The iPhone Air sold poorly, and now we know exactly what people hated about it

It’s no secret that the iPhone Air has performed abysmally, so much so that unexpected discounts for the iPhone Air have made early adopters mad. But what exactly caused the newest Apple flagship model — which replaced the iPhone Plus — to fail to meet sales expectations so drastically? We might just have an answer to that question, courtesy of you, the end consumer.

iPhone Air fails in multiple aspects

According to a recent poll accompanying news of the iPhone Air 2 getting a second camera, you were asked what you thought contributed most to the failure of the iPhone Air. Only a little over one percent of voters thought that the poor thermals were the reason that the iPhone Air failed to sell well. Almost 16 percent of respondents believed that the public just bought into the negative publicity surrounding the phone.

Meanwhile, a little over 16 percent of you said that the iPhone Air needed more cameras for the price. A little over 20 percent of voters believe that the short battery life is the main reason for the Air selling so poorly. But most people, a whopping 46 percent of you, said that the iPhone Air failed to capture the market’s interest because it was just a very poor package overall. In short, all of the above.

Why do you think the iPhone Air has failed to sell well?

Other factors influenced its sales too

Of course, there are other reasons for the Air’s poor sales as well. For example, the solo speaker setup, instead of a dual speaker configuration, is difficult to accept for the starting price of $999. In addition, the iPhone Air uses a binned version of the A19 Pro chip, resulting in weaker performance compared to the iPhone 17 Pro even if you manage to keep the phone cool.

The iPhone Air is very much a “form over function” phone, but the sacrifices were too great and the price tag too inflated to attract many customers.

Apple will hopefully address everything in time

Hopefully, Apple will address these problems in time, one new generation of the iPhone Air at a time. The biggest upgrade that the iPhone Air could see right now, in my opinion, is a silicon-carbon battery. This would allow Apple to maintain the slim form factor while being able to provide much higher battery capacity. In addition, a second speaker and perhaps a vapor chamber would be very welcome as well.

For now, though, it seems Apple is mostly focusing on a second camera on the rear: an ultra-wide sensor. The battery might not see an improvement this year at all if Apple is satisfied with “all day” battery life.