“Be curious, not judgmental.” One of my favorite Lassoism’s from Ted Lasso and a fantastic quote from Walt Whitman. This was the first thing that came to mind when the iPhone Air was announced back in September. It was certainly unique. Thin, light, unique design relative to iPhone and other phone designs in recent memory. That begged the question. Who is this for? What’s the target market? On the surface, I wasn’t sure since the phone seems “less” than the standard iPhone 17 and considerably lacking features when the Pro is concerned. Digging deeper, what I found, was more interesting when you look past spec sheets and dig into what arguably is the most interesting phone in Apple’s current lineup. Let’s dive in and explore the iPhone Air. Through actual use.

Quick Spec Recap

Since there is a million videos and write ups on the Air and its specifications in detail, I figure we will just start out with a quick bullet point list

• Screen: 6.5 inch 120Hz Pro Motion Display 2736×1260 Resolution
• Weight: 5.82 Oz or 165 Grams
• Titanium Build
• A19 Pro
• IP68 Water Resistance
• 48MP Fusion Camera
• Battery: 3149 mah (Estimated)
  

Connected to this phone almost 24/7 over Bluetooth is my Apple Watch and Oura Ring 4. AirPods Pro 3 for Hearing enhancements and calls.

This phone is configured for management from Microsoft Intune and has various apps I run throughout the day. Common apps used throughout this test include Teams, Microsoft Edge, Microsoft Outlook, Safari, Apple Maps, Microsoft Authenticator and Apple Music. There were others, but these are my common apps while traveling.

Story Time

Rather than give you a long winded faux real world battery test, I figured I’d give you a battery and experience test that is more IRL for someone who isn’t a content creator full time.

During this writing I was traveling to Denver for the annual Jamf Nation User Conference. I saw this as a perfect opportunity to see how this phone does during my more demanding weeks. If it can keep up with me during a week long trip, then it’s safe to say that it can hang as my EDC. My biggest point of my test was to stretch this phone to its limits and try to actively avoid the Air battery pack. I always carry a battery pack with me when I had my ProMax but I barely used it. Since that one was part of Anker’s recall, I figured I’d replace it with the Air pack. So its not anything new to my daily carry.

Day 1: Travel Day

I had a little over a 3 hour flight to Denver. At the airport I use all digital tickets for travel, ApplePay where accepted and I have a VPN client that is on basically once I leave home till I return home. When I’m on the plane I typically default to my iPad mini for content consumption, movies, reading etc. When I started my travel day, Battery was at 93%.

Driving to the airport, I used navigation just to simulate driving from the hotel to the airport. I typically use Uber or Lyft when I’m traveling, but the goal of this was to try different scenarios and in some instances I use nav if I’m going somewhere new.

Once I was through check in, I confirmed my gate, had some lunch and continued to write this review, answer some Teams messages and calls, respond to emails and use my phone Hotspot with my 14 inch MBP before boarding.

Getting on the plane and turning on Airplane mode, my battery was at: 46%.

Once I landed, battery was about 39% as I started my march through the airport to collect my baggage, head out to the Uber pickup zone and travelled to the hotel. By the end of the night, a few phone calls, check my email and ended my day. Had I needed to go to a long dinner, I’m not sure it would have made it without my battery pack, but in fairness, with the iPhone 16 Pro Max, I ended my days somewhere around 19% for similar travel experiences.

Screen Active: 5 Hours 8 Minutes

Screen Idle Time: 17 Hours 9 Minutes.

Starting Battery: 97%

Ending Battery: 7%

Day 2: Conference, Meetings, and photos oh my!

Started my day at 4am. Took the Air off the charger a little after 5. Made a couple phone calls, checked Teams, checked Email, and connected my MacBook Pro to the Air hotspot to do a little work. At 6, I made my way downstairs to check for breakfast and get in line for my registration and conference swag pickup. As I headed over to the conference, it seemed like a perfect opportunity to test some low light photos. I thought these turned out great and was overly happy. All photos are unedited.

The entire day was filled with Teams calls, conference map references, emails, texting, calling, and photos. I had a 2 hour meeting so my hotspot was on full blast for close to 4 hours.

Post the meeting, we were heading to dinner and my iPhone Air was at around 12%. By the time I got back to the room and got ready, we were in single digits. I slapped my iPhone Air battery pack to the phone and out the door I went.

About an 45 minutes later, my phone was at around 35% but stalled. I was met with a notice I’ve never received on any iPhone “Charging on hold. Charging will resume when the temperature of the iPhone returns to normal.”

This was quite concerning so I left the phone on the table and it started to charge. Put it back in my pocket and at 40% it happened again. I know what you’re thinking, just leave the phone on the table so it charges. I don’t like doing that regardless of where I travel to because a phone sitting on the table is an open target. I reluctantly did it anyway because I wanted to see where the phone ended on the day.

The Air battery pack finally gave out when the iPhone Air was at 59%. After a walk back to the hotel and wrapping up the day, the Air was placed on a charger with around 57% battery remaining. The screen active time was pretty disappointing during this test as you can see below.

Screen Active: 3 Hours 39 Minutes

Starting Battery: 100%

Ending Battery: 9% with no battery pack, then 55% with battery pack.

