The iPhone Air seems really hard for people to understand. Maybe because it’s priced between the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro, yet is missing features from both? Or maybe a phone is just a tool for you, and you don’t see the point of paying more than a base iPhone 17 for an arguably less capable tool? Or maybe there’s no value to you in making a device thinner and lighter?

There are many reasons why the iPhone Air might not be for you. It’s great that for the first time, Apple is offering options for different types of iPhone users.

I’ve heard and read a lot from people who aren’t or wouldn’t ever choose the Air as their next phone. So I wanted to present the perspective of someone who does see value in what the iPhone Air offers and explain why I’m “downgrading” from my iPhone 15 Pro.

Video Version

Initial Impressions

Before I get to why I chose the Air, let’s talk about some initial impressions after having the phone for about a day.

Pretty much every hands-on with the iPhone Air I’ve read or watched has remarked on how much of a “wow” moment it is to pick one up, and I 1000% agree. I picked up the display model at the Apple Store while I was waiting for mine to be brought out, and there was zero doubt in my mind that I made the right choice. This form factor is impressive.

I don’t love that the screen is bigger than my 6.1-inch iPhone 15 Pro, but having that extra space spreads out the weight and really drives home the slim form factor.

The thickness of the camera plateau is a non-issue (for me at least) because of where you naturally hold the phone. You essentially never come into contact with the thicker part, so you get to enjoy all of the super-thin goodness. Using a device this thin in one hand really does feel like the future, which sounds incredibly cheesy, but its true. For all the crap Apple gets about being obsessed with thinness (the iPhone has actually gotten thicker and heavier more often in the last decade than its gotten thinner), the Air feels undeniably impressive from an engineering perspective. This is another example Apple at its best, just like with the M4 iPad Pro.

It’s obviously too early to know anything about battery life, but as I’ll get to later, I’m not particularly concerned about it. If I need to charge it, I will. And if I do go on an extended trip, I’ll consider investing in the MagSafe Battery Pack, but for now, I think I’ll just use it as is.

The only real concern I’ve had with phone so far is that the area underneath the camera plateau (mostly on the right side) was a bit warmer than I expected at several points. These are still early days and there could still be background syncing and indexing going on. It’s something to keep an eye on and be aware of.

Apple Made It Really Easy Not to Choose a Pro This Year

Every time I upgrade my iPhone, I consider if I finally can drop down from the Pro to the regular iPhone. I’m not really a heavy smartphone user anymore thanks to the iPad, and I know that I’ve been wasting money buying Pro phones. The problem is, I’m still enough of a nerd that I want my phone to be nice, even if it’s not glued to my hand 24/7.

This year, that equation changes in favor of the Air and the base iPhone. The two features that kept me on the Pro, ProMotion and an Always-On Display, are finally standard across most of the lineup, the iPhone 16e being the exception. Just like that, the iPhone 17 Pro becomes significantly less enticing.

Of course, the Pro still has plenty of other benefits:

• The best battery life (for an iPhone)
• Better/more cameras
• Faster USB port
• More/better speakers
• Higher sustained performance

When I look at what I actually use my iPhone, none of those are a factor. At all.

Believe It or Not, Battery Life is Not Always the Biggest Priority

Battery Life

It’s probably hard to believe that someone might not be as obsessed with battery life, but believe me, dear reader, it’s true. Between working from home most days, and being in the office other days, I have ample access to power. Wired CarPlay also helps here too, since it as least helps maintains your current charge.

At the end of the day, plugging in my phone when needed really isn’t a big deal. Then again, I charge everything overnight just because. I don’t stress about battery life or battery health. Life is too short.

Single Camera

The camera may be the biggest hurdle, but only because I make the occasional YouTube video (feel free to subscribe if you’re so inclined 😁). I’ll still have my old iPhone 15 Pro that I’ve been using up to this point for my content. I can continue using it, or finally invest in a standalone camera. I have options here, but it’s not a hurdle.

