An argument could be made that this year’s iPhone line-up will have two top-tier models, depending on your priorities: either the iPhone 17 Pro Max or the iPhone 17 Air.
If you value iPhone photography, or all-round performance, you’ll want to stick to the Pro or Pro Max. If you prioritize sleek design, you might instead consider the Air to be the best model. But Apple seems to know that its sleek new model isn’t for most people …
It always seemed obvious that making an iPhone as thin as the iPhone 17 Air was going to involve some significant compromises, and that battery life would be one of them. A report over the weekend cited internal testing that revealed the true extent of that battery-life hit.
The percentage of users who can go a single day without recharging the thin phone will be between 60% and 70%.
In other words, around 30-40% of iPhone users shouldn’t even consider the slinky new model.
The same report suggests that Apple has an insane solution for that.
To solve this, Apple is developing an optional accessory—a phone case meant for the thin model that also contains a battery pack, according to three people familiar with the matter.
This is, of course, utterly absurd! The sole reason for anyone to buy the iPhone 17 Air is because it’s so thin. That is its only USP. It would be completely ridiculous to buy a super-slim phone and then stick it inside a bulky battery case.
On this basis alone, the only people who should even consider the iPhone 17 Air are those who consistently end each day with plenty of remaining battery power. We don’t yet know the battery specs, so we can’t say just how much margin you currently need to have, but I would guesstimate that if your iPhone doesn’t still have at least 30% remaining power when you put it on charge each night, the Air isn’t for you.
But the compromises don’t end there. You also need to be someone who only ever uses the main camera. We don’t yet know the full extent of the remaining weaknesses of the Air compared to the Pro models, but there will be more for sure. This will likely include getting the base chip rather than the Pro version, so add in a need to be happy with less than the maximum available performance for things like gaming and AI features.
By the time you’ve totted up all the compromises involved, it seems likely that only a really small percentage of people should buy the iPhone 17 Air.
Apple seems to agree with this assessment: the same report suggests the company thinks that it isn’t the best choice for a full 90% of us.
Apple’s manufacturing partners in Asia are dedicating only about 10% of their production capacity to the new model, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter. They’re reserving most of their production for the iPhone 17 Pro Max and Pro, which will account for around 40% and 25% of total production, respectively, the people said. The rest will be reserved for the standard iPhone 17 model.
So yep, I’m going to admire it when it launches, but – like most people – won’t be buying one.
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