Not long after the thin and light iPhone Air was launched in September, we crowned it the Phone of the Year for 2025 — not because it was the best phone ever, but because it was the most talked about handset at the time (and, arguably, I think it’s still the case today).
True enough, we’ve run a slew of stories on the iPhone Air that either heaped praise or criticised the phone to varying degrees — our full iPhone Air review called it “a new kind of Pro” handset, another of my colleagues called it “baffling”, while a third said they were conflicted about it (after using it for six months).
One major sticking point of the iPhone Air across our coverage was its steep AU$1,799 RRP relative to the specs, as it’s meant to replace the previous iPhone Plus models. My colleagues’ concerns were centred around the single camera lens and small 3,149 mAh battery.
How thin and light is the iPhone Air exactly? It measures just 5.64mm, which is a far cry from the iPhone 17’s 8mm thickness and the 17 Pro’s 8.8mm. Even the budget iPhone 17e is still much thicker at a substantial 7.88mm. It also weighs 165g, much lighter than the iPhone 17’s 177g and the Pro’s 206g.
Does its size affect its performance is the real question here.
As mentioned earlier, the iPhone Air is powered by the Apple A19 Pro chipset that’s similar to the processors of the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max, with benchmarks scoring better than the base iPhone 17. And given it’s now cheaper than the latter, surely that’s a no-brainer.
My favourite iPhone Air spec is its titanium chassis, similar to my iPhone 16 Pro Max, which can be an attractive option if you’re not a fan of the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max reverting back to aluminium.
Like my colleagues, I have reservations about the iPhone Air’s single camera setup, as I do like having the flexibility of having at least a second ultrawide lens (and a telephoto is always handy). If you’re not too fussed about cameras, the iPhone Air still has a solid enough 48MP shooter to take the odd photo here and there.
If you’ve been itching to get your hands on the thin and light iPhone Air but have been put off by the steep RRP, then don’t let this opportunity pass you by.
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nico.arboleda@futurenet.com (Nico Arboleda)
