The long-anticipated iPhone Air is no longer the stuff of tech myths and rumors. During a landslide of new Apple gear announced during the September 09 event, Apple unveiled its thinnest iPhone yet. The Apple iPhone Air is just 5.6mm thick and packs in the same new A19 Pro Apple Silicon as the iPhone 17 Pro. The camera on the new iPhone Air, however, is another story.
Where Apple’s Pro series packs in three cameras on the rear, the iPhone Air tries to pack more features into a single rear camera. While the specs list just the one rear camera, Apple says the camera still has the capabilities of four different lenses. That’s thanks to a 2x optical zoom and the option for 48MP or 24MP photos.
Apple says the standard main lens has options for the look of a 28mm and 35mm equivalent focal length, with an “optical quality 2X Telephoto” built into that same camera. Like the three-lens array on the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max, the iPhone Air’s single camera has a 24MP default and a 48MP high-resolution mode. The 48MP Fusion camera also still manages to include sensor shift optical stabilization.
While Apple has managed to get a 2x zoom without multiple camera sensors on the rear of the iPhone Air, there’s only so much the tech giant was able to cram into something 5.6mm thin. The feature list for the iPhone Air doesn’t list the .5x zoom of the iPhone 17, nor does it list macro photography capabilities.
Despite having only a single lens, however, Apple says the iPhone Air still supports portrait mode with focus and depth control, a popular feature for creating more background blur from a smaller smartphone sensor. The thinner iPhone also still has an action button and Camera Control.
For video, the iPhone Air offers 4K Dolby Vision at up to 60fps, and an action mode for 2.8K at 60fps. While the still photos keep portrait mode intact, cinematic mode for more background blur in footage is not among the list of iPhone Air features.
Like the rest of the full iPhone 17 series lineup, the iPhone Air uses what Apple is calling a Center Stage front camera, a square sensor that allows users to snap vertical and horizontal selfies without changing the orientation of the phone itself. That front-camera capability can also help keep users centered in the frame on FaceTime calls.
Despite the thinner design, the iPhone Air still advertises a battery life that allows for up to 27 hours of video playback – a slight decline from the iPhone 17’s up to 30-hour specification.
The iPhone Air is a uniquely positioned smartphone that offers the same processor as in the Pro models, but without the three-camera array and inside a far thinner design. The iPhone Air is priced above the base model iPhone 17, but below the iPhone 17 Pro, starting at $999 / £999 / AU$1,799. Preorders open on September 12, with the first models shipping on September 19.
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