Apple iPhone Air Review: The thinnest iPhone yet balances power, elegance and restraint
At just 5.6mm thick, the iPhone Air feels almost impossibly slim: Apple’s sleekest and lightest iPhone ever made. Picture: Noel Campion.
Apple’s new iPhone Air lives up to its name, but it doesn’t quite recreate the awe of the original MacBook Air launch, when Steve Jobs famously unveiled the world’s thinnest laptop back in 2008, introducing an entirely new category of device. It’s astonishingly thin, refreshingly light, and yet still packs the kind of power you’d expect from one of Apple’s Pro-tier devices. After using it daily for two weeks, I’ve been struck by just how easy it is to carry, and how little compromise Apple has made, though it’s not without trade-offs.
Apple has finally brought the spirit of the MacBook Air to its smartphone line. The iPhone Air seems to have replaced last year’s iPhone 16 Plus, but it’s not really a direct successor; instead, it’s a reimagined device designed around lightness and simplicity. At just 5.6mm thick and weighing only 165g, it feels impossibly slim. There really is nothing like it, and I love how it easily slips into a pocket or rests in your hand, making most other phones feel bulky. Everyone I asked to hold the Air was instantly gobsmacked by the design and how thin and light it is.
The rear panel is made from frosted Ceramic Shield glass, featuring a soft, matte finish that resists fingerprints while beautifully catching light. My review model’s cloud white looks elegant rather than flashy. Across the back is a large glossy camera strip, which is reminiscent of the iPhone 14 Pro’s bump, but it houses only a single lens.
Despite its ultra-thin profile, the Air’s titanium frame adds a touch of class, and I’ve always been a fan of the chrome-polished edges, even if they are prone to fingerprints. That aside, the build quality feels solid, with no flex or creaks, and it never once felt fragile in the hand.
Apple’s usual attention to detail shines through in the fit and finish. Buttons feel crisp, the new programmable Action key is satisfyingly tactile, and IP68 water and dust resistance means it’s just as durable as any modern flagship.
The iPhone Air’s display is where Apple’s engineering finesse truly shines. It features a 6.5-inch OLED panel, larger than the standard iPhone 17 but smaller than the Pro Max. For me, it’s the Goldilocks of screen sizes: large enough for immersive viewing, yet perfectly balanced for comfortable one-handed use. It features Ceramic Shield Glass 2 protection and an anti-reflective coating that effectively reduces glare in bright sunlight and intense indoor lighting. The display has a peak outdoor brightness of 3,000 nits, and combined with the anti-glare coating, the result is a screen that remains readable even under harsh sunlight.
In daily use, it’s a gorgeous display thanks to its vivid colours, excellent contrast and deep blacks that make video content pop. Scrolling feels effortlessly smooth thanks to Apple’s 120Hz ProMotion technology, which dynamically scales all the way down to 1Hz to conserve power when you’re viewing static content. It supports HDR10 and Dolby Vision playback, delivering rich contrast and lifelike highlights in compatible videos.
Apple’s Dynamic Island continues to play a role here, displaying notifications, timers and background activities around the Face ID cutout. It’s a small but genuinely helpful feature that feels more refined with each generation.
Unfortunately, there are compromises due to the ultra-thin design, and the first thing I noticed was the speaker system. Because of the iPhone Air’s incredibly slim profile, Apple has removed the bottom-firing speaker, leaving only the earpiece to handle audio output. The result is a sound that’s thin, flat and lacking in bass. For a device that otherwise feels so premium, that’s a noticeable omission.
The iPhone Air features a single 48MP main sensor, the same one found in the base iPhone 17. While it lacks the versatility of multiple lenses, it consistently delivers great results.
In good light, images are crisp and detailed, with a balanced colour palette and natural dynamic range. Skin tones are realistic, and the contrast is punchy without drifting into artificial territory. Portrait mode works beautifully, producing a convincing background blur that effectively flatters the subject.
