The iPhone Air is a stunning design experiment and achievment, but the iPhone 17 simply sounds too good to ignore.
Apple’s September 2025 event brought a major shift into the company’s iPhone lineup. Instead of a Plus model, Apple unveiled the highly anticipated iPhone Air — the thinnest and lightest iPhone ever made. Alongside it, we also saw what’s arguably the best deal for the year and the best value iPhone ever — the iPhone 17.
Both sit below the Pro models in the lineup, but they clearly target very different audiences. The iPhone Air is about design and portability above all else, aimed at those who want to try something new. The iPhone 17 is the mainstream and safe option that balances features, performance, and battery life.
So what do you lose, and what do you gain if you decide to go on a limb and buy the iPhone Air for $200 more?
iPhone Air vs iPhone 17 differences:
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The iPhone Air is Apple’s slimmest and lightest iPhone ever, measuring just 5.6mm thick and weighing 156 grams. It uses a titanium frame with Ceramic Shield glass on both the front and back, which Apple says is its most durable combination yet.
Despite its ultra-thin body, though, the Air still manages to include the familiar Action Button for customizable shortcuts, and even the infamous Camera Control Button.
Apple has also designed a special low-profile MagSafe Battery Pack accessory just for the Air to extend its battery life further.
The iPhone 17, on the other hand, is more conventional, with a 7.95mm aluminum-and-glass build and a weight of 177 grams. Like the Air, it uses the new Ceramic Shield 2 on the front, which Apple claims is three times more scratch resistant than before, but on the back it sticks to reinforced glass rather instead.
Apple offers both phones in multiple fresh finishes: the iPhone Air colors come in Space Black, Cloud White, Light Gold, and Sky Blue, while the iPhone 17 colors are Black, Lavender, Mist Blue, Sage, and White.
Display Differences
The iPhone Air and iPhone 17 both introduce major upgrades compared to earlier base iPhones.
The iPhone Air comes with a larger 6.5-inch Super Retina XDR display vs the 17’s 6.3-inch panel. Both, however, are ProMotion with an adaptive refresh rate of 1-120Hz, which enables the Always-On Display feature, a first for a non-Pro iPhone. Apple also quotes a 3,000-nit peak outdoor brightness and twice the outdoor contrast compared to previous models.
The iPhone Air gets the A19 Pro chip, the same powerhouse that drives the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max.
