is a senior reviewer with over a decade of experience writing about consumer tech. She has a special interest in mobile photography and telecom. Previously, she worked at DPReview.
The iPhone Air is as much a statement as it is a phone. It says something about the person using it: that they don’t mind giving up a few things for a phone that’s meaningfully thinner and lighter.
That they can give up all those extra cameras on the back and just live with one. That they, well, went out and bought The New iPhone — one that makes everyone go “Whooooaaa” when they hold it for the first time. That’s a hell of a lot of things for a 6.5-inch slab of titanium and glass to say, but then again, the iPhone Air isn’t your average phone.
You’ve already heard this a lot, but I’ll go ahead and say it because it bears repeating: the iPhone Air is shockingly thin and light. On paper, its dimensions might not seem dramatically different from your garden-variety phone. It’s 5.64mm thick compared to the 7.95mm iPhone 17, and it weighs 12 grams less. Isn’t this a lot of fuss over a few millimeters? Maybe, but I challenge you to pick up this phone for yourself and not be at least a little surprised at how much lighter it feels in your hand. When it comes to the device that’s constantly in your hand, pocket, or bag, those millimeters make a big difference.
But you don’t get a dramatically thinner phone without giving up a few things. And those things, boiled down to two categories, are battery life and camera versatility. Neither is a disaster. There’s enough battery power to get most people to the end of a day, and image quality from the single rear camera is good enough to satisfy someone who’s not too picky. But if you ask anyone which two things they’d most want improved on their next phone, they’d probably list those very features. Depending on the phone you’re upgrading from, this might be more of a lateral move.
For those two reasons, the iPhone Air won’t be the right device for most people considering a new iPhone. But for someone who’s not too demanding of their phone, the Air is going to feel pretty special.
That Liquid Glass look.
So we’ve established that picking up and holding the iPhone Air for the first time is pretty cool. How about after that initial reaction wears off? After using the Air for the past week, the effect has been similar to the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge. I got used to the lightness a day or two in, but the Air kept surprising me in little moments here and there, easily fitting into a pocket or a bag where other phones dare not go. Walking around San Francisco, I kept the Air comfortably (without a case) in my jeans’ front pocket, which is something I can usually only get away with using my iPhone 13 Mini.
My overall impression using the Air is the same as with the S25 Edge: the slim profile might be the headline attraction, but the lighter weight is the real benefit. Putting the Air in my backpack’s slimmest pockets is great; holding the phone and scrolling without having to periodically adjust my grip is awesome. And for the occasion where you might actually hold the phone to your ear and talk to someone that way, it’s just a bit more comfortable than usual. Those little moments are when you’ll really appreciate the Air’s weight as its best feature.
That’s not to say this is a small phone. Like the S25 Edge, it’s a big phone with small phone energy. It’s still a stretch getting my thumb all the way across the 6.5-inch screen. It’s a little smaller than the Edge in every dimension — just a little shorter, slimmer, and less wide. But the edges are also slightly curved compared to the flat sides on Samsung’s phone, making the Air feel a little less secure in my hand. I like the look of the Air’s frosted Ceramic Shield back, but it’s hard to get a secure grip on it. I’m not a case person, but I’d make an exception for this phone.
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