Day 3. Conference Sessions and an After Party

Today was expected to be a full day. Lots of sessions at my conference, work, email, and eventually the JNUC after party.

I was spot on with the heavy day. This was the most taxing day traveling with the iPhone Air. By noon we were tracking at about 38%. I had a few Teams calls with work before I headed back to my last session at 4pm. At that time the battery power was at 14% and we had a short get together to take photos of our team afterwards. I decided in this instance to turn on Low power mode. After photos and heading back to the hotel to get ready for the evening, we were at 7% battery.

This was clearly a day where the Air’s battery was not going to make it through an entire day for me. So on the charger it went.

I charged the phone to about 60% before heading out. Uber to the party. For the next few hours, it was texting, teams messages locating colleagues and lots of photos and videos. The best part about this phone was that it didn’t feel like it was in the way at all. It felt almost hidden away in my pocket. Allowing me to be engaged in meaningful conversations and be comfortable in my pocket. Even with a case the phone was practically invisible. Walking back to the hotel from the party afterwards was about mile and I never noticed the Air in my pocket either. I got back to the room, placed it on the charger with about 31% battery remaining from the evening.

Screen Active: 5 Hours 28 Minutes Charge 1. About 1. 25 hours on Charge 2

Starting Battery: 100%

Ending Battery: 7% with no battery pack/charge, then 31% with a charge boost.

Final Thoughts

The iPhone 17 series is absolutely the most stand out iPhone lineup Apple has released in years. This is evident in their decisions around the base iPhone 17 getting many requested Pro features, the Pro series being freed up to be even more Pro, and the Air showing off Apple’s engineering prowess. Everywhere I went, if someone saw the Air, they’d have questions, and want to hold it. Every time, and I mean EVERY TIME someone holds it for the first time, the ‘wow” expression of surprise was real.

Across the internet, there have been plenty of comments about 4 areas where reviewers thought the iPhone Air was deficient.

1. The Speaker
2. The Battery
3. The Camera
4. The Durability

I’m going to jump around a little bit in this list, so we’ll start with the Durability. This phone is plenty durable. Look at some of the durability tests and you’ll see exactly what I mean. I have no question this phone will last even some of the more grueling users and it’s the first iPhone, I’d consider going caseless with only a screen protector. Its solid. You should have no concerns about the longevity of the physical hardware of this phone. Its amazing.

The speaker is a mono speaker. Mono = single. So don’t expect it to be extremely loud like the Pro’s or any generation where the phone has more than one speaker. It’s fine for my use but if you are hard of hearing, it may not be loud enough for you. If you use the plateau as a holder for the phone, your hand will almost certainly get in the way, further muffling it. Honestly though, I’ve rarely had an issue with the speaker and I would place this in a neutral category. Fine for most people, a little light for others.

The camera quality is completely fine for its use. Are there times I wish I had more flexibility with it? Certainly. If I had a vote on the Apple Design team, on the next version I would ask for a telephoto. It’s easier to get a wider shot by moving around but telephoto is much more difficult to overcome. The digital zoom produces acceptable results and I don’t mind them for the most part because I’m not blowing them up on a 24×36 inch canvas. The fusion camera takes pretty great photos overall though and I’m happy with them. Honestly, the camera is great overall. Its not trying to be the Pro. Its trying to be itself. a Great all around shooter, with decent really good 2x zoom and decent digital zoom. If you need Pro camera features, then this isn’t the phone for you. Honestly though, how many people “REQUIRE” Pro features. Not many in my opinion.

The battery.. This is the one that’s killing me. For around town, around the house day to day, it’s just fine. I have no qualms about ending the day with 10-12% remaining. But when I travel, I ratchet up the work considerably and this battery will not survive me. I have international trips planned next year which will further tax this phone in a way I just don’t think it’s designed to be used. YES it has a battery pack. YES the battery pack gives me more “on the go” time, but, in those instances when the battery pack gets hot it slows charging and now I have something else I need to charge nightly while traveling which also means another cable I have to bring with me. That is a “Me” problem. There is better battery technology available for the Air like Silicon Carbon based batteries, but those are more expensive to manufacture and would have probably pushed the Air into Pro money territory making its first generation more difficult to justify when you can have a Pro for equal price. That said, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Air is the first to get this type of battery but only Apple and their engineers know when/if that will happen.

Overall I think the Air is almost the right balance of Form and Function. Held back for me only by battery for more grueling expeditions. If you are coming from an iPhone 12/13/14/15 series phone and are already used to their battery then the Air will be a huge step in the right direction for you. If you’re coming from a Pro Max model however, the battery may be a reason to wait until the next version is released. I think battery life of the Air may be improved by future updates and so I think its a phone I plan to keep around and revisit once its had time to marinate with some iOS updates. I love this phone and would prefer it to the Pro in my use case if I could get a little more omph out of the battery without the need for the battery pack on a more frequent basis when I travel. At home, back and forth for my day to day life though, never once had a single solitary issue with the Air. It would totally survive family gatherings, holiday parties, outings, etc.

What did you think of the iPhone Air?