Every so often, Apple makes a design decision that draws a line in the sand. One that feels like a delineation between one era and the next. The iPhone Air is that kind of device. It’s strikingly thin and sets a new standard for how an iPhone should feel in your hand.
The iPhone Air is also an example of the compromises that come with pushing the design boundaries of a form factor. The question is whether it correctly strikes that balance. I’ve been using the iPhone Air since it was announced last week to find out.
Design
The iPhone Air is the biggest change to the iPhone form factor since at least the iPhone 11 to iPhone 12 transition. My word choice there, however, is deliberate. The iPhone 11 to iPhone 12 represented a change in iPhone design, but not a total redesign that made you marvel at the technical achievement. The iPhone 12’s design was more industrialized than the iPhone 11, opting for a boxier form factor rather than curved edges.
The iPhone Air, on the other hand, is a ground-up redesign akin to the iPhone X. When I picked it up for the first time, it felt unlike any iPhone I’d ever held. I’ve been telling people all week that it feels even better than it looks in Apple’s design video. My first impression holding the iPhone Air really did remind me of how different the iPhone X felt. It’s such an incredible departure from the iPhone design language we’ve grown accustomed to in recent years.
iPhone Air (5.64 mm) vs iPhone 6 Plus (7.1 mm)
What makes the iPhone Air feel so nice in the hand? First and foremost, it’s thin. Like really thin. It bests the iPhone 6 by a wide margin to become Apple’s thinnest iPhone ever: the iPhone 6 measured 6.9 mm thick and the iPhone Air measures 5.6 mm thick. The iPhone Air is also significantly lighter than Apple’s Pro phones (but only marginally lighter than the standard phones and the iPhone 16e with smaller screens).
Model Thickness / Depth Weight iPhone 16e 7.80 mm 167 g iPhone 16 7.80 mm 170 g iPhone 16 Plus 7.80 mm 199 g iPhone 16 Pro 8.25 mm 199 g iPhone 16 Pro Max 8.25 mm 227 g iPhone 17 7.95 mm 177 g iPhone 17 Pro 8.75 mm 206 g iPhone 17 Pro Max 8.75 mm 233 g iPhone Air 5.64 mm 165 g
Here are some other comparisons:
The real beauty of the iPhone Air is that thin design, but one detail that surprised me is that the titanium edges of the device are polished rather than matte. Apple describes this as “an elegant high-gloss mirror finish.” This gives the device an even more “premium” feeling than I expected based on the rumors.
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