Apple just debuted its latest iPhones, and alongside the typical trio – the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max – we met a new member of the family: the iPhone Air.
If our TikTok comments are anything to go by, people hate it.
There are some who question the purpose of the phone, asking: “Who cares if the phone is thin?” Others point out how it seems to solve a problem that doesn’t exist, saying “Never have I ever looked at my phone and thought ‘hmm, I wish it was thinner’”
I’ll talk about why the iPhone Air is a let down in a moment, but before that I want to defend thin phones – even if they aren’t for me.
There are some excellent reasons for this design choice that benefit both the device we have today and the devices we could have in the future.
Starting in the now, the biggest positive I’ve heard of thin phones came from our senior social media editor Viktoria Shilets, after using the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge for a week: “It feels like it’s designed for women.” And she’s not the only person I’ve heard make that comment.
Not in the typical keep-it-the-same-but-color-it-pink-and-charge-more sense, but because the slim design is easier to hold in smaller hands and better suited for slipping into a small pocket.
I can’t speak for this thin phone experience first-hand. Apple nor Samsung have publicly claimed their thin phone is made specifically for women, but either intentionally or not the anecdotal evidence I have suggests the Air and Edge tick a lot of the right boxes design-wise.
I haven’t had a chance to chat with her since the iPhone Air debut, but I remember how enamored Viktoria was with the Galaxy S25 Edge, and she was almost convinced to ditch her longtime iPhone Pro companion – I wouldn’t be surprised if the iPhone Air is the solution she’s been waiting for.
Moving into the future, thin phone tech is essential for two growing categories of smartphone: foldables and dumb phones.
Samsung’s Z Fold 7 used design cues developed by the Galaxy S25 Edge to seriously slim itself down compared to the Z Fold 6. When closed, the Fold 7 is basically indistinguishable from a regular phone – as a user of both the Fold 6 and now Fold 7 I can confirm the trimmed down model is much easier to handle.
As for dumb phones, this trend of less-smart smartphones is picking up steam amongst users who want a way to communicate with folks remotely but not the supercharged distractions and AI mess that smart phones offer.
They’re of particular interest for parents to get for their kids – so a slimmed down yet durable phone would be a better design choice for children compared to something bulkier.
Now Apple makes neither of these yet, but there have long been rumors that an iPhone Fold is on the way, and as interest in dumb phones seems to be steadily expanding I wouldn’t be shocked if Apple came up with dumb phone of its own.
In both cases Apple could use the lessons learned through the iPhone Air and make its versions these devices a better design success.
Now this isn’t a total defence of the iPhone Air – there are some undeniable absurdities to it.
While it does boast the iPhone 17 Pro’s chipset, a larger 6.5-inch display, and some additional ceramic shielding compared to the base model, it’s worse than its sibling in arguably the most essential ways for most phone users – shorter battery life and only a single camera on the back.
This could be excusable based on the phone’s cost, but the iPhone Air is pricier than the iPhone 17.
Amongst our social media comments, it’s easy to find people sharing sentiments like “If it was $200 cheaper than normal iPhone then might make sense.”
This is Apple’s first go at the thin phone trend, and I’m not keen to judge the device too harshly before we test it out for a full review.
But when you compare the Air to Samsung’s S25 Edge, and how both models compare to their base models (the iPhone 17 and Galaxy S25) on paper it does look like Apple is giving us a raw deal.
Hopefully that’ll change with future iterations of the Air, as I think the thin phone space could be more interesting than people are currently giving it credit.
