It’s a tale of two decisions with the iPhone Air, based on early verdicts. Reviewers are swooning over Apple’s bold new thin-and-light design, but they’re at odds as to whether the thinned camera system and average battery life dim the luster.
Consider it the iPhone parallel to the MacBook Air idea that puts a premium on portability, polish, and purposeful slimming down of features.
Through most of the first wave of coverage, critics consistently describe the Air as Apple’s biggest hardware rethink in years. The appeal is instantaneous and tactile; the caveats, while not deal-breakers for many, are tough to look past if you live in your phone’s camera and need multi-day battery life.
Design wins: thin, light, and undeniably premium
Reviewers generally concur that the Air is a triumph of industrial design. WIRED’s Julian Chokkattu notes the engineering leap here: at only about 5.6mm thick and weighing around 165 grams, it beats out the smaller Pro models, which are both around 8.75mm thick and over 200 grams. The thing is, that difference isn’t abstract — it changes how the phone sits in a pocket and feels in the hand.
Engadget’s Sam Rutherford points out the refined curves and finish, how they come together to sell you on a “future-gadget” that you have to hold in your hand.
The chassis is light without feeling rickety, and early tests show that it doesn’t have the creakiness of some ultrathin systems.
Audio and display trade-offs appear in early tests
CNET’s Abrar Al-Heeti notes a surprise: the Air uses just one top speaker instead of the dual speakers we’ve come to expect. The result, according to several reviewers, is a short-and-sweet soundstage for YouTube, TikTok, and games — “fine in a pinch” but not as immersive as stereo setups at this price tier. If you wear earbuds all day anyway, you might not care; maybe you do if your phone is also a mini boombox.
Display quality per se hasn’t come under as much complaint in early write-ups, but a few reviewers feel the media consumption experience woefully lags models with fuller audio hardware.
And it’s a reminder that to shave millimeters sometimes means shaving parts.
Battery life: acceptable for light use, weak for heavy
The Verge’s Allison Johnson says endurance is “fine” for lighter users, especially on Wi‑Fi, but not a strength for heavy users. The most concrete figure comes from PCMag’s Eric Zeman in controlled testing: the Air barely crossed 19 hours, significantly behind any 16 Plus or iPhone 17 model by a few hours — possibly double-digit hours in the case of top-tier iPhones.
According to Gizmodo’s Raymond Wong, normal usage doesn’t set off a 911 alarm — most will make it through a day, though it isn’t redefining longevity. If you’re constantly on 5G, shooting a lot of video, or jumping between apps, the bigger-battery iPhones are still likely your safest bet.
Cameras: one rear lens draws mixed early reactions
The one rear camera — a 48-megapixel lens — is the Air’s most debatable design decision. At 2x, sensor crop kicks in for a zoom view, while you can push up to 10x digitally, with detail that starts to drop off. TechRadar’s Jacob Krol notes Apple relies on sensor crop for a 2x view while pushing all the way up to 10x digitally, where detail falls off. In good light, the primary camera spits out sharp results; at maximum zoom or in trickier scenarios, the constraints become evident.
The Verge’s Allison Johnson notes that rivals such as Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Edge find space to squeeze a second lens on the back, so Apple’s one‑camera choice feels more like a strategic omission than an inevitability. Tom’s Guide’s Mark Spoonauer sounds the theme: losing an ultrawide as well as a dedicated telephoto is going to hurt, even if that primary sensor actually gets it done.
That’s not to say the new selfie camera doesn’t deserve praise for sharper output and helpful computational tricks. For shooters who prioritize social sharing, the front-facing gains help mitigate the rear hardware restraint — but only so much.
The consensus: who the iPhone Air is for
Gather the threads and a pattern comes clear. The “best” takes honor a device that reimagines how an iPhone feels — shockingly thin, light, and meticulously built — with daylong endurance if you’re not pushing it and a main camera that can stand up in regular shots.
The “worst” focuses on the inevitable compromises: mono-style audio that saps both video and music, battery scores that trail Apple’s own siblings by meaningful margins, and a single rear lens that limits creative flexibility. That scrutiny needn’t be a death sentence for the Air; it merely defines it.
If you value comfort, pocketability, and clean design — and you’re fine not having ultrawide or telephoto — the Air has one of the most compelling iPhone silhouettes in years. If battery headroom, stereo speakers, or multi-lens versatility outrank it, the larger and Pro models are still the safer long-term plays. That’s the early-review divide in a nutshell: Apple made something beautiful, and it’s best for people who want beauty on purpose.
