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iPhone 17 Pro Pro vs Air Decision
- Thread starter techspin
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- iphone 17 pro iphone air
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The #1 thing you could say that's slightly bugging me is the 1 camera thing. Albeit, I haven't taken half as many photos as I usually do (and my job situation / life isn't going to change much in the next year) - but if there is something I'm going to miss, it's the cameras.
But the more I think about it, the daily advantage of having something that isn't a brick in my pocket, and something I enjoy to hold and read long non-fiction history books on is a tradeoff I think I'm willing to make at the moment.
Absolutely loving this phone - walking around - not feeling it in my pocket, and holding something that I ACTUALLY want to hold and use.
It seems Air owners here fall into one of two camps. Everyone loves it for the form factor, screen size, and design. One group recognizes the compromises made with the speaker and cameras to have this design.
The other group is an interesting animal that believes the phone is perfect. One smaller speaker is just as good as two. You don’t need stereo sound, you’re just not cupping the phone correctly. Telephoto and ultra wide cameras are superfluous. Who needs 8x zoom when you can just hike 100 miles to get the same photo of that mountain range. Tell the football team to freeze in place while you walk on the field to get that perfect shot lol. Ultra-wide smultrawide, just use the selfie camera and peep the screen from the side. Given that everyone’s real world use case is different, it may in fact be perfect for some folks.
Lol, this is exactly it 🤭
Look much like the Mini, who’s users would also call it “The perfect iPhone” and would say “who needs the bells and whistles”, the Air seems to have a dedicated cult following among the few who have bought it and many of those people are enthusiasts hence you see the voting results here even represent that…
If it meets one's needs then it's perfect for them. Just like everything else in life, one's definition of "perfect" does not match the other person's definition of "perfect". What is there to analyze?
Because it’s seldom ever them saying the air is perfect ‘for them’. It’s the ridiculous projection that the Air is the perfect phone period. The ‘superior’ phone if there even is such a thing. Feels like a boatload of post purchase justification in a growing list of threads.
Air is perfect and superioir, case closed..
So. This is embarrassing for me to post. I am not proud of myself. I have never returned an iPhone I've purchased in my entire life, until this year - and now I've done it twice <hangs head in shame>.
(15 Pro Max to 17 Pro on October 19th. 17 Pro returned for the 17 Air on November 2. 17 Air returned for 17 Pro Max on November 8).
The last straw for me? Finding out that I was burning 2 battery cycles per day even with an Apple MagSafe Air battery attached to my Air... https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...e-observations-resolved.2470697/post-34276278 See this post if you're interested... Also realizing that the Air + MagSafe Battery was 26% heavier than a 17 Pro Max...
I used 1 battery cycle on my 17 Pro for the entire 14 days I had it. I used 7 cycles on my Air in the 6 days I had it (2 of them were on one day (going out with the MagSafe Battery attached the entire time)). I'd hit ~700+ cycles in less than a year with my normal usage if I kept the Air using MagSafe batteries (vs ~100 a year with my 15 Pro Max). They run so freaking cool - never got hot.
While I loved my Air a lot ... the camera was slower to focus and I missed the telephoto when I would go birding with my wife. Battery life wasn't as bad as I expected. Reception was king on the Air. The feeling in the hand was exceptional. I miss it greatly.
I've had my 17 Pro Max now for 4 days. I no longer have to worry about bringing batteries with me (that also burn my battery charge cycles). What used my Air battery 7% is ~1% on my 17 Pro Max.
Do what works for you. Air is a great phone and will work for many people.
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For me, it’s not that I wouldn’t love a tele lens, just that I think it is too ugly when it is included to be worth it. I also don’t like my razor’23 from the razor 5g because when they added that camera it got way uglier. It is not like the one on the pro is that great though.. I wish it could have one under the glass or something. I don’t want multiple lenses in the back though, I think it looks dumb. The speaker is what it is.. of course I wish it was better.. but it is not good on any phone so it is something I have grown used to. I don’t think it is a perfect phone. I think the durability of all these Apple phones is natracious and the thing I hate most. Ever since they took away removable batteries and all the holes, there is no reason these shouldn’t be indestructible. However that is something nobody seems to really care about..
Whoa how come you averaged ~7x more battery cycles in the Air than in the Pro? Obviously the Pro battery isn't 7x bigger--I believe less than 2x bigger--so was it much more usage per day of the Air? Does it count cycles in a different way when using the MagSafe battery?
Either way I do think if someone is using the MagSafe battery often, then the Air probably isn't for them.
Well, I don't want to bore you... but ... yes, that's it.