I also have no small humans whose precious moments I need to capture, so the focus of 95% of my pictures is a pair of wonderful, and slightly mischievous, dogs, and, well, I think the Air is doing just fine here.

Slow USB port

The fact that Apple is shipping a USB 2.0 port on any device in 2025 is an embarrassment. The 11th generation iPad is an even better value with iPadOS, but with a slow USB port, is ability to be expanded is severely hampered.

On an iPhone, I found very little actual use for the USB 3.0 port on my 15 Pro. I would occasionally try use it to more quickly move footage from my phone to my iPad, but since I take a lot of video in Cinematic Mode, the video itself still has be processed before I can move it. By the time that’s done, the wired transfer isn’t really that much faster than using AirDrop. Other than that, the faster port hasn’t really done much for me. I can imagine most people have even less use for the USB port outside or charging.

My point is, I’m not really using the USB port for data transfer, so its a non issue. But it should be faster than USB 2.0, just on principle. Because, again, its 2025, Apple.

Single Speaker

The vast majority of my video watching has moved to either the iPad (with four speakers) or the Vision Pro (with earphones), so this is essentially a non-issue. Even most of my phone calls are taken through an iPad with the nifty new Phone app.

Sustained Performance

Every time I buy I new iPhone, I get taken in by the nice marketing images and videos that Apple creates of people playing these amazing looking games on their phones. I like to think I’m someone who will do that, but I’m ready to accept that I’m not. Games of any real substance are played on console or PC. And right now, there’s not really a better portable gaming experience than the Switch 2.

That being said, for the occasional race on Horizon Chase 2, the Air has more than enough performance for this not to suck, and that’s really all I ask for from my phone (iPad is another story).

My Favorite Apple Product… Is the Apple Ecosystem

As an admitted Apple super-nerd, my favorite thing about being in the Apple ecosystem is the Apple ecosystem itself. It makes it so that my phone doesn’t have to be my end-all, be-all device.

Quite frankly, the 11-inch iPad Pro, specifically, handles the majority of my phone tasks during the workday, with the additional benefit of being pretty good for taking notes during meetings. On days I work from home, my phone generally doesn’t leave the charger in the bedroom (unless I need to test an app).

Apple’s Continuity features are top tier and really do make it as seamless as possible to move between your Apple devices. For me, that means each device can get the tasks for which it is best suited. The iPad can float between being a companion device during the workday to being a full laptop replacement when needed. The Apple Watch handles fitness activities and is probably the best mobile wallet form factor. The Vision Pro… well…. it’s too expensive to be a part of this post, buuuuut one day its going to be a great replacement for a desktop computer.

So what jobs are left for the iPhone? For me it’s things like CarPlay, CarKey, and HomeKey. No device in the ecosystem is as good for GPS navigation as the iPhone. It’s also a pretty good iPod for music and podcasts. Basically, the iPhone is what gets used when I’m between places, or actually outside (which does happen from time to time).

I won’t pretend this isn’t an expensive proposition, but if you’re the right kind of nerd, you probably already have a lot of different Apple devices. I encourage you to consider spreading some of your phone tasks across those. You might be surprised, how good of an iPhone an iPad can be. Especially with iPadOS 26 improving the iPhone app experience on iPad.

Conclusion

I was prepared to write a post about how the iPhone Air was for someone that doesn’t use their phone much, but that kind of does the Air a disservice. With the A19 Pro chip inside and 12 GB of RAM, it’s a very capable machine. The investment in building their own chips continues to pay dividends for Apple. It is the efficiency of Apple Silicon that makes both the battery life of the Pro Max to be so massive on one end, but also enables the iPhone Air to even exist without massive compromises.

The iPhone Air is a phone that covers the basics really really well. It does the things most people use their phones for in an attractive, futuristic form factor. If you know you need more than what the Air offers, there some great Pro models for you this year.

I hope the Air doesn’t end up being a one-off, even if it doesn’t get updated yearly. As a user that does highly value my portable devices being thin and light, its nice that Apple is finally making a phone for someone like me again.