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Other Who’s Interested in the Potential iPhone Air?

Who’s Looking Forward to the Potential iPhone Air?

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Kahnforever

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 20, 2024
218
260
The latest iPhone 16s are lame, like a lot of what Apple does these days. I have an iPhone 14 Pro Max and zero interest or need to upgrade.

I’m sick of the hyper focus on the camera. I hate the camera design/bump and also dislike how thick iPhones are.

The rumours of a potential iPhone Air maybe next year has me interested. I just want a very large screen iPhone that is razor thin without compromising on screen quality and that sports the latest Apple silicon and does Apple intelligence. The camera can take a quality hit because I don’t care and at this point telling the difference between phone models in terms of photo and video quality is harder and harder: the camera has become a marketing gimmick.

What are your thoughts? If an iPhone Air that is a large screen but very thin and light with likely reduced camera quality came out, would you be interested?
 
Of course I’m interested; new models are always interesting and there is a good market for a iPhone that is lighter, and I don’t care about camera upgrades either; I still enjoy photos I have taken from my very early iPhones.
 
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If the iPhone ‘Air’ turns out to be a flip phone then its a day 1 purchase for me as thats what I'm waiting for from Apple.
 
I am 100%. I don't need the latest cameras and don't like the weight of the Pros. The only reason why I got the Pro is because of ProMotion. Since the base iPhone models (including Plus) are lighter than the Pro but don't have ProMotion, I'm hoping the Air is a model that sits in between the base models and Pro models. Ideally we'd get a lighter phone than the Plus with ProMotion but not have the advanced cameras of the Pro.
 
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Yes definitely make it a nice mid point between the pro and max, don’t compromise on battery or performance, slightly down graded camera is ok and I’m in!
 
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Single camera doesn't cut it for me. It'll undoubtedly have lower battery life than Plus, which many of have gotten used to.

It's a niche model designed to raise ASPs. The Plus this year is relatively popular, but Apple doesn't want to collect only $899. They want $999 but need a new design to justify it.
 
nelle douville said:
Not interested. I do like the camera upgrades. Only thing I have no use for is AI, and if I can turn it off, I will.
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azhava said:
Not in the least. I don't care about lighter or thinner and wouldn't want to deal with the tradeoffs in camera capabilities, reduced battery life and (most likely) increased fragility.
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Battery life would be the same more or less. They’ll put the right size battery in and not having a pro camera will save battery life, etc. Not seeing reduced fragility either, it’ll just be thinner with proper internal housing and likely Titanium.
 
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Kahnforever said:
Battery life would be the same more or less. They’ll put the right size battery in and not having a pro camera will save battery life, etc. Not seeing reduced fragility either, it’ll just be thinner with proper internal housing and likely Titanium.
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Deleting a single camera from the Plus won't increase battery life by any appreciable amount. What kills it is the thinness. You lose a lot of volume for battery. We saw massive increases in battery life on iPhone 11 Pro/Max because Apple was finally willing to increase thickness. Multiple sources have already confirmed Aluminum.
 
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JPack said:
Deleting a single camera from the Plus won't increase battery life by any appreciable amount. What kills it is the thinness. You lose a lot of volume for battery. We saw massive increases in battery life on iPhone 11 Pro/Max because Apple was finally willing to increase thickness. Multiple sources have already confirmed Aluminum.
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Neither you nor I know what they will do with the camera for certain. My point is that the pro camera will use more battery in the ordinary course. Apple has to expect people will use the camera in some cases to its full extent, including shooting high FPS at the highest resolution. The Air may be a very large phone, like a Pro Max so the surface area to work with in terms of putting a battery in there will be substantial. It’s a fact that Apple has been able to achieve a materially thinner and lighter iPad Pro in the M4 (which I own) without materially compromising on battery life (or really anything else for that matter). Apple’s silicon continues to pay dividends and enable them to do more with less power.

Apple may be able to eliminate the notch as well. The iPhone Air will be an inflection point of hardware and software coming together to enable such a device.

Eventually, we’ll look back at these silly devices like the Pro Max which are thick with massive camera bulges as Gordon Gekko phones.
 
