Apple unveiled iPhone Air, its thinnest iPhone ever, nearly three weeks ago at this point. It’s an incredibly impressive model, and I’ve been thoroughly enjoying mine since I picked it up on launch day last Friday. That said, despite the focus on it being ‘impossibly thin’ in Apple’s own words, I think it’s a lot more than that based on my time using it.
Phones were getting too bulky
Ultimately, I’ve long loved the bigger screen size of the Plus and Pro Max iPhones, but not the weight that came with it.
iPhone 14 Pro Max was Apple’s heaviest large iPhone in a while, largely thanks to its stainless steel frame. It came in at 8.47 oz. Luckily, Apple addressed that slightly a year later with the switch to titanium on iPhone 15 Pro Max, bringing it down to 7.81 oz. Still not a light phone, but it was more manageable.
When iPhone 16 Pro came out, though, and the screens got even bigger, the chassis even thicker, and the phone even heavier – I caved, and switched back to the smaller option. Conveniently, there were no camera or feature compromises by going with the smaller model that year, so it wasn’t too challenging to make that switch.
For reference, iPhone 16 Pro Max offered a 6.9-inch display (up from 6.7), and came in at 7.99oz.
Big, but without heft
iPhone Air, to me, is about a lot more than being thin – it’s about offering a big screen iPhone that doesn’t feel unbearable. iPhone Air is 5.6mm thin, sure, but it’s also 5.8oz while offering a 6.5-inch display. It feels very delightful to use – and makes other Pro Max/Plus iPhones feel like a brick.
Even the aluminum iPhone 16 Plus, which this technically replaces, weighed 7.03oz. Did it feel better to use than the iPhone 16 Pro Max? Sure. Was it anywhere near as remarkable as iPhone Air? Absolutely not.
Compromises?
Whenever you say anything nice about iPhone Air, people tend to bring up the fact that it has two key compromises: battery and cameras.
As for battery, everyone uses their phones differently, but I can confidently get through a day on iPhone Air. In my past week of testing, I’ve been carrying around a power bank just in case, but I’ve never needed to worry about using it. Even with 5 or 6 straight hours of heavy usage, the phone doesn’t die on me. Obviously, if you’re someone who only wants to charge your phone once a day, this won’t suffice.
However, I just care about the phone lasting while I’m out and about during the day, and iPhone Air has never concerned me. I’d even say it performs better than my iPhone 16 Pro did on iOS 26, even after restoring the device when the RC came out.
As for the next one, cameras. Me personally, I own a mirrorless camera – a Canon R8 if you care – so I don’t care about my smartphone having the best camera performance. My camera is pretty much always on me, so if I see a shot I’d love to capture, I have no issue taking it out quickly.
I view the iPhone camera as something that should just be used to quickly take a photo of something for a group chat or something otherwise informal, so I don’t particularly care about losing out on a proper telephoto lens. In that same vein, I did like having an ultrawide lens for shots where I happened to be standing too close to properly capture, and on iPhone Air I do have to now back up a little bit sometimes – but oh well.
Wrap up
Overall, we’ll see how time shapes my iPhone Air experience – but I’m quite pleased by it. I’m far from the first person to say this, but iPhone Air genuinely feels like another iPhone X moment. Rather than just being another iPhone upgrade, it genuinely feels like something different. I don’t care if you think a thin phone is boring – this is innovation.
Some have even said that iPhone Air is just an engineering experiment for glasses or a foldable iPhone, and while that could be partially true, I truly do believe this sets a new precedent for the future of traditional glass slab phones. In a few years, we could be packing additional cameras and battery life into this form factor, making it more and more appealing. This is just the start.
Over the past week, I’ve struck up plenty of conversations with people about this phone, and had plenty of people asking me about it. I can’t say I’ve seen that level of interest with any other iPhone I’ve bought in recent years. It feels like an exciting time again.
My favorite Apple accessory recommendations:
Follow Michael: X/Twitter, Bluesky, Instagram