Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

iPhone Air iPhone Air owners; switched from a Pro or Pro Max model?

Coming from 16 Pro. I’ve never liked the Max size - too big and unwieldy for comfortable one-handed usage.

The Air was immediately noticeably wider than what I prefer when I picked it up. However, I think the thinness really helps make it feel different, because I don’t find it uncomfortable at all. Holding it next to my 16 Pro, my mind says “yeah that’s too big”. But then when actually using it… nope, not at all. It’s perfect.

The light weight and thinness… it genuinely blows my mind every single time I pick up my phone. It’s wild.

Also, after using it for a while now, my 16 Pro feels like a heavy, industrial brick of a phone. The Air is truly a game changer.
 
  • Like
  • Love
Reactions: Macbookey, F-Stop, 4sallypat and 1 other person
Coming from 16PM, love the Air, speaker is better than expected, battery is not bad likely will not be able to get through a full day based on the couple of days use so far, but partly my fault I like the screen brightness at max level. Slightly miss the larger screen of the PM. Do miss the .5 telephoto lens, but after all that still going to keep the Air the weight and size is worth the sacrifices for me.
 
  • Like
Reactions: vvvvvv, UnjustifiedBot and Geert76
4sallypat said:
How do I know it's throttling ?

Is there a warning that shows up like my Intel Macs that had the spinning beach ball ?
Click to expand...

Would it really matter if something popped up?

It's not like you'd get rid of the Air if it were chugging a bit and/or showing you a throttling warning, correct?

You are happy with the Air!
Fantastic! Enjoy!

I'm jealous .. I wish they'd made a smaller one so I could join the party.
 
  • Like
Reactions: rui no onna
turbineseaplane said:
Would it really matter if something popped up?

It's not like you'd get rid of the Air if it were chugging a bit and/or showing you a throttling warning, correct?

You are happy with the Air!
Fantastic! Enjoy!

I'm jealous .. I wish they'd made a smaller one so I could join the party.
Click to expand...
Just curious, did you try handling it in person yet? I was convinced I'd be returning it and keeping my 13 mini (as I've done every year since it was released), but after just a short time with it, it's been a seamless transition. Overkill for my usage probably, but it's been amazing.
 
Switched from a 16PM and like everyone else has said, it’s an absolute breath of fresh air. It feels like the phone that iOS 26 was designed for.

The only thing I miss so far is the bottom speaker, but the top speaker is still loud.
 
Air to 17Pro.

I liked a lot of what the Air offered but by the end of the day I didn't not want a wide angle lens and the single speaker quality was lacking for me. The battery and modem seemed pretty good for its size.

Pro Max I'm hesitant to ever get again after 14 Pro Max. Famous last words but it was just such a hunker.

I think there would still be a place for a 17 plus (dual camera, dual speakers, 120hz, but not pro max price or heft), but Apple made it so you downsize, get the Air, or move way up to Pro Max.
I guess the sales just weren't there for them to continue that product line.

I think Air will be on the chopping block after another year or two personally, like the Mini and now the Plus, but slimmed down iPhones will trickle down into the Pro and regular lineups in a few years anyways with Apple modem and SoC efficiency improvements.

We'll see!
 
teh_hunterer said:
15PM. The 15PM genuinely feels old and silly when I pick it up now. Absolutely no way I could go back.

So far battery life seems fine. Battery life sucked on my 15PM anyway, for such a large phone.

The only concern for me is just the lack of a telephoto camera. I never used the Ultra wide as I strongly dislike the distortion, but the lack of zoom is something that worries me a little.

The single speaker, I don't care at all because I use my AirPods all the time anyway. I'd still rather it have two speakers but it doesn't affect me.
Click to expand...

This is very similar to me. I kept my 15PM close by and every time I picked it up after using the Air it felt so weird and almost archaic. Brick like compared to the Air, and this is a phone I adored for the past two years.

The lack of telephoto is biggest drawback for me. And battery life has been a bit of a concern the first couple days, though I shouldn’t judge it just yet.
 
  • Like
Reactions: arc of the universe
StoneJack said:
I don't think there is big difference in GPU scores but ymmv. I don't game on phones or edit videos on them, so I really don't care about phone's GPU.

