iPhone Air Review: Stunning But Hard to Live With

Slim smartphones are not an anomaly; I have used them a decade ago and even quite recently. So why does the iPhone Air warrant so much buzz, despite other, even slimmer phones that exist out there? Does it actually bring something new to the table, or is it just a statement piece with empty promises? Given these lingering questions, I picked up the iPhone Air for review, and after using the phone for two straight weeks, I think I have all the answers that I will answer in this iPhone Air review. 

iPhone Air Unboxing

Mirroring the phone itself, the iPhone Air's box is pretty slim featuring only limited items inside it. Here's everything that I found after unboxing the phone. 

That's the extent of items that come in the box. You won't find a SIM card pin here since the device is completely eSIM in all regions. 

iPhone Air Build and Design 

When I first saw the leaked images of the iPhone Air, I was extremely disappointed by the compromises Apple is making to achieve this slim design, which no one asked for. But at the cost of sounding like a broken record, I must say that you don't get the idea of Air until you have held and used the phone. Unlike a typical smartphone, the highlights are not its specs but the design itself. 

The razor-thin 5.6mm thickness is already eye-catching every time I take the phone out of my pocket. But the chamfered rails that run along the side of the phone, especially in the Light Gold colour that I had, made the Air look awfully elegant. At the same time, the matte glass back adds a nice contrast, almost giving the impression of an expensive showpiece.

But it's not just the looks, as the in-hand feel of the device is genuinely amazing. It's the right-sized iPhone that I always wanted. Not too small as the base variant, and not too large as the Pro Max. It sits at a perfect Goldilocks zone of size, making it eerily ergonomic. It slips into my jeans pockets easily, barely feels any heavy, and feels great to use with one hand. Unlike the Galaxy S25 Edge, which also attempted the slim phone concept, the flat sides and large design made it difficult to hold for longer. 

Given the razor-thin design and the trauma of bendgate, I did fear bending the iPhone Air now and then throughout my review period. Even though the phone has received the seal of approval from JerryRigEverything, I still kept the phone in a silicone case for an added peace of mind. 

But let’s give credit where it’s due. This is Apple’s best hardware design in years. The iPhone Air doesn’t just look slim for the sake of it. It’s light, refined, deliberate, and easily one of the most enjoyable iPhones I’ve used since forever.

iPhone Air Display and Speakers 

iPhone Air's display perfectly complements the look of the device itself. It's not too small that you can't enjoy the content you're watching, and not too big to make it uncomfortable to hold. The OLED screen itself is everything I expect from the best of Apple, with slim bezels, rich contrast, sharp details, and excellent colour accuracy.  During my 2 weeks of review period, I binged plenty of shows, movies and animes, and the 10-bit display never felt lacking in any department in terms of picture quality. 

This experience was consistent even when I took the iPhone Air outdoors, as the screen touches 3,000 nits of brightness, keeping everything visible even under harsh sunlight. While the display on the Air uplifts the mood, the speaker completely ruins it, as it is a mono setup, so all the sound is coming from the top of the device. As a result, the output sound is completely flat and monotonous. 

The speaker is missing the richness that makes listening to music enjoyable, making it seem dull. The experience is even worse when taking calls on speaker, as I had to often flip the phone around during calls, holding it with the top facing my ear just to hear the other person better. 

iPhone Air Performance Tested 

Despite making it slimmer, Apple has not cut down much in terms of performance, as it comes packing the A19 Pro chipset. This is the same processor used in its more powerful brother, the iPhone 17 Pro Max. This results in remarkable performance that will last for years, and here are the benchmark scores to back my words. 

Besides the scores, let me tell you that the Air breezes through my everyday usage. It feels fast, responsive, and smooth, finishing any task that I throw at it in a jiffy. With the few slowdowns that I noticed happening not because of the hardware, but the poorly optimised iOS 26, which, in typical Apple fashion, seems to have shipped with more bugs than polish. But we’ll get to that later.

The gaming experience is also flagship grade. I played some of my favourite titles like Call of Duty: Mobile and BGMI, both running at 120 FPS on the lowest settings, and Genshin Impact, which held a steady 60 FPS at high graphics. I even tried Assassin’s Creed Mirage, and while it ran at a slightly choppy 30 FPS, the fact that it runs at all on a phone this slim is still kind of wild.

