iPhone Air Review: Beauty is Pain

Summary

MKBHD reviews Apple’s iPhone Air, the thinnest iPhone ever made - thinner than a number two pencil and even thinner than the iPod Touch. While praising its impressive engineering and surprisingly excellent durability, he breaks down the numerous trade-offs Apple made to achieve this form factor. The review categorizes concerns into small (single speaker, eSIM only, no mmWave 5G, USB2 speeds), medium (less cooling, single camera), and main concerns (battery life). Despite the impressive build quality and titanium frame that exceeds durability expectations, MKBHD concludes the phone isn’t for him due to the camera limitations and poor battery life. However, he suggests the iPhone Air may actually be a preview of Apple’s technology development for a future foldable iPhone, similar to how Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Edge preceded their foldable.

Highlights

”Thinner Than a Number Two Pencil”

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“It’s thinner than a number two pencil, thinner than any previous iPhone including the one that bent. It’s thinner than the freaking iPod Touch. That is ridiculous.” — Marques Brownlee, 0:31

”Beauty is Pain”

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“There are a bunch of trade-offs. It doesn’t just get this thin magically without a bunch of sacrifices. Beauty is pain after all.” — Marques Brownlee, 1:40

”One of the Most Durable iPhones Ever”

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“It’s literally one of the most impressively durable iPhones I’ve ever tested. I’m not exaggerating… The titanium frame can withstand way more pressure than any human can put on it and it’ll snap back to flat every time.” — Marques Brownlee, 7:46

”One Half of a Foldable iPhone”

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“But I lied. There’s actually a third way to look at the iPhone Air, and that is as one half of a foldable iPhone that we all expect as early as next year.” — Marques Brownlee, 12:54

”The Box That iOS Comes In”

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“But now it’s like I’m reviewing, you know, the box that iOS comes in, you know? And I think this package, like, this will speak to plenty of people. It’s beautiful, it’s super trim, it’s super light in the hand.” — Marques Brownlee, 14:41

Key Points

• 0:00 - Introduction: Every product design is a series of trade-offs between form and function
• 0:21 - This is the iPhone Air: Thinner than a number two pencil, any previous iPhone (including the one that bent), and the iPod Touch
• 0:42 - Internal Engineering: Apple rearranged parts, squeezed logic board into a “plateau” bulge, leaving most internal space for battery
• 1:12 - Build Details: 3D printed USB-C port, buttons and camera control extend to edges, softly rounded edges with fingerprint-prone but durable exterior
• 1:37 - Not Perfect: Beauty is pain - multiple sacrifices were made for thinness
• 2:01 - Small Concern #1 - Single Speaker: Bottom grills are just microphones; only speaker is the earpiece, resulting in tinny audio and one-sided stereo
• 2:45 - Small Concern #2 - eSIM Only: No SIM card slot to save space; gains extra battery but problematic for phone swappers
• 3:37 - Small Concern #3 - No mmWave 5G: Unlike other iPhone 17s; most people have never used it anyway
• 4:09 - New C1X Modem: Brand new Apple modem with Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, Thread; performs as well as Qualcomm
• 4:30 - Small Concern #4 - USB2 Speeds: USB-C port only supports USB2 transfer speeds
• 4:40 - Medium Concern #1 - Less Cooling: A19 Pro chip with one less GPU core, no aluminum frame or vapor chamber like Pro models; gets warm under heavy use but doesn’t overheat
• 5:29 - Medium Concern #2 - Single Camera: No Ultra Wide camera; 2x crops help but can’t replace a real zoom lens; quality drops significantly past 5x
• 6:27 - Camera Quality: The single main camera is excellent, essentially the same sensor as other iPhones; selfie camera is genuinely innovative
• 7:30 - Main Concern #1 - Durability (Surprise!): Actually one of the most durable iPhones ever; titanium frame withstands extreme bending, remains IP68, improved Ceramic Shield
• 8:42 - Scratch Resistance: Passed beyond normal smartphones on Zach’s scratch test at level 6
• 9:13 - Repairability: Gets 7/10 from iFixit with dual entry for front and back glass replacement
• 9:40 - Main Concern #2 - Battery Life: Small battery with no silicon carbon technology; Samsung and Apple skipped higher-density batteries in 2025
• 10:16 - Display: 6.5-inch, 120Hz OLED with variable refresh down to 1Hz; A19 Pro underclocks well
• 10:42 - Battery Performance: Ends day at 15% in Low-Power Mode with only 4 hours screen-on time; concerning for longevity
• 11:25 - Standby Drain: Pro chip drains battery during screen-off tasks like wireless CarPlay
• 11:48 - Slowest Wireless Charging: Slowest in the iPhone 17 lineup; heavy users need constant wireless charging
• 12:00 - Deal Breakers: Cameras and battery are the two reasons MKBHD won’t daily drive the Air
• 12:15 - MagSafe Battery Pack: Sold separately for $100; same battery size as iPhone Air but only charges to 65% due to heat loss
• 12:33 - The Future Preview: iPhone Air may be a preview for Apple’s future foldable iPhone
• 13:04 - Foldable Context: Each half of good folding phones is often thinner than iPhone Air; Apple needs this miniaturization for foldables
• 13:46 - Apple’s Goal: All engineering effort geared toward making first truly new iPhone form factor since iPhone X
• 14:19 - Galaxy S25 Edge Comparison: Similar to how Samsung released Edge before their foldable
• 14:21 - iOS and Hardware: New iOS with visual intelligence; hardware has almost zero changes other than selfie camera
• 14:47 - Target Audience: Beautiful, trim, light phone that will appeal to many people
• 15:03 - Pro Phones: The Air’s existence allows Pro phones to be even more pro with thicker builds, heavier bodies, bigger cameras
• 15:17 - Conclusion: MKBHD will daily drive the Pro phones; full Pro review coming next

