It’s long been clear that the iPhone Air was going to be a beautiful device, but based on reactions so far, it seems that people are even more impressed than expected by the sleek look of the all-new iPhone. It’s usually the two Pro models that get all the love, but this year it seems all anyone wants to talk about is the iPhone Air … I said beforehand that I very much expected to be admiring the aesthetics of the new phone. I’m absolutely not the intended market for the device, but … I’m as big a sucker for slim and sleek technology as anyone. The dummy looks absolutely beautiful, and I’m sure the real thing will too. I won’t be buying one, but I’ll certainly be casting admiring glances in its direction, and visiting an Apple store to give one the maximum permitted number of appreciative strokes before security intervenes. Based on the presentation, the real thing certainly didn’t disappoint: it looks absolutely gorgeous. Our own Chance Miller who was at the event confirmed that “it looks just as good in person as it did in Apple’s event video.” From an engineering perspective, the camera plateau (as Apple calls it) is a really clever idea – integrating most of the phone’s electronics into the bump in order to keep the body as slim as physically possible. As I said previously, it’s clear that the iPhone Air is an important stepping stone toward next year’s iPhone Fold, and the camera plateau is a core element of this goal. While I’m less sold on the aesthetics of the double-height plateau on the new Pro models, I do think the design team has done an amazing job at integrating the smaller one on the iPhone Air. With the smoothly curving lines from body to plateau, I think it absolutely fits in with the minimalist look of the device. One big concern about the new phone had been battery life. Although Apple thinks this sufficiently concerning to offer a dedicated MagSafe battery pack for it, the capacity seems significantly better than expected. If you believe Apple’s testing as being representative, the iPhone Air actually matches the battery longevity of last year’s iPhone 16 Pro. Both the Air and the 16 Pro report 22 hours battery life on streaming video playback. It also beats the claims for the iPhone 16e (21 hours) and iPhone 16 (18 hours). Only the 16 Plus and 16 Pro Max have better battery life than the new Air, according to Apple. Honestly, if I didn’t rely so heavily on the camera features of my Pro Max, I’d be way more tempted than I ever expected. Before the launch, I wasn’t massively sold on the benefits of an ultra-slim iPhone, as each of my new models goes straight into a case within seconds of it being removed from the box. However, if the even stronger ceramic shield on both front and rear of the phone lives up to Apple’s claims, perhaps this is an iPhone that could be safely used without one by people marginally less clumsy than me? I’ll await the results of the inevitable drop tests with great interest! What seems very clear is that the internet loves this phone already. At $999 for the base 256Gb tier, it is rather close to the price of the Pro models, but this doesn’t seem to be deterring anyone. My very strong impression is that everyone who was planning to buy it before the launch is definitely going ahead with that, and a substantial number of people who weren’t considering it now plan to buy. It’s been reported that Apple has allocated roughly 10% of this year’s production capacity to the iPhone Air; if so, I strongly suspect it’s going to have to quickly boost this quite significantly. Highlighted accessories Photo: Apple