Kahnforever said:
Neither you nor I know what they will do with the camera for certain. My point is that the pro camera will use more battery in the ordinary course. Apple has to expect people will use the camera in some cases to its full extent, including shooting high FPS at the highest resolution. The Air may be a very large phone, like a Pro Max so the surface area to work with in terms of putting a battery in there will be substantial. It’s a fact that Apple has been able to achieve a materially thinner and lighter iPad Pro in the M4 (which I own) without materially compromising on battery life (or really anything else for that matter). Apple’s silicon continues to pay dividends and enable them to do more with less power.

Apple may be able to eliminate the notch as well. The iPhone Air will be an inflection point of hardware and software coming together to enable such a device.

Eventually, we’ll look back at these silly devices like the Pro Max which are thick with massive camera bulges as Gordon Gekko phones.
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Why would the Pro camera use more battery? The camera module occupies more space, but it won't use more power. The ISP is on the SoC, which is where power consumption occurs.

We already know the Slim is 6.55-inches, which means the chassis volume is appreciably smaller than 6.69-inch Plus and 6.86-inch Pro Max. These specs are locked in at this point and they are determined about 18-months before launch.

M4 iPad Pro received a battery boost due to switching from IPS to OLED. There's no such low hanging fruit for the Slim.
 
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Really hoping to see a phone that’s identity isn’t a camera. All these companies are cameras first and ergonomics/usability second. Apple is the worst offender with the addition of a button which sole purpose is camera nonsense and will inevitably be accidentally pressed hundreds of times ha. Can I just have a phone that prioritizes literally anything else besides a camera? Bring back the physical sim tray to the US models while you’re at ya greedy bitches.
 
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JPack said:
Why would the Pro camera use more battery? The camera module occupies more space, but it won't use more power. The ISP is on the SoC, which is where power consumption occurs.

We already know the Slim is 6.55-inches, which means the chassis volume is appreciably smaller than 6.69-inch Plus and 6.86-inch Pro Max. These specs are locked in at this point and they are determined about 18-months before launch.

M4 iPad Pro received a battery boost due to switching from IPS to OLED. There's no such low hanging fruit for the Slim.
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Several factors point to Apple introducing a thinner and lighter iPhone without sacrificing much performance or battery life.

While the camera module itself may not consume much power, intensive use of Pro camera features… like high-resolution video recording and advanced computational photography… can impact battery life from increased processing by the SOC’s ISP and core processing as needed. The CCD sensors in the camera require energy and there are 3 lenses on the Pro, so with the camera app open the phone can get warm and use battery. Lots of people have taken to discuss online how poor of battery life they get using the iPhone Pro’s camera. But this is a distraction. I didn’t start this discussion to just talk about a camera. That isn’t just what this is about.

Even if the iPhone Air is projected at 6.55 inches, Apple has a history of maximizing internal space. They've consistently fit larger batteries and advanced components into smaller designs. A reduced chassis size doesn't necessarily mean less battery capacity or performance.

Regarding the M4 iPad Pro, switching to OLED did improve battery efficiency, but it's not the only thing. Apple's continual refinement of its silicon and development of more power-efficient SOCs can result in battery life gains. Software optimizations and improved power management also provide energy efficiency without hardware overhauls: we see a bump of one hour of battery life on paper just from iOS 18.

While hardware specs might be locked 18 months in advance, Apple's long-term planning incorporates emerging technologies. Innovations in battery chemistry, component miniaturization, and thermal management will give us the improvements for things like the iPhone Air’s performance and battery life.

Technology evolves quickly and doesn’t sit still, and companies like Apple are at the front of these things. Dismissing the potential for significant improvements overlooks the tech industry's pace. The introduction of an iPhone Air will result from innovations across multiple areas.

This is how products like the MacBook Air or the iPhone came to be. It’s not a question of if Apple can do an iPhone Air. They can. It’s a question of whether they want to or not.
 
Kahnforever said:
Several factors point to Apple introducing a thinner and lighter iPhone without sacrificing much performance or battery life.

While the camera module itself may not consume much power, intensive use of Pro camera features… like high-resolution video recording and advanced computational photography… can impact battery life from increased processing by the SOC’s ISP and core processing as needed. The CCD sensors in the camera require energy and there are 3 lenses on the Pro, so with the camera app open the phone can get warm and use battery. Lots of people have taken to discuss online how poor of battery life they get using the iPhone Pro’s camera. But this is a distraction. I didn’t start this discussion to just talk about a camera. That isn’t just what this is about.

