There’s very little to distinguish the best phones in 2026. Beyond their individual software quirks and marginally different approaches to AI, today’s flagships are similarly powerful, similarly long-lasting, and clad in a similar-looking polished metal of the sort preferred by Phineas T. Ratchet in Robots.
This equilibrium proves just how far smartphones have come since the days of lofty antennas and physical keypads, but it’s also put the industry in an exceptionally boring place (you’ll remember that Ratchet is the bad guy in Robots — his catchphrase, “Why be you, when you can be new?”, is meant to echo the unoriginality in his polish. Ok, enough about Robots…).
Article continues below
Let’s start with the good. The USP of the iPhone Air — among other iPhones at least — is its improbably thin size. Measuring 5.64mm at its thinnest point, the iPhone Air is 31% smaller than the iPhone 17 Pro and some 41g lighter, despite boasting a larger 6.5-inch display. All of its core components are housed in the beautifully crafted ‘Camera Plateau’ on its rear panel, and Apple somehow makes room for the Action button, Camera Control, and its flawless Face ID system elsewhere, too.
Design-wise, the iPhone Air is a marvel, and I’ve never had so many people compliment and query my phone as I have in recent months (interestingly, on two separate occasions, people have mistaken my white iPhone Air for a Google Pixel). I’m lucky enough to test new phones all year round, but from the moment I unboxed the Air, it gave me that pang of excitement that once came with any Apple product purchase, and I’ve continued to experience genuine moments of joy just by holding this wafer-thin block of titanium and glass.
It feels silly to write about a phone in such hyperbolic terms, but the Air reminded me that there can still be value in beautiful, boundary-pushing design. We got a lot of flak for awarding the iPhone Air our Phone of the Year award in 2025, but that title felt apt when Apple’s latest creation ignited so much debate among consumers and journalists alike (the big question: is good design enough to warrant a high price tag?).
The phone’s A19 Pro chipset, too, is plenty powerful, and as good as anything you’ll find in other iPhones or Android phones, while its single 48MP Fusion camera is a capable shooter, offering impressive dynamic range and excellent low-light performance.
Image 1 of 6
But therein lies the first thorn in the iPhone Air’s side. It costs $999 / £999 / AU$1,799, but it’s saddled with the same rear camera hardware as the iPhone 17e, which costs $599 / £599 / AU$999 — almost half the price. Admittedly, I do think the iPhone Air is twice the phone — you get a larger, 120Hz display, a more powerful chipset, extra buttons, the Dynamic Island, and, most importantly, that svelte design. But having to settle for an entry-level camera system is a tough pill to swallow if you’re used to owning an ultra-wide lens (as you do get on the cheaper base iPhone), and extra tough if you’re used to the Pro’s ultra-wide and telephoto combo.
Still, for me, the weightlessness of the iPhone Air is worth the camera trade-off. I’ve found Apple’s 48MP Fusion camera to be an acceptable option in 80% of situations, and while I would love a dedicated telephoto lens, it’s not a deal breaker in my personal use case.
The more pressing concern is battery life. Apple claims you’ll get “all-day” endurance from the iPhone Air, and I’ve found that to be true… some of the time. As our in-depth testing showed, Apple’s super slim phone can indeed run for around 24 hours if you’re only streaming video, but web browsing over 5G knocks that figure down significantly.
I absolutely have to put my iPhone Air on charge before I go to bed every evening. Now, admittedly, I would usually do that with any other phone as a matter of routine, but almost all phones that cost upwards of $999 / £999 / AU$1,799 would last you well into the next day if you forgot to charge them overnight. And that’s just not true of the iPhone Air.
To be clear: the iPhone Air’s battery life isn’t outright terrible. But it is worse than the iPhone 17 Pro’s, iPhone 17’s, and even the iPhone 17e’s, and it becomes a problem if you find yourself enjoying/enduring a particularly scroll-heavy day on social media.
I came to the iPhone Air from an iPhone 17 Pro (and the iPhone 16 Pro before that), and battery life is the single biggest difference between these two types of iPhone. I can live without the Pro’s telephoto lens, but the occasional bouts of battery anxiety caused by the iPhone Air are harder for me to stomach.
And yet, the iPhone Air makes me feel… something. It looks and feels gorgeous — and, crucially, it looks and feels new. Every phone reviewer has the phrase “style over substance” in their back pocket, but I’m reluctant to apply it to Apple’s latest design venture. There is substance in its style.
My colleague, Phil, echoed this sentiment in a separate piece last year: “Does wanting the iPhone Air seem shameful? After years of complaining about the shortcomings of smartphones, Apple’s new iPhone takes all of those complaints and throws them right back in my face. It dares me to desire its svelte form.
“The iPhone Air lacks everything that I’d tell you I want in a new phone,” he continued, “except for the one thing I want most of all. I want a new phone to feel new. I want an entirely new experience, not just a step up from last year’s model.”
That’s exactly how I feel about the iPhone Air. It’s objectively worse than the iPhone 17 Pro and maybe even the base iPhone 17, but I just can’t seem to tear myself away from it. This is the most conflicted I’ve ever been about a phone, and I’m grateful that an Apple product has made me feel again.
Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!
And of course you can also follow TechRadar on TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form, and get regular updates from us on WhatsApp too.
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/3iHe4P4D2nk7KHaQCMPhLX-2560-80.jpg
Source link
axel.metz@futurenet.com (Axel Metz)
