iPhone Air iPhone Air First Impressions Mega-Thread [MERGED]

[Webcat86]

My 16 pro is still 100% 10 months old

What’s the cycle count? Mine is 1 year old to the month, since first use. 94% with a cycle count of 326

 

[daneoni]

I’ve only just gone and scratched the side of my phone by putting a sandpaper in the wrong pocket. Haven’t done so in years… what are the chances lol

Ps: before you ask why do I carry a sandpaper with me, I work for a furniture company. So it’s pretty mush essential.

View attachment 2557259View attachment 2557258

You could just...sand the rest of the frame for unity...

 

[Meedoss]

Ps: before you ask why do I carry a sandpaper with me, I work for a furniture company. So it’s pretty mush essential.

No case in that job? Time to make air a pro max lol

 

[Meedoss]

What’s the cycle count? Mine is 1 year old to the month, since first use. 94% with a cycle count of 326

134

 

[Webcat86]

How are people finding the Air getting hot? I’m updating apps using data instead of WiFi (part of my battery test) and the top area is pretty warm. It isn’t slowing down the performance though.

Edit to add: doing the same on my 16 Pro currently and it’s also warm, so maybe we get hyper observant about the Air unfairly.

 

[UnjustifiedBot]

So my initial impression is - it feels almost comical how light it is. it's also so thin that it almost feels like there's nothing there but a screen. I will provide more feedback once I use it a while.

 

[MaxVerstappen]

No case in that job? Time to make air a pro max lol

No. I like to use my phones caseless. And I will continue to do so. I can’t stand the screen protectors or the cases. Not for me

 

[Webcat86]

No. I like to use my phones caseless. And I will continue to do so. I can’t stand the screen protectors or the cases. Not for me

Do the phones ever get any level of damage? I use cases partly so Apple gives me no trouble when I get a trade in value

 

[MaxVerstappen]

Do the phones ever get any level of damage? I use cases partly so Apple gives me no trouble when I get a trade in value

Hairline scratches are pretty common of course. I did manage to smash the back glass on my 14 Pro by accidentally dropping it on the footpath. It was only a pocket height drop as well, I think it depends how it lands. Dropped my 15 Pro a few times, no real damage to speak of.

But if your question was more related to my work environment then no apart from the MDF dust getting into the speaker and charging port. Normally I use the airline every month or so to blast it clean.

 

[Meedoss]

No. I like to use my phones caseless. And I will continue to do so. I can’t stand the screen protectors or the cases. Not for me

enjoy your scratches then

 

[MaxVerstappen]

enjoy your scratches then

Will do. Thank you

 

[Mikeeee]

Posting here since I don't know where else to gather inputs - picked up the iPhone Air on Saturday. No issues until Monday, when it started to randomly restart itself multiple times in the AM. Stopped by late morning. Called Apple Support and they ran a diagnostic virtually and said everything was fine. It continued to restart. One time the wifi took awhile to turn back on (greyed out in Settings), another time the haptic was off and it kept showing that it was charging (even though I took it off the charger).

Went to the Apple store and they said there was a motherboard issue. Swapped for a new one. Well, the replacement just did a random restart. I've gotten two 'defective' (most likely) devices, I assume this is a more widespread issue than just me hitting back to back lemons. Anyone else?

What you are doing here is called thread hijacking. Start a new thread.

 

[ProbablyDylan]

How are people finding the Air getting hot? I’m updating apps using data instead of WiFi (part of my battery test) and the top area is pretty warm. It isn’t slowing down the performance though.

Edit to add: doing the same on my 16 Pro currently and it’s also warm, so maybe we get hyper observant about the Air unfairly.

Poor thermals was probably my biggest issue with the 16 Pro (aside from size). Warming up while downloading a few apps means it'll ratchet down the brightness if I dare to use it outdoors in our beautiful 80-degree weather.

I know the weather in the Bay Area is usually nice and cool, but Tim needs to remember warmer climates exist.