Zooming in digitally does reduce fine detail, but Apple’s processing keeps textures looking believable up to about 2x magnification. In low light, the automatic night mode engages frequently, capturing clean, well-exposed shots with minimal noise. Highlights can still blow out around strong light sources, but overall performance is excellent for a single-lens setup. Unlike so many other companies, Apple’s image processing doesn’t smooth away noise at the expense of detail. I much prefer this approach; it looks more natural, and unless you’re pixel-peeping, you won’t even notice the fine grain.
The new 18MP Centre Stage selfie camera, featuring a unique square sensor, is equally impressive. When shooting in portrait orientation, there’s no need to rotate the phone for a landscape shot because the square sensor captures the same level of detail in either orientation. It delivers sharp, well-balanced shots with accurate colours and reliable autofocus. The wider field of view makes it perfect for group selfies, and portrait shots maintain consistent skin tones.
The iPhone Air records at up to 4K at 60fps, with superb stabilisation and rich detail. Even low-light footage looks clean and cinematic. It’s one of the best compact video performers available, despite lacking a telephoto or ultra-wide lens. The Air lacks spatial video recording, ProRes video support, ProRes RAW, and the new Apple Log 2 video recording format — all features that are on the iPhone 17 Pro.
Under the hood, the iPhone Air runs on the A19 Pro chipset, which is based on the same architecture as Apple’s Pro models, albeit with a slightly scaled-back design featuring a 5-core GPU instead of the six-core GPU found in the Pro models. In real-world use, that difference is practically invisible. Everything feels instant: apps open without delay, gaming performance is excellent, and multitasking is seamless.
Benchmark tests are impressive, and thermals are well-managed. Even under sustained workloads, such as the 3DMark Wild Life Extreme stress test, the Air throttled only to around 79% of its maximum output, which is impressive for such a thin phone.
One slight disappointment is that the Air lacks the faster USB 3.2 transfer speeds of the Pro line, instead opting for the standard USB 2.0 over its USB-C port. Storage options range from 256GB to 1TB.
The iPhone Air doesn’t have a physical SIM tray and only supports eSIM. In Ireland, the only networks that currently support it are Vodafone, Eir, and Three.
The iPhone Air’s 3,149mAh battery performs better than it looks on paper. In testing, it consistently lasted a full day with moderate to heavy use, often finishing with around 20% remaining.
Apple’s software optimisation clearly plays a significant role here, helping the Air deliver impressive battery stamina, although it still falls short of the Pro models. Charging, however, is less exciting. With a charger of at least 30W, you should be able to reach 50% in 30 minutes from an empty state. However, the Air doesn’t support the new Power Delivery 3.2 standard.
Wireless charging is supported, including Apple’s latest Qi2 standard, and there’s even reverse wired charging if you need to top up accessories on the go.
Apple has also released a new ultra-slim MagSafe battery pack to extend the Air’s battery life, which is something I found incredibly useful on trips when I was constantly on the move, using GPS and other power-hungry apps. It’s not something I needed often during testing, but on the few occasions I did, it was an absolute lifesaver.
The iPhone Air ships with iOS 26, which introduces Apple’s new “Liquid Glass” design language. It’s more fluid and organic than before, with rounded icons, translucent panels and softly glowing edges. It takes a little getting used to, but it feels modern and fits the Air’s aesthetic perfectly.
Performance across the interface is silky smooth, and I encountered no lag or instability. Apple’s five-year software support promise remains one of the best in the industry, giving the Air a long lifespan.
The iPhone Air is Apple’s most elegant iPhone to date. Thin, light, and yet deceptively powerful. While its speaker and lack of multiple cameras may frustrate some, it’s hard not to admire the engineering feat here. If you’ve ever wished your iPhone felt as effortless to hold as a MacBook Air does to carry, this is the one to buy.
From €1,239 apple.ie
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