My car has the ability to unlock with my phone, and it parks directly below me (apartment). So it drains my phone's battery via bluetooth 24/7 unless I'm plugged in all the time at home. Ex: My iPhone Air would drop 12-14% overnight if not plugged in because of my car.
And yeah, the Apple MagSafe Air battery doesn't bypass the internal battery so it was chewing through cycles especially when I used the phone with the battery attached throughout the day.
For a test, I used the Apple Air MagSafe battery on my 17 Pro Max and ... it does same thing - doesn't bypass the internal battery like wall chargers / other MagSafe batteries do. See below.
Example - a normal day at home
17 Air:
17 Pro Max:
(The blip at 6pm was me using the Apple MagSafe Air battery on my 17 Pro Max to see if it would bypass, it didn't).
So warning to those using the Apple MagSafe Air battery - you're gunna be eating internal battery cycles at an accelerated rate.
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Correct however at two cycles at least per day. I was looking at 700+ a year. If I didn’t go out of my way to use something else. I realize there were ways to work around that so it’s not really a good reason just a combination of reasons.
I really don't think that's the case at all. It's the constant berating from the non Air owners...why would you want to buy a phone with less features for more money, gosh that's just insane!!! Like folks who just can't comprehend that for some people size/weight/design is in fact a feature and not everyone NEEDS stereo external speakers and 3 cameras.
I guess it depends on the thread because while I have seen that, I've seen as many unprovoked comments from air owners stating flat-out that it is the best phone ever made, most premium Apple phone offered, isn't a "brick", etc. For me the hilarious comments are the ones about the pro phones being bricks and massive. Talk about hyperbole. I guess I can be grateful that my wrists don't get 'tired' from holding my PM or that my pants don't fall to the ground when it is in my pocket lol. I think it is great that there is a phone for those who don't need features and desire a lighter phone. Unfortunately it doesn't appear that many fit that demographic.
If you go to the news section there is a thread about the air being discontinued and it is basically five pages of people berating the air and celebrating how crappy it is.. I don’t think it is even close on this website. I have never experienced anything like this people so emotionally invested in badmouthing a product, I really find it interesting and trying to understand it.
Hey don’t be embarrassed. When I had the 17 pro, the battery definitely lasted longer by 20% or so if I give it a ballpark estimate. I’m not a battery expert, so correct me if this is wrong. Isn’t it less than accurate to assess battery life by battery cycles? A 17 pro would not last me 14 days. The only way to really compare is not charging at all. So setting up a Pro and Air the same way and doing the same tasks throughout the day to see what charge you end up with. Anecdotally, the Air lasts slightly longer than the 16 pro did for me, and I ended up with 99% battery capacity on that phone. No MagSafe pack and I typically charge to 80-90%. I touch on my phone more these days than when I had the pro phones, so the battery capacity at year-end is TBD haha.
You’ll definitely want the pro/max for activities like birding if you don’t have a dedicated camera. Not wishing the hassle of another purchase/return on you, but you can also you can use Shortcuts to automate or make it easier to shut off bluetooth. You could look into for any iPhone though. While it’s unlikely, it’s possible your Air’s battery was a bit of a dud. The Max is an awesome beast of a phone so there’s really no wrong decision. The pro line-up is better than the Air in about five different ways, but the design, materials, and new feel of the Air is unmatched. My first moment of doubt was during launch day at the Apple Store when I was unboxing the 17 pro and someone next to me was unboxing their sleek new Air. Comparison is the thief of joy eh? When you’re trying to pick a phone, as Marie Kondo would tell you to ask yourself, does it spark joy?
And this is the sort of thing people only end up realising later, it is going to be interesting in 6months time when people begin seeing their Battery Health drop.
I hope the Air 2 comes with at least the same battery the iPhone 16e had, that was a decent sized 4000mAh battery.
I really appreciate the kind words. I miss the Air already tremendously. The fact that I have so much indecision on this - I know I could have made the Air work if I really wanted to - it is a GREAT phone. These devices are so freaking expensive and they do their jobs well. lol. Anyone who has an Air is going to have an awesome year.
Yeah - I’m absolutely surprised that Apple thought it was ok to not have internal bypass charging with the MagSafe Air battery. I’m guessing it reduces heat significantly because my non-Apple MagSafe batteries could cook food while the Apple MagSafe Air battery barely got warm (keeping the iPhone at 80%) - which is amazing.
I have a feeling Macrumors sees this because of all the Air threads they’ve posted recently. It’s drawing a lot of clicks and repeat views. lol. Hey, good for Macrumors
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