 

[mlayer]

Poor thermals was probably my biggest issue with the 16 Pro (aside from size). Warming up while downloading a few apps means it'll ratchet down the brightness if I dare to use it outdoors in our beautiful 80-degree weather.

I know the weather in the Bay Area is usually nice and cool, but Tim needs to remember warmer climates exist.

I moved from the Bay Area to Phoenix ten years ago. I know heat all too well. The only time my Air got uncomfortably warm or hot was during the initial setup at the Apple Store. It hasn't happened since and the days outside are still in the high 90's-100's. I'm actually more surprised that I haven't gotten any overheating notices or shutdowns because of temperature. That was a key problem with the 15 Pro. One thing people aren't picking up on is the simple fact that because the phone is so thin it has a pretty large surface area to radiate heat out of itself, and less volume for heat to build up inside. I expected the titanium rails to be really hot like the 15 Pro and by feel they haven't approached the old phone. It's truly remarkable.

 

[ProbablyDylan]

I moved from the Bay Area to Phoenix ten years ago. I know heat all too well. The only time my Air got uncomfortably warm or hot was during the initial setup at the Apple Store. It hasn't happened since and the days outside are still in the high 90's-100's. I'm actually more surprised that I haven't gotten any overheating notices or shutdowns because of temperature. That was a key problem with the 15 Pro. One thing people aren't picking up on is the simple fact that because the phone is so thin it has a pretty large surface area to radiate heat out of itself, and less volume for heat to build up inside. I expected the titanium rails to be really hot like the 15 Pro and by feel they haven't approached the old phone. It's truly remarkable.

Thanks for responding with your experience! I guess I'll just look into this topic in a few weeks' time when more people have talked about it and there's a general consensus to be reached.

 

[Astrohunter]

So? Even in sustained stress tests the Air outperforms the chonky 15 Pro Max. I'd say that's perfectly acceptable for what is an extremely thin an light phone where even 99% of people who run 3D Mark stress tests never run anything on their phone remotely as demanding after they've done their ritual of staring at benchmarks.

Meanwhile you have that guy running back and forth between his fridge calling the phone a "complete flop" because of a wildlife extreme stress test result. What an absolute out of touch bozo.

It's obvious that most people owning those expensive phones use them to take photos of cats and watch carcinogenic TikTok videos.

My only point was that it has a better CPU on paper but worse results, that's all.
But I haven't watched that many benchmarks, so perhaps I'm wrong.

 

[Astrohunter]

I'm not a camera expert - my understanding was based on the comments from the below reddit post.

"The larger the sensor, the further the focus distance. Your iPhone 12 has a smaller sensor, hence why it can focus closer."

Regardless of the reason, that post is exactly what I'm talking about. The main camera on my 15 Pro is not able to focus as close as past devices. I'm just curious if the Air has the same limitation, because without an ultrawide to compensate, that would be a big deal.

https://www.reddit.com/r/iphone/comments/1cc7jad/my_15_pro_does_not_focus_at_1x_closeups_at_all

Not an expert either.

Per AI:

It is true that sensor size itself does not directly affect the optical focus distance of a camera lens. The minimum focus distance is primarily determined by the lens design and optics, not the sensor size. The sensor size does not physically change the lens’s ability to focus on a subject at a certain close range.
However, the explanation given in the Reddit comment refers to the practical effect seen when comparing cameras with different sensor sizes but aiming for similar fields of view or image framing. A smaller sensor generally requires a shorter focal length lens to achieve the same field of view as a larger sensor, and shorter focal lengths typically allow closer focusing distances. This can make a smaller sensor camera (like an iPhone) appear to focus closer compared to larger sensor cameras that use lenses with longer focal lengths.
In summary:
• The physical minimum focus distance depends on the lens, not the sensor.
• Smaller sensors paired with shorter focal length lenses often have closer focus capabilities.
• Larger sensors may use lenses with longer focal lengths, increasing minimum focus distance.
• The sensor only captures the image; it does not control focusing distance directly.

