This article may contain personal views and opinion from the author.
The iPhone Air is flopping. There, I've said it! This bold new experiment that one obscure Chinese brand (Tecno with its Spark Slim model) started a year ago has tricked Samsung and Apple into thinking that ultra-thin phones are the next big (ironically) thing in tech.
According to the latest rumors, Samsung has already canceled the Galaxy S26 Edge, and Apple, on the other hand, scaled back the iPhone Air production amid slow adoption and underwhelming sales.
Where's the parallel with the iPhone Mini, and why do I think that the iPhone Air will meet the same fate, probably only lasting two generations? Let's dig in!
The big compromise
The batteries of the iPhone 17 and iPhone Air
The biggest crossover point between the iPhone Mini and the iPhone Air is that both compromise core features for design. The Mini was supposed to be ultra-compact, a one-hand wonder, easy to operate, and easy to carry around.
The iPhone Air, on the other hand, toys with the idea of an ultra-thin smartphone that's light and also pretty pocketable.
Both phones come with almost exactly the same compromises. The main one is battery life, because with smaller size (or thinner for that matter) comes a smaller battery. You just can't cheat physics.
The iPhone 12 Mini - tiny but deadly when it comes to battery life
The situation is similar with the iPhone Air. The device comes with a 3,149 mAh cell inside, granted, quite a bit more than the one found inside the Mini, but the big 6.5-inch screen and the fast silicon drain the Air in more or less a day.
We've done a fair share of polls over the years at PhoneArena, and battery life has been consistently among the top-rated or requested features by our readers.
Apparently, Apple doesn't follow PhoneArena, and jokes aside, prefers to launch a MagSafe battery accessory, admitting the shortcomings of the Air. Where have we seen this?
The MagSafe battery pack
That's not very compact...
The battery life of the iPhone 12 Mini and the iPhone 13 Mini was so problematic that the company had to invent a MagSafe accessory to mend the situation. The MagSafe battery was born.
It did cure the battery problems of the Mini and transformed it into a full-day phone but ruined the initial idea of a compact phone that you can carry around and use easily.
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Now, when Apple announced the reboot of the MagSafe battery shortly after the iPhone Air announcement, a strong sense of deja vu entered my being.
It's supposed to be thin, right?
It's the same story all over again. Why make the thinnest phone on the market, only to slap a thick external battery on it?
Oh, and by the way, this has been done before. Some of you might remember the Motorola Moto Z line. It launched around 2016 with the idea of a phone base with mods you attach on the back for different scenarios.
The Moto Z case study - 5.2 mm phone with a battery pack mod
The phone itself was just 5.2 mm thick. Yes, a good chunk thinner than the iPhone Air, and among other mods, there was an external battery. Motorola even shipped most of the units with the battery mod inside the retail box.
What do the Motorola Z line and the iPhone Mini have in common? They're both discontinued. I admit, the flop of the modular Moto Z is far more complex, but the thin base and battery mod fall into the frame here perfectly.
The niche market problem
Are thin phones for hipsters?
Even before we get to the pricing argument, there's the niche position of both the iPhone Mini and the iPhone Air. There was no actual demand for small phones back when Apple launched the iPhone 12 Mini, and it's the same with the iPhone Air.
Both Samsung (with the Galaxy Edge) and Apple (with the iPhone Air) decided to follow a trend that wasn't rooted in consumers' needs or demands.
I'm still a huge fan of the iPhone Mini but can't fool myself anymore into thinking that most people love small phones and miss them dearly. Sales numbers don't lie.
My experience with the iPhone Air is very similar. It's exciting to hold it in your hand and use it, but when this excitement wears off, its drawbacks start to show, and they are pretty substantial.
Having only one camera and a questionable battery life are the two areas that people rate as one of the most important in a smartphone. The iPhone 17 has 30% more longevity than the Air, which can be critical in some situations.
So, even if there's a cool factor to owning either an iPhone Mini or an iPhone Air, real-life, practical features usually trump that coolness pretty quickly.
The price is (not) right
The price is one of the most important factors in a smartphone buy
This subheading is a spin on the famous TV show, and for a reason. I mentioned the battery life and cameras as very important features when making a buying decision, but the price tends to be even more important.
Even though the iPhone Mini was the cheapest in the range when it launched, the step to the regular iPhone 12 was rather small price-wise. People chose to get a slightly more expensive model with a bigger screen and battery, tanking the sales of the Mini in the end.
The iPhone Air is in an even more complicated situation. The $999 price tag is absurdly high for what the phone has to offer, and getting a vanilla iPhone 17 will get you more in terms of practical features.
The step up to the Pro in terms of pricing is, on the other hand, so small that people could be (and they are, according to sales) reaching up in the portfolio and getting the Pro. So, the iPhone Air ends up in a metaphorical no man's land.
Will there be an iPhone Air 2?
Probably. If we follow the iPhone Mini analogy, the Air has another generation to make it or break it. Nothing speaks louder to companies than sales figures and losing money, so don't expect any sympathy toward the iPhone Air.
Looking at the iPhone 13 Mini on my desk, I still feel it was an interesting experiment and a model that deserves to be in the annals of history.
But Apple should learn its lesson, and don’t hop on the bandwagon of trends. Rather create them and also listen to the users.
What do you think about the iPhone Air? Would it survive, and for how long?
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Mariyan, a tech enthusiast with a background in Nuclear Physics and Journalism, brings a unique perspective to PhoneArena. His childhood curiosity for gadgets evolved into a professional passion for technology, leading him to the role of Editor-in-Chief at PCWorld Bulgaria before joining PhoneArena. Mariyan's interests range from mainstream Android and iPhone debates to fringe technologies like graphene batteries and nanotechnology. Off-duty, he enjoys playing his electric guitar, practicing Japanese, and revisiting his love for video games and Haruki Murakami's works.
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