Even if the iPhone Air is projected at 6.55 inches, Apple has a history of maximizing internal space. They've consistently fit larger batteries and advanced components into smaller designs. A reduced chassis size doesn't necessarily mean less battery capacity or performance.

Regarding the M4 iPad Pro, switching to OLED did improve battery efficiency, but it's not the only thing. Apple's continual refinement of its silicon and development of more power-efficient SOCs can result in battery life gains. Software optimizations and improved power management also provide energy efficiency without hardware overhauls: we see a bump of one hour of battery life on paper just from iOS 18.

While hardware specs might be locked 18 months in advance, Apple's long-term planning incorporates emerging technologies. Innovations in battery chemistry, component miniaturization, and thermal management will give us the improvements for things like the iPhone Air’s performance and battery life.

Technology evolves quickly and doesn’t sit still, and companies like Apple are at the front of these things. Dismissing the potential for significant improvements overlooks the tech industry's pace. The introduction of an iPhone Air will result from innovations across multiple areas.

This is how products like the MacBook Air or the iPhone came to be. It’s not a question of if Apple can do an iPhone Air. They can. It’s a question of whether they want to or not.
Click to expand...
I also believe the air will not have the best battery life. And simplifying the camera only helps with battery life if the phone is being used as a camera.

Simplifying the camera implies this phone is intended for users less interested in photography with their phone. This same power saving could be achieved using ANY phone, as long as the camera is not used.

But the SE4 is intended to use the new Apple modem. And while I believe that version 1.0.0 of this brand new Apple modem will have a reduced level of sensitivity and throughput performance as compared to the current Qualcomm modems. There is the potential that this new modem could provide SOME power savings . The modem uses power constantly (unless the phone is in airplane mode) and it conceivable the new apple modem could provide some power savings (while sacrificing some performance).
 
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Sheepish-Lord said:
Really hoping to see a phone that’s identity isn’t a camera. All these companies are cameras first and ergonomics/usability second.
Click to expand...

You’re absolutely correct but at least the Camera Control button ensures that all future iPhones will have flat sides, which is great for those of us that don’t use a case. The only iPhones I ever dropped had rounded sides.
 
Kahnforever said:
The latest iPhone 16s are lame, like a lot of what Apple does these days. I have an iPhone 14 Pro Max and zero interest or need to upgrade.

I’m sick of the hyper focus on the camera. I hate the camera design/bump and also dislike how thick iPhones are.

The rumours of a potential iPhone Air maybe next year has me interested. I just want a very large screen iPhone that is razor thin without compromising on screen quality and that sports the latest Apple silicon and does Apple intelligence. The camera can take a quality hit because I don’t care and at this point telling the difference between phone models in terms of photo and video quality is harder and harder: the camera has become a marketing gimmick.

What are your thoughts? If an iPhone Air that is a large screen but very thin and light with likely reduced camera quality came out, would you be interested?
Click to expand...
Count me in. I've used several Pro Max models. Just picked up the 16 PM Friday morning. I'm really ready to embrace an iPhone with a large screen that is super thin and light. I think that would be the ideal form factor for a slab iPhone.

My only concern is the speaker on such a thin device. I love listening to podcasts on my iPhone speakers at times.
 
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blairh said:
Count me in. I've used several Pro Max models. Just picked up the 16 PM Friday morning. I'm really ready to embrace an iPhone with a large screen that is super thin and light. I think that would be the ideal form factor for a slab iPhone.

My only concern is the speaker on such a thin device. I love listening to podcasts on my iPhone speakers at times.
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I have the new 15” MBA. Speakers are great. Apple will find a way like in the MBA to get good sound out of the iPhone Air.
 
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I don't understand this obsession with "thin and light". We... and just about every 3rd grader in the country... carry more computing power in our hands than flew the astronauts to the moon. I'd say that is plenty thin and light.
 
Apple is finding ways not to give us an iPhone that the battery can last for days.

Who's asking for this Air?

Also, I'll bet Unbox Therapy will definitely do a Bend Test. 🙄🤣🤣🤣
 
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