I replaced my Samsung S25 Edge with the iPhone Air – and my buying advice has changed

Comply with ZDNET: Add us as a most well-liked supply on Google.

The iPhone “Professional” label has at all times represented the bleeding fringe of Apple’s industrial design. I’ve upgraded to the Professional mannequin yearly because it debuted six years in the past, and at this time limit, Apple’s formulation is so refined and polished that the funding is sort of at all times value it.

That is why, going into Apple’s Awe-dropping occasion earlier this month, my consideration was reserved for the iPhone 17 Professional and 17 Professional Max, each of which launched with a brand new vapor chamber cooling system — resolving a longstanding challenge of overheating on Professional fashions — in addition to a redesigned and improved digicam system. However the keynote ended with me shifting my focus to a unique iPhone.

See, Apple did what it does finest: advertising and marketing. It launched the iPhone Air, with a theatrical aptitude, balanced on the tip of a finger on the Steve Jobs Theater, to a refrain of “oohs and ahhs.” The iPhone 16 Professional Max in my pocket was feeling heavier by the second.

Let me be clear: the iPhone Air is a first-generation product, and I have been burned by many first makes an attempt. Nonetheless, there is a very calculated strategy to designing the thinnest and lightest iPhone ever that makes it value my time. However is it value yours?

An iPhone that will not crack below strain

I would wish to suppose that I am one of many few individuals who have been capable of check each the iPhone Air and its Android competitor, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge, so once I first held the iPhone, the expertise was surprisingly acquainted. 

The gadget’s ultraportability will impress anybody who picks one up, however for me, seeing the fluid Liquid Glass animations stream throughout the 6.5-inch OLED display was when actuality actually set in. That is what iOS 26 was meant to be for.

The thought of an ultra-thin and light-weight iPhone has been moderately overseas over the previous few years. The truth is, holding the iPhone Air jogged my memory much less of the opposite titanium-cased fashions lately and extra of the iPhone 6 Plus from 2019. Again then, such a type issue bordered between regular and dangerous. It was each a trendy standing image and a tool that gave into strain. 

I count on the previous of the 2 clauses — standing image — to proceed with the iPhone Air, with its near-invisible facet profile (it is simply 5.6mm thick) and singular digicam plateau representing one of the crucial burdenless iPhones of late. As for bendgate, I am not too fearful about that — and Apple would not appear to be both. 

Following the September keynote, the corporate confirmed members of the media its sturdiness testing facility, which included a machine that utilized 130 kilos of drive on the middle level of the iPhone Air. It bulged however by no means cracked or snapped in half, and even straightened itself shortly after. That is a testomony to each the titanium body that wraps across the telephone and the Ceramic Defend layering on the back and front.

When you’re extra taken with a real-world stress check, I just lately sat down with the iPhone Air in my again pocket, and the gadget confirmed no indicators of fragility. And I am a six-foot man who’s nicely over 130 kilos. If there’s one telephone that it’s best to use with no case, let or not it’s this one.

A Professional telephone with out the branding

There is a little bit of weight that is lifted when an iPhone would not have the Professional moniker; you count on it to have shortcomings, fewer options, and only a serviceable expertise. That units the iPhone Air up for room to impress, with it being powered by the identical A19 Professional chip that revs up the iPhone 17 Professional and Professional Max fashions.

After letting my iPhone Air work by means of all its preliminary setup duties and app downloads, I paced it by means of a sequence of efficiency benchmarks alongside my iPhone 16 Professional Max, iPhone 16 Plus, and Galaxy S25 Edge. Listed below are the outcomes.

Concentrate on relativity. From my testing, the iPhone Air competes nicely with older and certain newer iPhone Professional fashions, and even higher in opposition to the S25 Edge. Nonetheless, its best weak point is effectivity and extended energy administration. I’ve seen that the digicam plateau, the place a lot of the processing parts are fitted in, typically will get heat after a couple of minutes of intense workloads.

It is much less noticeable on different telephones, together with the S25 Edge, as a result of warmth is extra evenly dispersed throughout the physique, however by condensing every part inside a strip of glass and metallic, and never having the identical vapor chamber cooling system discovered on the iPhone 17 Professional fashions, the Air takes successful throughout prolonged utilization.

That carries into the battery life. This is not an all-day endurance telephone, not with no cost or two all through or the MagSafe battery pack that Apple is pitching the Air with. It is nonetheless too early for me to quantify my every day battery life, however I am positively discovering myself on the lookout for a charger extra typically than once I was on my iPhone 16 Professional Max and different thicker handsets.

A part of me needs Apple had added the identical 40W wired charging charge from the iPhone 17 Professional fashions to the Air, however that will doubtless open one other can of worms relating to thermals and battery degradation. With the Air’s already smaller capability, you simply cannot take that danger.

The excessive and low factors of the iPhone Air

The iPhone Air’s cameras are each its excessive and low factors. I am a fan of the 18MP Middle Stage entrance digicam, as it will probably adaptively stretch out the sector of view and provides selfies a stage of depth and embrace that is lengthy been lacking on telephones typically. 

For the previous two months, I have been taking group photographs and portraits with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 for the reason that outer show serves as a viewfinder for the rear vast and ultrawide cameras. The iPhone Air and its new sq. sensor basically obtain the identical factor, however with fewer digicam faucets, unfolding, and different maneuvers required.

A squared sensor additionally provides the selfie digicam extra room for digital stabilization, which means movies seem much less stuttery and shaky, even when in comparison with final 12 months’s iPhones.

Then again, the rear 48MP digicam leaves a sensor or two to be desired. Colour accuracy, distinction, and shadow element are nonetheless the iPhone’s forte (as depicted within the samples above), however there have been a number of moments once I craved the extra distant optical zooming of the Professional mannequin, particularly when recording stay occasions and topics distant. 

The absence of an ultrawide lens additionally means you’ll be able to’t dramatize landscapes and scenic views from up shut or pull in macro-level particulars like on the common, $200-less iPhone 17.

ZDNET’s shopping for recommendation

So, who should purchase the iPhone Air? At $1,000, you are primarily paying for the ultraportability and innovation issue. Of all 4 new iPhones launched this 12 months, the iPhone Air feels just like the one we’ll most certainly reference sooner or later, when even the Professional fashions — and doubtlessly foldables — are constructed below the same framework.

When you’re a digicam fanatic, energy person, or need an iPhone that may not require a battery swap after 2-3 years, then I would take into account your different choices this 12 months, together with the base mannequin.

What I count on to in the end tip the scales within the Air’s favor would be the in-store expertise, when curious consumers choose up the gadget and really feel an absence of thickness and bulk. (For individuals who care, you might also discover that the Air is available in a black coloration, however not the 17 Professional.)

The iPhone Air is a tool you should see in particular person to know its significance. Whenever you do, switching between it and another mannequin will solely amplify the concept that the opposite mannequin will quickly be a factor of the previous.