And just like that, the iPhone Air 2 looks like a worse deal than the original iPhone Air

The iPhone Air 2 is Schrödinger's phone: it's both very cool and very… uncool. That's because there are still many months left until it materializes. That's expected to happen in the first half of 2027. With it, the vanilla flagship iPhone 18 is also scheduled to be unveiled. And the budget-friendly iPhone 18e, the model that'll prove once again that Apple's concept of budget-friendly is very… flexible.

Back to the iPhone Air 2, though. As the announcement date approaches, we're getting more and more rumors. As always, we should take those with a pinch of salt and not trust them 100%. But it's worth discussing them as we're navigating ahead.

I'm building the case that the iPhone Air 2—in its current rumored form, at least—doesn't look as thrilling as I expected.

The wasp-waisted phones mania

The mobile industry has gone through several obsessions in the past decades. Phones with lids on them (the OG flip phones that are way cooler than their Galaxy Z Flip 8 successors!), phones with QWERTY keyboards, big phones, small phones, phones with built-in torches, smartphones with touchscreens, camera phones, et cetera. Foldables are a whole different genre and I do think they're more than a mere tech fetish.

So, the latest phone obsession, I think, is ultra-thin phones. Wasp-waisted phones. Like the iPhone Air and the Galaxy S25 Edge from 2025. The latter, frankly speaking, was more "wasted" than "wasp-waisted"; it had an absurd price tag attached to it and it flopped. It flopped so spectacularly that it was cancelled—there was no S26 Edge and it's almost certain that there won't be an S27 Edge next year.

I'm not personally a fan of the ultra-thin concept as a whole—I don't mind thick, juicy phones. In fact, I prefer thick phones if that's the price I need to pay to enjoy a giant battery, a large vapor chamber and a quadruple rear camera setup.

But even I can see why the iPhone Air wasn't a market flop—and, on the contrary, became popular among some buyers.

It's a statement

You and I may rant all day long about the latest silicon, the most powerful processor and the best camera setup on the market, but some users need a phone that can:

• Make and receive calls;
• Send and receive texts;
• Open a webpage;
• Open Instagram;
• Set an alarm.

Obviously, that's a pathetically low bar to set, as virtually all smartphones are created to do that and much, much more. But with the iPhone Air, you get a bijou. A thin piece of art that's truly elegant.

You can be foaming at the mouth explaining to your aunt why the iPhone Air isn't as powerful as the RedMagic 12 Pro Plus, but you'll be getting the same answer: "That Air thing is thinner and I like it better". Can't argue with that.

The iPhone Air 2 state of affairs

Now that I've outlined what makes the iPhone Air so special, time to elaborate on the latest iPhone Air 2 rumor: it'll probably come with a secondary rear camera, as we reported. Hold your "hoorays", though.

Per the leaks, it's going to be an ultra-wide snapper, not a telephoto. What a waste of opportunity.

The main camera is already wide enough for most everyday situations, so adding an ultra-wide shooter feels like getting more of the same, only with extra scenery squeezed into the frame. It's useful occasionally, sure, but how often do you really need to fit an entire building into one shot?

A telephoto camera with an approximately 80mm focal length would be a much smarter addition, giving users proper optical zoom, more flattering portraits and a genuinely different photographic perspective. That's the kind of versatility the iPhone Air 2 needs, rather than another camera that essentially does what the main one already does, just a little differently.

The OG iPhone Air is where I'd put my money on

If I were shopping for an iPhone Air, I'd actually wait for the Air 2 to arrive and then pick up the original model at a lower price. Bob's your uncle.

The iPhone Air 2 will almost certainly cost more, yet it isn't expected to bring a significant battery capacity boost or a meaningful RAM upgrade. Sure, it'll have a newer chipset (and it'll be a better one) but the original Air is already a finely tuned flagship that has plenty of processing power for years of everyday use.

Apple also has a pretty generous multi-year software support commitment, so there's no reason to think the OG iPhone Air will become obsolete anytime soon.

I'd much rather save some money and live with a one-eyed iPhone Air than pay extra for an Air 2 that offers largely the same package with an ultra-wide camera thrown in. That's not exactly the kind of upgrade that makes me want to open my wallet. Not in this economy.

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