Apple’s iPhone Air won’t win spec wars, but it proves elegance and simplicity can still be a feature. Here’s why I’m considering it.
When Apple announced the iPhone Air, most people saw compromises. Thinner means less battery. A single camera instead of the multi-camera Pro kit we’re all used to. A phone that, without a doubt, looks more like a fashion statement than a power user’s dream. But when I saw it, I saw something I don’t usually feel with new phones anymore. A minimalist phone that serves my essential needs and nothing more. As a millennial with Gen Z tendencies, it’s pretty clear that I’m the audience for this phone.
Every September, iPhones get bigger, heavier, and more stuffed with specs. It’s the progression of tech, and by and large, people value a phone by its hardware-to-dollar quotient. But with the iPhone Air, Apple has gone in the opposite direction. The phone is built impossibly slim, almost delicate, like a product designed as much as the set piece of a fashion-forward futuristic movie as for the Apple Store. It reminds me of the first-generation iPod nano. I scoffed at it when it launched. Then got my hands on it. It quickly became my favorite EDC kit. And that’s exactly why I didn’t scoff at the iPhone Air. Hindsight is 20/20.Thinness can be a feature, not a flaw
At 5.6 millimeters and 165 grams, the iPhone Air feels less like a slab of tech and more like a piece of jewelry. Say what you will, Apple knows how to make a good-looking, and more importantly, great-feeling phone. I might stick to my Pixels and Vivos, but it’s the iPhone that feels truly premium. Pick it up and you don’t think of processor specs or megapixels. If it’s anything like the other ultra-light phones I’ve tried, it should feel like I’m carrying nothing at all. It’s an unpopular opinion, but for me that’s worth more than another 10% of battery or another camera lens. I’m tired of phones that weigh down my pockets and my bag. Even my compact Pixel 10 Pro feels too chunky in that sense. The Air is a reminder that a phone doesn’t have to be a brick to be powerful. Sometimes elegance is the feature.
Of course, thinness means trade-offs. Less room for battery, less space for thermal management tricks like vapour chambers. But, for me, that’s not a major concern. For one, I’m already used to dicey thermals with the Pixels. And, I’m not much of a smartphone gamer to stress the phone anyway. Moreover, Apple says the Air can manage 27 hours of video playback, which translates into a solid day of use.