Mentions

Companies

• 0:27 - Apple - Manufacturer of the iPhone Air
• 3:21 - Huawei - Phone manufacturer mentioned for eSIM compatibility issues
• 3:21 - OPPO - Phone manufacturer mentioned for eSIM compatibility issues
• 4:25 - Qualcomm - Previous iPhone modem supplier, used for comparison
• 9:53 - Samsung - Mentioned for skipping silicon carbon batteries in 2025
• 9:18 - iFixit - Gave iPhone Air 7/10 repairability score
• 14:01 - Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge - Thin phone that preceded Samsung’s foldable
• 15:27 - Ridge - Channel sponsor making power banks

Products

• 0:21 - iPhone Air - Main subject of the review
• 0:38 - iPod Touch - Reference for thinness comparison
• 3:37 - iPhone 17 - Rest of the lineup that includes mmWave 5G
• 4:09 - C1X Chip - Apple’s new in-house modem
• 4:18 - Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, Thread - Networking technologies in new Apple chip
• 5:50 - Fusion Camera - iPhone’s main camera with 2x crop capability
• 8:05 - Ceramic Shield - Apple’s scratch-resistant glass technology
• 10:32 - A19 Pro Chip - Processor in iPhone Air with one less GPU core
• 11:36 - Wireless CarPlay - Feature that drains battery significantly
• 12:15 - MagSafe Battery Pack - $100 accessory for iPhone Air

People

• 8:42 - Zach (JerryRigEverything) - YouTuber known for durability testing, referenced for scratch test

Surprising Quotes

“It’s thinner than a number two pencil, thinner than any previous iPhone including the one that bent. It’s thinner than the freaking iPod Touch. That is ridiculous.” - 0:31

“Beauty is pain after all.” - 1:46

“It’s literally one of the most impressively durable iPhones I’ve ever tested. I’m not exaggerating.” - 7:46

“Turns out those engineers and material science people over there are actually pretty good. Or maybe they had some incentive to not repeat a certain past incident.” - 9:04 - Referencing iPhone 6 “Bendgate”

“But I lied. There’s actually a third way to look at the iPhone Air, and that is as one half of a foldable iPhone that we all expect as early as next year.” - 12:54

“But now it’s like I’m reviewing, you know, the box that iOS comes in, you know?” - 14:41 - On reviewing the hardware rather than software

“Ending the day with like 15% left in Low-Power Mode in normal use with four hours of screen on time for a brand new phone is not that great.” - 10:42

Full Transcript

0:00 Every product design is a series of trade-offs. It’s like a slider, where you can push it either towards form or towards function and it can be exciting when…

0:21 This is the iPhone Air. So Apple decided to make a… It’s thinner than a number two pencil, thinner than any previous iPhone including the one that bent. It’s thinner than the freaking iPod Touch. That is ridiculous.

0:42 And this isn’t simply… Apple has done a ton of rearranging parts and pieces inside the phone. They’ve squeezed a lot and logic board up into and allowed a bit of a bulge, which they’re calling a plateau, which leaves most of the space for just battery.

1:02 The edges are nice and softly rounded, and the whole outside which picks up a ton of fingerprints but also is remarkably durable. They 3D printed the USB type-C port to fit and all of the buttons and camera control, as thin as they are, go pretty much right up to the front and back edges of the phone.

1:22 The end result is an iPhone and lighter than it’s been in a long time. It is super impressive, and importantly, deserving of the Air name. But it’s not perfect. Of course, it’s not perfect. You wouldn’t be watching this if it was.

1:40 There are a bunch of trade-offs. It doesn’t just get this thin magically without a bunch of sacrifices. Beauty is pain after all. And so now that I’ve been using this phone for a couple of weeks, I’m just gonna give you the breakdown of all the trade-offs that Apple made and how much they matter. And I have some small concerns, some medium concerns, and some main concerns.

2:01 So small concern number one is they did remove the bottom speaker. So most of the bottom of the phone looks normal but then those grills at the bottom of the Air are just for microphones. So the only speaker in this whole phone is up in that earpiece at the top.

2:16 Couple things. A speaker that small is obviously quieter but there’s also way less bass. So things are a bit tinny. But the worst case scenario is actually when you turn your phone or do something with stereo audio, in which case you’ll probably notice all the audio is coming from one side of the phone. And if you accidentally block it that’s even more annoying.

