Apple got so much about it right, too…

Apple’s iPhone Air doesn’t need to exist – but thank heavens it does!

On the face of it, the iPhone Air is overpriced, under-spec’d and is a pointless addition to the current iPhone lineup. But the honest and sad truth is that once you’ve held it and used it, you understand it.

I don’t think I’d be pushing the limits too hard if I were to say that this is the most gorgeous phone I’ve owned and used. Three months in, and the iPhone Air has rarely been away from my side. It has that wow factor or star quality to it that means you just have this compulsion to keep reaching for it and fiddling with it.

It’s almost as if it’s too good to be true!

The iPhone Air is like a piece of jewellery- it’s like a Swarovski. Do we need it? Nope, but am I glad it exists? Hell yes!

With just a few more option boxes ticked, Apple could so easily have had a huge success story on its hands, yet instead, here we are with rumours now floating about that this could be it. A one-generation, dismal flop.

So are the stories that are circling about that the iPhone Air is dead and buried after just one year true? This week, I took the iPhone Air out for the day in London just as an excuse to spend more time with it – and yes, I still adore it, and yes, we did end up at another Slow Horses location!

So nearly perfect

The thing is, when you start to scratch the surface just a little, you realise that it’s not just the iPhone Air that has flopped, so too has Samsung’s Edge.

Both are lovely devices, both are a wonder and a feat of engineering, yet both are, at best, being put on hold. Maybe we’ve voted with our wallets, and we simply aren’t ready or don’t see the need for thin phones in general.

Don’t take these figures as gospel, as Apple keep sales figures pretty closely guarded, but one report I read had sales as low as 5% of all iPhone sales. To add some context to that, Apple had hoped for the Air to make up about 15% of sales.

We know that both Foxconn and Luxshare, which assemble the iPhone Air, have all but stopped production, and last month production was slashed to 10% of the original September output.

Apple almost pre-empted some of these problems by announcing a battery pack that was designed purely for the Air and the price point.

Part of the problem seems to be that Apple aren’t offering us a compelling reason to buy the iPhone Air rather than the iPhone 17 or even the 17 Pro. If you were to walk into an Apple Store today, you could choose from the 16e (£699), the iPhone 17 (£799), the iPhone Air (£999) or the 17 Pro (£1099).

Are we just plain and simple spoiled for choice? But with it being squeezed from either side, did the iPhone Air ever stand a chance?

The beauty of the iPhone Air

Here’s the thing, though – all rationale goes out of the window once you hold the thing.

Without doubt, it’s the most gorgeous iPhone I’ve ever owned. Those curved, polished titanium sides, the almost edge-to-edge glass and the impossible thinness make it so desirable. It’s one of those times that words and specs alone can’t do it justice.

After you touch, hold and use the Air, you’re spoiled. Every other phone feels like an Airbus, while the iPhone Air is a Concorde!

The 16e for instance, has a clear and defined spot in the lineup. It’s the cheapest phone and one that doesn’t try to be something it’s not. It works, delivers on its promise and is the clear choice for either someone simply wanting an iPhone which’ll fit neatly into their ecosystem or for corporate buyers.

But at £999, Apple poses the potential buyers of the iPhone Air a serious and challenging question. For £200 less you could buy the iPhone 17 with stereo speakers and an ultra-wide camera.

But if that wasn’t bad enough, you could argue that if you have £1000 to spend on a phone, would only £100 more hurt you that much? Then you could buy the 17 Pro with all the bells & whistles.

So a combination of a baffling array of iPhones, the poorly timed & in my view needless release of the battery-pack, price and specs that didn’t match the price point have all added to its woeful performance.

A fresh approach

But possibly the sound of the death knell is premature. What if Apple isn’t killing off the iPhone Air, but rather taking stock? What if the iPhone Air was merely taking a hiatus?

In the recent dark days that Apple has struggled through recently one thing has become apparent…they listened. We can only pray and hope that the listening ear continues when it comes to the iPhone Air.

It seems as if Apple is lining up a refreshed approach to its release schedule. If the rumours are to be believed, then it seems as if the premium phones – the Pro, Pro Max and the new foldable iPhone will be released at Apple’s September event, with the 17e, iPhone 18, and the iPhone Air MkII being slotted for a spring release. Apparently, that schedule is due to begin next year.

That plays into the hands of the iPhone Air, as then it gives it some breathing space, as we wouldn’t expect to see a new model until spring 2027. And if Apple were to use that time wisely, then they’d listen and come back with an iPhone Air that makes more sense.

What the iPhone Air needs

From the build quality to the fact that it has the latest chip in it, an Apple modem and features things like Dynamic Island, Face ID and MagSafe, you can tell that Apple never intended this to be a basement bargain phone.

It’s a premium device, so they’ve hung a premium price tag on it. I have no problem with that as it looks and feels premium, but there is no denying that the lack of an extra speaker and camera means that logically the Air makes no sense to buy. Apple sometimes make some very odd decisions, don’t they?

The iPhone Air is an emotive buy, and as it’s been shown, emotion-led purchases are hard to come by when a £1000 price tag is attached to it.

But, instead of just giving us stereo speakers and a pair of cameras, Apple seems to be on a course of throwing premium extras at the Air that make little sense.

I’ve heard stories of a vapour chamber and a larger capacity battery coming to a future iPhone Air, along with the extra camera (yet there’s no mention of a second speaker). Those new features sound expensive to me, and the last thing that the iPhone Air needs to be is any more expensive.

But if Apple read the room, or even the comments on a recent video of mine, then they should simply give us stereo speakers and an ultra-wide camera and drop the price by £100.

If they were to do that, I bet you we’d see a big upturn in the future sales of the iPhone Air.

It’s a damned lovely phone – that day in London with it this week reminded me of that. Apple should be mighty proud of what they’ve achieved with it, but rather than kill it off or throw misguided extras at it, let’s hope they listen to the feedback and give us that compelling reason to buy it!

It’s too good in its own right to be seen as simply one half of the future foldable iPhone – way too good.

The iPhone Air represents everything good about Apple. They made a product that was a little off-topic. That’s what’s in its DNA – it’s what used to make Apple great and unique. A tech firm that isn’t just pleasing the boardroom, but giving us punters something brilliant, new and irreverent!

I’m all in for an iPhone Air 2. Trim the price and give us what we want, then I’ll bet you’ll have a winner on your hands.

To continue that jewellery analogy – the iPhone is a diamond in the rough. The best is yet to come…I hope!