Summary
Apple trims iPhone Air production, reallocating orders to iPhone 17/17 Pro.
Ultra-thin phones are a fllop for most buyers: nice feel, but worse cameras and batteries.
Apple could ship one more iPhone Air, then likely retire the Air line if sales stay weak.
2025 was the year when two big companies decided to launch ultra-thin phones once again–Apple with the iPhone Air, and Samsung with the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Apparently, though, people don’t like those—and even Apple is struggling to sell its own.
Recent reports from multiple sources indicate that Apple might be significantly adjusting its production strategy for the 2025 iPhone lineup, dialing back manufacturing of the new iPhone Air model while increasing orders for the more popular iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro. For the iPhone Air, November’s production run is expected to drop by about 10% compared to September’s output. Initially, the iPhone Air was planned to constitute 10% to 15% of the total iPhone 17 series production, and right now, one investment firm projects Apple will order one million fewer iPhone Air units than initially projected by the end of 2025.
Apple has a “just-in-time” manufacturing philosophy, where the company avoids stockpiling components for more than roughly two months of production. So these kinds of reports are a good way to see whether its devices are selling well or not. This very thing happened with the iPhone 12 Mini and the iPhone 13 Mini, as well as with the latter iPhone Plus models. The Mini range got gutted two generations in, while the Plus range got killed off after three generations since being brought back for the first time since 2017. If this is anything to go by, Apple might just release one more iPhone Air model next year (since it’s probably already in development) before giving up with the range completely.
The iPhone Air appears to be doing well in some countries, including China—Chinese media reported on Friday that the iPhone Air sold out almost immediately after pre-orders opened in the country. That seems not to be true in the rest of the world, though, including in Apple’s home market, the United States.
An identical trend also affected Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Edge, which saw underwhelming sales compared to the rest of the S25 series—which is telling considering it even enjoyed its own launch event separate from the rest of the S25 series. Some of my fellow writers here at How-To Geek were more enthusiastic about thin phones being the future, but sadly, I never saw it. And it seems that real people really don’t care that much about them.
Sure, they might feel great in hand, and they might be light. But they have many trade-offs, including worse cameras and worse batteries. This is asking to solve a problem that didn’t even exist, and a “solution” that’s creating more problems on its own. I might be wrong, and they might catch up. But unless they make some serious (unlikely) improvements, I don’t see this getting better.
SoC
A19 Pro chip
Display
6.5-inches
Storage
256GB, 512GB, or 1TB
Ports
USB-C
Operating System
iOS
Colors
Sky Blue, Light Gold, Cloud White, Space Black
The iPhone Air is the newest model to join the iPhone flagship line, and its design is lighter and thinner than ever.
Source: AppleInsider