The iPhone Air is a hint at the iPhone’s future, which could include foldables

Summary

The iPhone Air looks great with its sleek, thin new shape, but you may not want to choose this phone as your daily driver just yet. The new device announced on Tuesday is thinner and lighter than other models, at 5.6mm with a 6.5-inch display. But for the time being, it’s also less capable in some areas than the base model iPhone 17, which could deter potential buyers. For instance, the Air’s battery lasts up to 27 hours, while the iPhone 17 lasts up to 30. It lacks the iPhone 17’s Ultra Wide camera. It also doesn’t support macro photography. Meanwhile, the Air’s price point of $999 is 22% more expensive than the 17 base model, which starts at $799. And for just $100 more, you could upgrade to the iPhone 17 Pro ($1,099). Despite these disadvantages, there’s something compelling about the Air: it hints at where iPhone hardware design is going, including new form factors, like foldables. After all these years, Apple is still chasing a thinner iPhone — and not just because it makes for a better-looking device. Apple needs to experiment on a platform that uses its own technology to improve the hardware design and the phone’s performance. As Apple explains, the iPhone Air has the most Apple-designed chips in an iPhone, including the A19 Pro (CPU with a 5-core GPU), N1 (wireless networking chip), and new C1X (cellular modem). The latter is faster than the modem in the 16 Pro, but uses 30% less energy, Apple points out. By architecting the phone’s design around its own silicon, Apple can work on challenges like performance and battery life — things that remain important as phones become more capable in terms of photography, videography, and even AI. Image Credits:Apple Battery life, in particular, is a stopping point for how powerful these devices can become, since battery tech is improving at a slower rate than that of other iPhone components and technologies. Unfortunately, the debut version of the iPhone Air didn’t make things better on this front, as its battery life i...