Next spring, Apple will take the stage to unveil thesecond-generation iPhone Air to the world, after taking a bit more time to go back to the drawing board and incorporate a second camera into the design. That said, iPhone Air is no longer the flashy cool phone, now iPhone Duo is.
With that being the case, it seems obvious to me that iPhone Air 2 will need to appeal to a wider audience, beyond just the enthusiast crowd.
iPhone Air wasn’t an incredible seller. That said, it was still an incredible marvel of engineering – proving that you can still pack a largely flagship smartphone experience in such a thin design. It wasn’t perfect though, and the compromises alongside its higher price tag meant it only appealed to a small audience.
Now that iPhone Air 2 won’t have the shiny-new-thing factor going for it, it seems almost imperative for Apple to address some of the key shortcomings of the original iPhone Air.
We already know Apple is going to address two of the biggest ones: adding a second camera, as well as a larger battery capacity.
iPhone Air concerns don’t end there, though. There’s also compromised speakers, a compromised connectivity and charging experience, and a compromised camera experience.
iPhone Air has a single mono earpiece speaker. Audio on it isn’t excellent. Luckily, with iPad mini 8, Apple introduced acoustic display – which allows speakers to play through the display glass. Perhaps some of that tech can be taken for iPhone Air 2 to improve the subpar speaker experience.
Another major drawback is connectivity and charging. iPhone Air only supports USB 2, while the Pro iPhones support USB 3. Does this matter to most consumers? Maybe not. When the iPhone Air fetches very close to Pro pricing though, it should offer it. On the charging front of things, iPhone Air only supports 20W MagSafe and 25W fast charging, compared to 25W MagSafe and 60W fast charging on iPhone 18 Pro.
Lastly, the camera. I expect the camera quality to still be limited as a result of smaller sensors, but there are a few things you miss out on with iPhone Air: RAW support, cinematic mode, and macro mode. The latter is more of a result of the phone lacking an ultrawide camera, so ideally we’ll see macro come to iPhone Air 2.
All in all, iPhone Air 2 needs to have a firm position in the lineup. If it’s going to come within $100 of a Pro iPhone, it should offer an experience close to that. The fact that it’s thin should be just another feature, rather than it being a justification for compromise.
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