![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/apple-iphone-air-render-side-profile.jpg\"\/ "\\"apple")
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Joe Maring \/ Android Authority<\/p>\n
The rumors about the iPhone Air were true. Just a few months after Samsung launched the Galaxy S25 Edge<\/a>, Apple has thrown its hat in the ring with its own ultra-thin iPhone.<\/p>\n At first glance, the iPhone Air does look impressive. The 5.6mm body is shockingly thin, the display looks great, and having the latest A19 Pro chip is quite the achievement. However, there was one aspect more than anything else that I was curious to hear about: battery life.<\/p>\n The Galaxy S25 Edge proved that super-slim phones come with serious battery compromises, and I was looking forward to hearing what Apple\u2019s solution to this would be. I like the idea of an ultra-thin and light phone<\/a>, but only if there\u2019s a real way to avoid mediocre battery life.<\/p>\n This is what I was hoping Apple would figure out with the iPhone Air, but it\u2019s plainly obvious that the company failed to do so.<\/p>\n iPhone Air: Hot or Not?<\/p>\n 86 votes<\/p>\n Let\u2019s talk about battery life\n<\/p>\n During the iPhone Air segment of yesterday\u2019s Apple event, Apple\u2019s SVP of Hardware Engineering, John Ternus, had a dedicated section to talk about the phone\u2019s battery life (which begins at the 51:28 mark in the video above). It started promising enough, with Ternus saying that Apple had \u201cinnovated in both hardware and software to deliver great battery life for iPhone Air.\u201d<\/p>\n Cool! That sounds promising. So, what kind of innovations are we talking about? A silicon carbide battery? Some kind of new power-efficient display or chipset design? Not exactly.<\/p>\n The first solution Apple mentioned is iOS 26\u2019s Adaptive Power Mode \u2014 a type of battery-saver mode that makes \u201cperformance adjustment\u201d throughout the day to help give you longer battery life. This can include lowering your screen brightness, increasing loading times for some activities, etc. In other words, to get good battery life on the iPhone Air, you won\u2019t be able to use the phone at its full capacity.<\/p>\n Apple says this helps the iPhone Air get \u201call-day battery life,\u201d which, according to Apple\u2019s website, equals up to 27 hours of video playback \u2014 three hours less than the iPhone 17<\/a> and 12 hours less than the iPhone 17 Pro Max.<\/p>\n Joe Maring \/ Android Authority<\/p>\n But don\u2019t you worry. Throttling performance with a power-saver mode isn\u2019t Apple\u2019s only solution for combating poor battery life on the iPhone Air. The company\u2019s second answer to this problem is \u2026 a new MagSafe battery pack.<\/p>\n What\u2019s fascinating is that this isn\u2019t just another battery pack for Apple\u2019s entire iPhone portfolio. The battery pack is explicitly called \u201ciPhone Air MagSafe Battery\u201d and is labeled as being \u201ccreated exclusively for iPhone Air.\u201d Furthermore, Apple\u2019s website lists<\/a> the battery pack as only being compatible with the iPhone Air.<\/p>\n Joe Maring \/ Android Authority<\/p>\n Even more interesting is that if you look at the iPhone comparison tool on Apple\u2019s site, there\u2019s a dedicated line in the battery section for \u201cVideo playback with iPhone Air MagSafe Battery.\u201d It\u2019s the first time an iPhone spec sheet has ever listed battery life estimates for the phone and the phone with an optional battery pack, seeming to suggest that Apple expects a lot\u00a0of people to buy this thing. Not necessarily because they want to, but because they\u2019ll have to.<\/p>\n Oh,\u00a0 and that battery will cost an extra $99 on top of the $999 iPhone Air.<\/p>\n None of this sounds promising<\/p>\n I think there is a future (maybe in a different reality) where phones like the Galaxy S25 Edge and iPhone Air are amazing. As someone who really enjoys using a lightweight phone for the ergonomics, there is something appealing about having a larger display in a smartphone body that\u2019s so thin and lightweight.<\/p>\n However, the Galaxy S25 Edge made it clear that Samsung didn\u2019t have a definitive answer to the battery life conundrum, and the iPhone Air proves that Apple doesn\u2019t know what to do about it either. If anything, the company\u2019s \u201csolutions\u201d of throttling performance and buying a $100 battery pack have me worried the iPhone Air could have even worse battery life than the low bar set by the Galaxy S25 Edge.<\/p>\n To make matters worse, this is to say nothing of the iPhone Air\u2019s other compromises \u2014 whether that\u2019s the single rear camera, one external earpiece speaker, or 20W wired charging. There\u2019s also a big question around the iPhone Air\u2019s thermal performance, which, if the Galaxy S25 Edge is any indication, could be concerning.<\/p>\n As a fan of cool and unique smartphones \u2014 whether they run Android or iOS \u2014 I was hoping Apple would address my concerns around the iPhone Air and show me a device that I may want to carry alongside my go-to Android phone. But after seeing the company\u2019s full pitch for the iPhone Air, that didn\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n I am interested in seeing how the iPhone Air performs in the real world, and I\u2019d love to be proved wrong and to see this phone\u2019s battery hold up better than expected. But from where I\u2019m sitting right now, it sure doesn\u2019t look good.<\/p>\n![\"Screenshot](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/iphone-air-magsafe-battery-store-page.jpg\"\/)
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