The iPhone 17 Pro’s A19 Pro with a 6-core GPU revved a multi-core score of 9,746, as we have previously covered, while the iPhone Air’s 5-core A19 Pro chip landed at 9,737. The score sits just slightly below the performance level of the iPhone 17 Pro, which roughly shows an 8 to 10 percent decrease in performance.
wccftech.com

Despite One Less GPU Core, iPhone Air’s A19 Pro Benchmark Performance Nearly Matches iPhone 17 Pro With Only 8–10% Gap

Apple’s A19 Pro chip in iPhone Air features 5-core GPU, compared to 6-core in iPhone 17 Pro, revealing subtle differences.
wccftech.com wccftech.com
Click to expand...
GPU Metal
Pro 45,000
Air 38,000
 
  • Like
Reactions: StoneJack
Geert76 said:
So, iPhone Air owners; did you switched from a Pro or Pro Max (or even a Mini ;) ) model before? How is your transition so far regarding display size and ergonomics?
Click to expand...
Came from a 16 pro and loving it! But you do have to ask if you personally can go with the sacrifices.

I’ve mostly used the regular 1x camera, so going with a single camera is no loss for me.

Never did speakers on my phones, always used AirPods, so the speaker is no factor for me.

Air has the same battery life as the 16 pro, so also no loss compared to what I had before.

The one place I think I will feel it is lidar, as I did use that quite a bit for work when out in the field. Going to test my air on the next few work trips to see how I manage without those sensors.

But ultimately that is what it boils down to. I’ve always gone the pro route for battery mainly, the updates since the 13 pro have been incremental and boring; nothing I personally ever needed.

The air is a form factor and a new experience for me. So that’s what I’m excited for. Sure coming from the pro I’m lacking features, but the question comes to how may features did I actually use vs how much was just overkill.

Those are the questions to ask yourself. What do you actually use, need, and value. The answer can be pretty simple when looking at it from that perspective.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Nikos, teh_hunterer and Geert76
QuarterSwede said:
I think the Air will do well on low performance tasks (which is most to be fair) and absolutely get slaughtered by fast core tasks. Kind of what others are already starting to see.
Click to expand...

Not really. We actually have the phones in hand now and that's not been the case. The Air barely heats up at all, even during sustained performance, and still has a bit better sustained performance than the 15PM.

Better performance and thermals than a 15PM is perfectly acceptable.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: StoneJack and QuarterSwede
Have had a Pro since they were introduced. Coming from a 16 Pro and preordered both the Air and the 17 Pro. i really like the Air. It's a beautiful phone and so light. Really like the larger screen. The 17 Pro just doesn't have a premium look to me this year, and I am tired of the weight of the phone. I am keeping the Air and looking forward to seeing it evolve over the years!!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Geert76
StoneJack said:
you think? do you know about chip and GPU on the phone? it ain't much different from other 17s.

Apple iPhone Air
Apple iPhone 17
Apple iPhone 17 Pro		Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge
Geekbench 6 single-core3,6213,6343,8043,077
Geekbench 6 multicore9,1879,2569,8679,598

https://edition.cnn.com/cnn-underscored/reviews/iphone-air

For comparison, Air is faster than fastest 16 pro

iPhone 16 Pro Max Benchmarks​

CPU Benchmark Scores​

3428
Single-Core Score
8503
Click to expand...
What you’re failing to consider is the vapor chamber on the Pros. Just handled them myself at the Apple store and they’re noticeably cooler than the Air or iPhone 17. Like, “oh, this is definitely the phone I’m getting,” noticeable. That’s going to lead to faster sustained performance which is what makes them quicker overall.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jetcat3 and StoneJack
QuarterSwede said:
What you’re failing to consider is the vapor chamber on the Pros. Just handled them myself at the Apple store and they’re noticeably cooler than the Air or iPhone 17. Like, “oh, this is definitely the phone I’m getting,” noticeable. That’s going to lead to faster sustained performance which is what makes them quicker overall.
Click to expand...

That seems really strange to me that you could feel a difference at the Apple store. What were you doing on these devices at the store that had them running hot?

The Air runs noticeably cooler than my 14PM and 15PM ever did. I'm betting what you noticed is the A19 Pro rather than the vapour chamber. In fact the vapour chamber would make the phone feel hotter in the hand quicker because it's getting the heat away from the chip, into the chassis where your hand can feel it. This just doesn't add up.
 
  • Like
Reactions: UnjustifiedBot
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back