 

[gyang333]

What you are doing here is called thread hijacking. Start a new thread.

I mean... it's literally a first impression and I'm asking if any one else is having the same first impression but that's good feedback I guess.

 

[Thats_Not_Marcus]

Got my air around 630pm est this evening. Some initial thoughts...

- The sky blue its beautiful. I really am a fan of the color
- the phone is thinner that I thought and its impressive.
- the lightness of the phone is incredible. It feels like im not really holding anything.
- the design of it all is fantastic.
- camera control is interesting, its my first time having it so im intrigued.


The bad -
- The one speaker really took for for a ride but I think I'll get use to it. I didnt think it would bother me, but it does for now.


The Meh -
the camera. its weird not having many options for the camera coming from the 15PM but honestly I never used them so it isnt a deal breaker.

 

[mofoliar]

just picked up iphone air, pretty nice and love the light weight

 

[gmanjeff]

I’ve always used my phones caseless… it’s one of them stupid things I suppose that can happen. I always put the sandpaper in my back pocket but this time for some unknown silly reason I decided to put it into the side pocket where my Air was. 🙄

At least now we know it isn’t sandpaper resistant lol.

Here’s the culprit lol: View attachment 2557267

You got grit, but the iPhone Air... it does not.

 

[NauticalDan]

Well, I think it’s worthwhile to point out for people that Apple are basically lying about the battery life on the Air. Suggesting it’s on par with the 16 Pro is simply not true.

In my experience the Air’s battery life was comparable to my two year old iPhone 15 with 89% battery health.

They aren’t lying, but it depends on how you use the phone. If you’re doing benchmarks, 4K recording, or other intensive tasks, it’s going to burn through the battery pretty fast though.

Mrwhosetheboss test seems to be an anomaly compared to every other battery test I’ve seen so I would take his results with some salt. For one he seems to test phones without any cell network which isn’t really real world usage.

His battery test burned through the last 1/3 of iPhone Air battery with 4K video recording. If doing a lot of 4K video recording, gaming, or other intensive tasks, the Pro is for sure the better bet.

The iPhone Air has comparable battery life to other phones for “normal” tasks (video playback, audio playback, web browsing, phone calls, texting, etc.). It’s not going to be comparable on tasks that require a lot of processing power and will deplete the smaller battery much quicker than a phone with a larger battery. For 4K video recording, or something else that is a power hog, the iPhone 17 Pro Max could last almost twice as long as the iPhone Air.

 

[Mikeeee]

I mean... it's literally a first impression and I'm asking if any one else is having the same first impression but that's good feedback I guess.

Sorry you are right. I didn’t finish the paragraph and spoke to soon. 😕

 

[Brettka7]

I know I’m not the best photographer in the world, but I swear my iPhone Air main lens is capable of things in low light that my 12PM, 14PM, and 16PM just couldn’t do. These 3 are all completely unedited other than straightening and cropping a bit. I just can’t believe how well it handles everything with a single lens.

 

[kerrikins]

I agree the Pro phones do include weight compromises, and a higher price.

But that’s where I think the regular 17 is the most compelling option. $200 cheaper than the Air, and weight that is nearly identical. Then you gain another camera, another speaker, more battery life, etc.

There's not a lot of reasons to choose the Air over the 17 other than for aesthetics and feel. The 17 is the best value this year by a long shot. That being said, the Air is still worth it to me. It's refreshing and exciting every time I pick it up. Maybe the novelty will eventually wear off, but hopefully by then we'll have the Air 2 with less compromises 😄

I'm surprised by how few people on here ever mention the screen size when talking about the Air vs the 17. Maybe it's because I'm coming from the 16 Plus, but the screen size was definitely a factor for me when picking the Air. Plus it's a joy to hold - so slim and light

I'm definitely going to need the Magsafe battery but I think I'm settling on keeping this rather than switching to one of the others. I just don't think I can stomach going back to the Plus or the weight of the Pro Max and I can't stomach going down in screen size to the 17 or the Pro, either.