Welcome to the period of skinny smartpho...

We knew it was coming, and now it’s right here. The iPhone Air, as rumored, is just 5.6mm thick and has fewer options than the bottom iPhone 17, which is $200 cheaper. Certain, it’s not the primary slimline reinterpretation of a significant smartphone — Samsung beat Apple to the punch with the Galaxy S25 Edge earlier this 12 months — however the affect of Apple can’t be underestimated. It’s too early to inform if the iPhone Air will shake up smartphones because the MacBook Air did with laptops, nevertheless it’s undoubtedly a safer evolution. And hey, maybe the iPhone Air is merely a pit-stop on the way in which to the primary Apple foldable.

Let’s return to 2008. With the MacBook Air, Apple ditched the optical disc drive and lots of ports, resulting in a tool that was so skinny Steve Jobs pulled it out of a manila envelope when he first revealed it. The primary MBA had some points; it was underpowered, used a tiny and gradual exhausting drive and battery life was fairly terrible. However Apple refined the components, which led to numerous slimmed-down laptops and even a brand new class, the ultraportable.

Sadly, Apple didn’t determine an equally iconic strategy to reveal its tremendous slim iPhone. In actual fact, it dropped it in a rigorously ready advertising video, presumably in a bid to point out off how assured it’s with the hardiness of the iPhone Air. Nevertheless it felt like Apple attempting to assuage sturdiness fears in a approach that does not actually work, since this was simply a part of a carefully-manicured advertising promotion.

That’s certainly one of two considerations for thinner telephones: sturdiness. Apple’s iPhone Air has a body comprised of recycled titanium – beforehand an iPhone Professional function. The Air additionally has the corporate’s Ceramic Defend, which Apple says is now 3x extra scratch-resistant than previous variations. It appears like Apple has engineered a telephone much less more likely to get broken. And naturally, the corporate is completely satisfied to supply a super-slim 1mm case for the paranoid amongst us.

The opposite concern is battery life. A slimmer profile in a smartphone means much less house for the battery. Apple claims that the iPhone Air’s inside structure “maximizes house for the battery,” however the firm doesn’t share particular battery capability figures. Regardless, Apple says the iPhone Air will ship “all-day battery life,” which stays massively subjective.

Apple additionally introduced a brand new $99 MagSafe charging pack to make sure the iPhone Air can play again video for as much as 40 hours. However that charging puck appears even thicker than the digicam unit — with the 2 gadgets mixed, that is not a superthin smartphone, it is an iPhone 17 with one digicam. The truth that it exists in any respect ought to give individuals pause concerning the Air’s longevity.

Additionally: that large previous digicam module. Samsung’s S25 Edge has a 5.8mm thick physique, however when you depend the digicam, it is nearer to 10mm. The iPhone Air is thinner than the S25 Edge, at 5.6mm. However the digicam “plateau” provides a major width on prime of that, though Apple hasn’t stated simply how thick it’s. Judging by pictures, it could possibly be nearly twice as thick because the iPhone Air’s physique alone.

In comparison with the MacBook Air, the iPhone Air is unlikely to shake up the world of smartphones. Whereas filled with tech upgrades, there’s nothing revolutionary. For instance, the iPhone Air nonetheless has a USB-C port – early rumors prompt it would ditch all ports for wi-fi connections and charging. That single digicam will most likely take nice pictures, however the utility could also be restricted with out a devoted telephoto lens — some extent I have been emphasizing. Samsung’s S25 Edge tried to handle that with a 200-megapixel digicam, permitting for substantial digital zoom by cropping in.

Regardless of these potential pitfalls, I’m intrigued to see how the iPhone Air fares. I’ve typically returned to Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Edge, merely due to the lighter, slimmer profile. The weaknesses of slimmer smartphones I’ve outlined right here didn’t lead to a foul telephone. Like Sam Rutherford put in his review, the S25 Edge is arguably a greater telephone than the S25+.

Are individuals determined for a thinner smartphone? The $999 iPhone Air is cleverly priced between the bottom iPhone 17 ($799) and the iPhone 17 Professional ($1,099), and the dearth of a plus mannequin simply may push individuals in direction of the Air.

I feel there’s a spot for the iPhone Air. It’s lighter, it’ll slot in pockets higher and it’ll have all of the options of iOS 26 at a time when new performance has shifted from {hardware} to software program. Apple has tried to handle lots of the considerations with superslim telephones, however the true check of battery longevity and sturdiness will include just a few months of use.