The scuttlebutt around Apple’s latest big event said that something slim was coming. Each yearly iteration of the iPhone range has always had one member that didn’t deliver like the others. The iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 13 mini catered to an audience looking for something less grandiose, but it seemed there weren’t serious numbers interested in buying. Then the iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 15 Plus and iPhone 16 Plus took the opposite route: a regular iPhone, but with a bigger screen.
But perhaps, with the announcement of a new super-slim phone, the company could have a hit on its hands. Even thinner than the Samsung Galaxy Edge, the iPhone Air will be one of the thinnest, lightest phones on the market when it goes on sale at the end of the week.
I was at the Apple keynote in Cupertino, California, where the iPhone Air was introduced. Though I need some more time with the phone before I can offer up a full review, these are my first impressions of the iPhone Air.
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David Phelan is The Independent’s technology critic. Working for the paper since 1997, he specialises in reviewing the best phones. Over the years, David has reviewed every single iPhone model, so he is well placed to preview the iPhone Air.
iPhone Air
Display: 2736px1260px
Brightness: 3,000 nits
Refresh rate: 120Hz
Weight: 165g
Dimensions: 15.62cm x 7.47cm x 0.5cm
Processor: A19 Pro
Storage: 256GB-1TB
Rear camera: 48MP
Selfie camera: 18MP
Water resistance: IP68
The iPhone Air is the newest addition to Apple’s range, a key part of the latest keynote in Cupertino. It is a new departure for the company, and thinner than any other phone the company has ever delivered. While the 5.6mm thickness is a striking statistic on paper, seeing and holding it slightly takes your breath away.
In the hand, it feels so thin that at first you wonder if it will bend as you hold it, though the titanium frame means it should be sturdy. Apple claims to have tested it extensively and says it’s more durable than any previous iPhone. Still, it’s nearly worrying to hold; it’s almost as if Apple has inadvertently left out a major component. It feels ultra-light, as though you’re barely holding anything.
But that anxiety vanishes after a few minutes with the phone. It is astonishingly comfortable in the hand. Put it down and pick up your current phone, and you may never want to go back to a bigger, heavier model.
The camera bump adds to the overall thickness and stretches across the width of the phone, unlike earlier iPhones, which have had a raised panel in just one corner.
Even so, it doesn’t make the phone feel top-heavy, though it does mean that when it’s laid out flat, the display is tilted more towards you than usual. This is handy for texting – if the phone is on the table, it won’t rock if you’re typing with two fingers.
The display measures 6.5 inches, which is bigger than the iPhone 17 (which has itself grown to 6.3 inches compared to the iPhone 16) but smaller than the iPhone 16 Plus (6.7 inches), which was too big for some hands.
The thinness of the phone overall helps to make it a good fit in smaller hands. Slim bezels also help, making this potentially the Goldilocks phone for screen-to-device size ratio.
The camera panel has another function: almost all the electronics in the phone are placed here, so the rest can be devoted to the thin battery, which is needed to power the phone.
The big question is what this will mean for battery life — Apple says it will have all-day life, and deliver 27 hours of video playback. If that’s correct, great, but if it fails early in the day, then all the style in the world won’t make it a good buy.
However, the company also announced a battery pack for the Air (£99, Apple.com), which snaps magnetically to the back of the phone and will give peace of mind for those concerned, though it of course increases the thickness.
The colours of the iPhone 17 Air are different from any other iPhone this year, and there are four to choose from. Three of them are light colours, as suits such a light device. These are cloud white, sky blue and light gold.
I need more time with the phones, but I think light gold is my favourite so far, the best of them, I’d say, with a shiny but classy elegance to it. The fourth option is space black, where the glass back is matte instead of gloss, and almost draws the light into it like a black hole.
In every colour, the thin profile is all you really notice. It’s arguably more beautiful than any other iPhone, and it will certainly attract users who want a stylish phone.
But there are sacrifices to be made: the rear camera looks excellent with its 48-megapixel sensor, but there’s only one of them.
However, like the other new iPhones, the front-facing camera employs an innovative square sensor. You can hold the phone upright, where it sits more securely in your grasp, Apple says, but with one tap of the screen, it converts portrait orientation to landscape without having to turn your phone on its side.
The battery life will also be affected by the processor on board, and this phone has the Apple A19 Pro chip, which is a step up from the iPhone 17. Apple claims this is the most powerful processor in any smartphone. It also has an in-house modem, the brand-new C1X, which Apple claims is double the speed of the C1 released in the iPhone 16e last year.
One thing which may concern users is the absence of a SIM card tray, part of keeping the phone thin. No SIM card has been the case for all iPhones in the US for the last couple of years, which have adopted eSIM instead, but this is the first iPhone that is eSIM-only everywhere, including the UK.
The iPhone Air is available to preorder from Friday 12 September.
Buy now £999.00, Amazon.co.uk
The best iPhone Air contract deals
The cheapest deal I’ve found on the new iPhone Air is with Sky. For £32 per month – and nothing up front – you can nab the new iPhone Air. For a shorter contract and a much bigger data allowance, however, you might be better off with the deal from Mobiles.co.uk.
My first impressions of the iPhone Air
The iPhone Air is priced from £999. That’s £100 more than the iPhone 16 Plus, but it’s hard to compare like with like. The 16 Plus is a reliable iPhone, but an iPhone this thin feels like something else entirely.
While there are elements that need to be tested – I’m especially keen to take a proper look at its battery life – there’s no doubt that this is a head-turning phone. Its success will depend on whether this phone is style over function. But for now, there’s certainly a lot of style to be getting on with.
Interested? Here’s where you can preorder the latest iPhones
