Determined to give us something new to talk about, Apple has introduced its ultra-thin iPhone Air. It’s just 5.6mm thick with a 6.5-inch ProMotion display, a 48-megapixel dual camera, a selfie camera that supports Center Stage, and an add-on MagSafe battery. Among other things.
We asked the staff of The Verge for their first impressions of the iPhone Air. We’ll run a full review of the phone, of course, but here are some feelings about the phone from our staff.
Preorders for the iPhone Air begin on Friday, September 12th, and it ships on September 19th.
Do you want an ultra-slim iPhone?
The iPhone 17 Air is thin and lovely. My iPhone 15 Pro isn’t quite as thin, but it’s also titanium — only I’d never know because it’s always inside a thick plastic prophylactic. Unless your Air will live dangerously without a case, you’re probably better off with an iPhone 17 or 17 Pro. Otherwise, you’ll have trouble remembering why you opted for the Air’s worse battery when you end up doubling its thickness with that $99 MagSafe Air battery Apple just happened to announce today. — Thomas Ricker, deputy editor
And it weighs only 5.8 ounces…
My personal phone is still a Pixel 6 (yes, I know, I tend to put off these upgrades), which weighs approximately 7.3 ounces on its own and almost 9 ounces with the rather rugged case I have on it (I’m not only a procrastinator, but I’m nervous about breaking it). Which means that every time I drop it into my pocket, it pulls my pants down slightly. Having a phone this lightweight would be lovely — although it wouldn’t be quite as lightweight once you added the extra battery (see Thomas’ comment above). —Barbara Krasnoff, reviews editor
We’ve been through this routine before, Apple.
I just don’t understand why Apple is going back to worshipping at the altar of thinness. Between the iPhone Air and Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Edge, I am not liking this potential trend for phones. It really makes little sense to me when most people want phones with long-lasting batteries. It’s even more asinine when you consider that, not long ago, Apple compromised its MacBooks so severely in the pursuit of thinness that the fraught keyboards failed. (Remember the class action lawsuit that cost Apple $50 million?) Apple turned things around by making its MacBooks thicker again and was heralded for it, and now every MacBook in the lineup has a good keyboard and a battery that easily lasts a whole day or more. Why are we doing this song-and-dance again? —Antonio G. Di Benedetto, reviewer
I like thicc iPhones because they give me long battery life. That’s why I’ve been buying the iPhone Pro Max for the past… well, since they launched. Apple says the iPhone Air will offer “all-day battery life,” but my current iPhone 16 Pro Max doesn’t get me through a whole day anymore. There’s just no way this does. Probably won’t even get me through brunch. But I know what’s going to happen. I’m going to see one. Then I’m going to want it. And then I’m going to buy the battery pack. And I won’t care about battery life anymore. Probably. —Todd Haselton, deputy editor, reviews and commerce
Apple claims 40 hours of video playback — with its battery pack.
I was going to say that video playback time is such a silly metric for phone battery life, and that that’s not the main thing people do with their phones. But maybe it is now! Old man yells at cloud: it shouldn’t be. But beyond that, it’s so funny to make a slim phone, make a $99 battery pack that’s only compatible with that phone, then base your battery life claim on how long it lasts with the battery attached. That’s like breakfast cereals putting the “with a cup of 2% milk” column in the nutrition label. —Nathan Edwards, senior reviews editor
It boasts a 6.5-inch screen.
I prefer to wrap my meaty ogre hands around larger phones, so I was pretty bummed to hear that Apple ditched the Plus version of its base iPhone 17. I guess the bigger screen on the iPhone Air fills that spot spiritually, but if I had to choose, I’m more enticed by the additional features (and stunning orange color) available on the 17 Pro Max. I’m sure the skinny, lightweight Air model will sway people who are sick of lugging a brick around, however. —Jess Weatherbed, news writer
A Pixel-style camera bump
As someone who hasn’t upgraded to a brand new phone in several years, I’m just not sure if I could get used to the look — or feel – of a protruding, pill-shaped camera bar on the back of my phone. Unlike the camera bump on the Google Pixel 10, Apple puts a single “dual fusion” camera into the bar, leaving just a single black lens that stands out against the rest of the phone. It’s hard for me to look at it without thinking about Cyclops’ visor. —Emma Roth, news writer
That Sky Blue color is excellent.
I loved the Sky Blue on Apple’s M4 MacBook Airs, and I think it looks really good on the iPhone Air. Is the color enough for me to pick the Air over another model? The Pros have more of what I’m looking for in terms of features, but after I see the Sky Blue for myself, we’ll see if I’m tempted. —Jay Peters, senior reporter
Apple called it a piece of the future…. Is it?
My galaxy-brained take about the Air is that it actually contains a lot of secrets for the future of Apple. Execs spent so long talking about the material design, the work required to make the phone durable and sturdy, whatever “Ceramic Shield 2” is, and so much more. This is a little bit about the iPhone Air. It’s also all the stuff you need to do in order to make phones that flip, or fold, or do any of the other inventive things other companies are already doing with phones. Its legacy might end up like the original MacBook Pro, which was a flawed computer but bundled the first-generation versions of a lot of really important technology.
I don’t think “slightly thinner iPhone with a single camera and a big camera bump” is the future. But some of the stuff inside the Air? Probably is. – David Pierce, Editor at Large
The proof of Apple’s foldable future might lie in the plateau
Apple showed an X-ray image of the iPhone Air’s new “plateau,” which seems like just a camera bump but is really more than that. Apple squeezed in its camera, a speaker, plus its silicon — effectively all of the guts of the iPhone Air, save its battery. I think it’s easy to point a finger at it and say, “Hey, I could see how this innovation would really come in handy with a foldable phone.”
If rumors of Apple’s foldable iPhone ever come to fruition, being able to compartmentalize the componentry, emphasizing a thin design while leaving as much space for a battery as possible, seems incredibly vital to its success. I agree with David — I know we’re supposed to be talking about the iPhone Air here, but it’s hard not to think about the future of the iPhone when I look at it. —Cameron Faulkner, commerce editor
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