Where things get a little less perfect are thermals. The phone heats up quite easily, since Apple has packed everything inside the protruding camera island, leaving little room for heat dissipation. The result? The phone starts getting warm in situations that shouldn’t be. Even while casually taking a few camera samples outdoors, the iPhone Air began heating up like a kettle. That is why I feel that this is one iPhone that could have done better with a less powerful A19 processor. 

iPhone Air Software and Apple Intelligence Experience 

The iPhone Air runs iOS 26, and visually, it’s one of the most refreshing software experiences I have tried in years. The new Liquid Glass aesthetics bring a soft, fluid look to the interface and the bubbly animations. There are a lot of iOS 26 features that you will love. But it also feels unoptimized in its current state.

During my review period, I ran into several frustrating issues. The animations stuttered, the phone sometimes froze on the lock screen, and apps took an extra second or two to open. It's the same story as we saw on the iPhone 16 series last year, and similarly, Apple will fix it to a polished experience. In fact, the latest iOS 26.0.1 update already feels better. But my initial experience was not that good.

The same goes for Apple Intelligence, which still feels like a work in progress. Siri still struggles to pull off basic commands like setting multiple alarms, but the upgrade to Visual Intelligence is a welcome addition, which we talked about in depth in our iOS 26 review. Other AI features like Genmoji and Image Playground still don't appeal to me, so I preferred to skip using them entirely. 

iPhone Air Camera Tested 

Another big compromise on the iPhone Air is its cameras. It only features a single 48 MP sensor on the back, and an 18 MP selfie shooter in the front. The primary shooter should be apt for most situations, but the lack of an ultrawide here hurts the most. 

In terms of image quality, the main camera takes sharp, balanced, and natural-looking photos. The samples I took during my review period had good colours that looked close to the real subjects.  Nowhere did I notice an oversaturation in images, and the details come out quite well in daylight photos. 

Apple says that you can use the primary sensor as 2 lenses, since it adds the option for 2x zoom. This is the same tactic they used for marketing the iPhone 16e. Yes, zooming in can help get close to subjects, but at the cost of those rich details, and the more I zoomed in, the blurrier the results became. However, in portrait mode, Apple's processing adds a neat, natural-looking bokeh.

The night samples stood equally good with rich details, and no unnecessary overexposure that other flagships like the Nothing Phone 3 tend to do. The lights wrapped around the trees not only come out close to natural, but also preserve the details in the trees. There's also no noise in shadowy regions either. But the results do come out a little saturated. 

The selfie camera on the iPhone Air is more interesting, since Apple is using the new 18 MP Centre Stage setup. This allows for wider, landscape selfies when you want to add more of the scene or your buddies in the shot. The selfies taken from it come out more detailed and crispier than previous iPhones, and Apple’s skin tone processing is mostly spot-on.

I really like how the Centre Stage feature subtly adjusts the frame depending on how many people are in the shot. And it's also great for video calls, where it tries to keep you in the centre even if you move around a bit. When it comes to videos, it’s still the gold standard in the smartphone world. Footage is stable, sharp, and colour-accurate, even when moving between different lighting conditions. However, like with photography, the phone does heat up a bit during extended video sessions.

iPhone Air Battery Life and Charging 

Going into this review, I knew that the iPhone Air is not an all-day powerhouse. Still, the battery life held up better than I expected. The Air lasted me almost 70% of the day, needing to be charged by the time I reached home from the office. Using it for basic stuff like scrolling through Instagram, watching YouTube, taking photos, and making a few calls, I averaged around 4 hours of screen-on time. Add an hour of gaming session, and the number drops to 3 hours of screen time. 

This is still better than what many people are mocking the phone for. And Apple has also ensured that it charges quickly. The iPhone Air supports PD fast charging up to 50% in 30 minutes, and wireless charging speeds have been bumped to 20W, which helps if you’re using MagSafe accessories. You can also pick up Apple’s optional battery pack, which can help the Air last an entire day, but I chose not to since it kills the whole appeal of such a slim and elegant phone. 

Bottom Line: Is the iPhone Air Worth It? 

The iPhone Air is one of those rare devices that splits opinions right down the middle. On one side, people are mocking this expensive piece of hardware, and on the other, people are praising Apple for its engineering and design prowess. And I guess both are a little right here. 

Let's get one thing straight. The iPhone Air is not for the everyday consumer who wants a reliable phone to last all day, needs multiple cameras, or wants the best value for money. For that, there's the iPhone 17 and the iPhone 17 Pro. You can even go the Android route and pick the Galaxy S25 Ultra. The iPhone Air is a pure lifestyle smartphone in its current state, designed for those who prioritise form over function. 

It's for people who want a phone to flaunt at parties, or wish to stand out among the crowd, and don't bother about the sacrifices. And if you think you're someone like this, then you will love the iPhone Air.