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iPhone Air The Air reviews have dropped and the speaker's junk
- Thread starter tomtad
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I haven't had any issues with the speakers in quiet environments but did experience the low volume yesterday when I was trying to show a video to a group during a dinner party. It just wasn't loud enough until I showed it on a 16P.
Semi related, I thought this video had an interesting finding about the speakers.
Semi related, I thought this video had an interesting finding about the speakers.
The speaker stinks. Either you can live with it or not.
Agreed. It’s a non issue for me, but I can absolutely tell the difference and people who care about audio from their phones should be aware.
I wonder how much is lack of a second speaker and how much is less space for the speaker? Because (physical) volume is definitely important for speakers.
It’s funny to see some people not only defending the major flaws of the iPhone Air, but also willing to pay a premium price for a phone with battery life and speakers reminiscent of the iPhone 3/4/5 era—just for the sake of a lighter device. I’m actually glad this phone seems to be at the bottom of iPhone sales, according to MKBHD, because at least that shows companies not everyone wants this kind of compromise in the future.
Most consumers are pretty sane.
"Analyst Amit Daryanani cited results from a survey of nearly 4,000 consumers that pointed to solid demand, especially for the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max. About 56% of respondents said they planned to buy one of the two higher-end models, with many opting for larger memory configurations after Apple eliminated lower storage tiers."
Not all models are seeing the same traction. The iPhone Air has lagged, with only 9% of consumers in the survey planning to buy it. Concerns about battery life and a single-camera design may be weighing on demand."
I read somewhere that Apple had allocated approximately 10% of its overall iPhone production to the Air. If that is close to accurate, and given that the Air remains in stock in so many places and it's not even sold in places like China, then that 9% demand may actually be better than what some other pundits might have been estimating.
I guess it depends upon where that survey was done though. If only the US, then that 9% might be expected, since I'd bet that the US is over-represented for Air buyers compared to some other parts of the world. FWIW, Amit Daryanani is a US-based analyst.
I am still predicting that sometime in the near future, the Air will get two cameras instead of one.
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I'd expect this survey to be U.S. based. In China, I'd be surprised if the Air hit even 5% interest due to the fully cashless and digital economy. If you try paying cash, nobody is going to give you change. This means battery life is imperative. eSIM is another barrier.
I don't think the Air is even available yet in China, because it's eSIM-only.
No, but it’s been available in HK on day one and it’s a dog in terms of sales.
The first week or so, HK people buy iPhones (tens of thousands of them) and resell them to stores for a $200-$300 profit each. These are then resold across Asia and Middle East where availability is poor (e.g. Philippines, Saudi Arabia, India, Korea, Russia). It serves as a bellwether of global sales. Nobody is scalping the Air.
This, and the fact that sound quality is appalling vs headphones, are the two reason why I don’t care about speakers.
Speakers absolutely obliterate battery life, just by themselves. 7h 19 min vs almost 20 hours on the iPhone 17 is absolutely insane. The speakers by themselves account for a 65% battery life loss, the highest factor I’ve ever seen. Not even camera use is that heavy.
That is something I noticed immediately the first few times I played music with speakers for a while, back with my 9.7-inch iPad Pro’s quad speakers.
I find the speakers on most recent iPhone models sufficient for temporary usage like YouTube videos and phone calls. Obviously the quality is inferior to my AirPods but I don’t always have my AirPods with me and I don’t want to always use my AirPods anyway. Furthermore, with stuff like phone calls, in some scenarios AirPods wouldn’t make sense:
One of the complaints Dave makes in his video was that nobody could hear a phone call on speakerphone on the Air when there was some background noise, even though it is never a problem with other iPhones. He often makes such speakerphone phone calls with his family to talk with grandma, etc.
Given the reviews of the Air, the single speaker and the crippled camera setup are both deal killers for me. Ironically, although I am concerned by the reported mediocre battery life, that is actually less of a concern than the speaker and camera.
Yeah, for temporary use like YouTube videos I guess it makes sense. If I can, I grab headphones anyway.
The single speaker is definitely a glaring shortcoming for phone calls in loud(ish) places. In fact, I reckon the earpiece is poorer, too.
I used a 5c for a while as a second phone some years ago and one of my biggest complaints was that it just wasn’t loud enough to talk while on the street. I don’t care about speakers, and I don’t care about earpiece volume… unless it is just not loud enough to hear the other person whilst on the street.
Yes, I think the single camera only compounds the issue. Battery life, per the Air’s battery life thread, suffers more than other iPhones with heavy use, probably due to battery capacity (my 16 Plus that the Air replaced is far more resilient than the Air with heavy use), but is otherwise okay for low to moderate use.