for thinner phones so badly that they'll spend more money for less features?

https://www.apple.com/iphone/compare/?modelList=iphone-17-pro%2Ciphone-air%2Ciphone-17

Edit: 1 week later and the Air underperforms the base model as well (as expected)

Also someone pointed out below that the 16e is only 2 grams heavier and is $400 cheaper.

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[-] acow@programming.dev 3 points 5 months ago

Some people complain about phones being too big, admittedly with different specifics: weight in the hand, how it sits in a pocket, etc. Apple tried with the Mini, but it didn’t sell well. One hypothesis for the lower-than-hoped-for sales is that not everyone who complains about the size of modern phones bought one because they didn’t want to give up the big screen. So now Apple wants to sell people a smaller phone with just as big a screen. Throw in the opportunity to start recouping engineering investments made in preparation for foldable devices, and I think the Air is a logical next try after the Mini and the Plus.

this post was submitted on 10 Sep 2025
55 points (88.7% liked)

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