2:37 So the speakers are definitely not great, but they’re acceptable. At least they’re not horrible, you kind of just get used to it.

2:45 So then the iPhone Air is also eSIM only. This is, again, in an effort to make enough room inside - they’re just getting rid of the slot where you normally have a SIM card. So this is a very direct push out of that safe space. Apple won’t say exactly how much space they saved but some of the numbers around the eSIM versus non-eSIM iPhones, looks like there’s a bit of extra battery they’re getting.

3:10 And believe me, I’ll talk more about that later. But yeah, lots of people use physical SIM cards. And I guess it’s a bigger deal to me, because I swap phones a lot from like Huawei and OPPO that I wouldn’t be able to use and doesn’t work well with eSIM, so I really dislike it.

3:29 But I suppose for the average person, they’ll only notice this once or twice. Once when they switch the phone, and then once when they travel internationally.

3:37 But speaking of carriers, the iPhone Air, unlike the rest of the iPhone 17s, does not support mmWave 5G. And the thing is, most people outside the U.S. have never used mmWave 5G, and most people in the U.S. have also never used mmWave 5G.

3:55 So you know it’s super niche. When you have it, you know, with a supporting device and if I happen to have coverage in that moment, it’s great. But that is so rare and so specific that you might as well not worry about it yet.

4:09 The modem in the iPhone Air is brand new. It’s the new C1X chip and alongside Apple’s new networking chip which does all the networking, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6 and Thread, it’s performed great. It does not seem to have any issues with signal or coverage versus Qualcomm iPhones, previous iPhones with other modems, so that’s been great to see.

4:30 But then the USB-C port is only USB2 transfer speeds. So, that’s just dumb.

4:40 But now let’s get to the medium concerns. First of all, less cooling. Okay, so I did notice the phone getting warm. It’s running the more powerful A19 Pro chip with one less GPU core but it’s a Pro chip and the Pro phones have aluminum frames and they have a new vapor chamber to pull heat from that chip and dissipate it. The Air has none of that.

5:06 And so I did have a few occasions where I was doing a lot of heavy stuff and the back of the phone was noticeably warm especially like right around the camera. No question, it’s gotta be throttling with any sort of heavy, sustained use, it’s a little concerning, but the phone never actually did overheat or give me an overheating message. So I guess that is a good thing.

5:29 So then there is the single camera, and I’m putting this in medium concerns, but it really very much depends on the person. For some it’s just like, “Are you cool with this or not?” Because a lot of people, a lot of people, are currently using iPhones with multiple cameras. Lots of older iPhones even have two cameras. And most of the people upgrading have those second cameras, whether it’s Ultra Wide or telephoto.

5:54 And so the Air doesn’t have an Ultra Wide, and I can’t tell you how many times I went to go take a picture of something and then realized I can’t switch to Ultra Wide.

6:02 And there’s also no telephoto. I will say Apple makes a big deal about their processing pipeline for the 2x crops on the Fusion camera. So the middle 12 megapixels for a 2x photo having good quality but that still doesn’t replace having an actual quality zoom camera. And that’s especially noticeable at longer distances. I’d say anywhere past about 5x, the quality really starts to drop off in all shooting scenarios.

6:26 All that said, the one camera you do get is really good. It’s essentially the same main sensor and in the world of a single camera phone it is right up there with the best. The selfie camera too, which I’ll talk more about in the iOS review is genuinely innovative compared to previous iPhones.

6:45 I think casual photo and video takers will actually mostly be fine with this single camera but we’re not in a vacuum and there’s lots of competition and you just have to know that there are other phones that cost a thousand dollars that have way more capable camera systems that can do ultra wide, zoom, night mode, and more. This won’t do that.

7:07 So for me, someone who relies on the cameras on the phone a lot, this is one of the reasons I’m not dailying the Air, but for your parents or someone you know who just takes photos and videos on the main camera they’ll probably be totally fine and this was a carefully calculated trade-off to get there.

7:30 But now my two main concerns and probably for most people, the durability and the battery, and some of this is surprising. It turns out the iPhone Air has passed basically all of the famous durability tests. It’s literally one of the most impressively durable iPhones I’ve ever tested.

7:51 I’m not exaggerating, I think in most people’s concerns, when seeing a piece of hardware this thin, naturally they’re thinking, “Oh, am I gonna break this?” “Am I gonna snap it in half?” And the answer it turns out is no - this is not any less durable than other iPhones.

8:07 The titanium frame can withstand way more pressure than any human can put on it and it’ll snap back to flat every time. And you can almost sit on it for an extended period of time and it will survive. It’s still IP68 water and dust resistant, dunk it underwater if you want to.

8:25 And the Ceramic Shield is actually even more scratch resistant than previous versions. I know they say that a lot. “Oh this one’s the most scratch resistant ever” but it’s to the point where it didn’t even scratch at level six with deeper grooves on Zach’s famous test, it passed even beyond normal smartphones.

8:46 Now of course, glass is still glass. You could still drop this phone and shatter the front or back. But you know, I think we all expected that the durability would be a weakness and it turns out it’s one of the best things about this phone which is crazy.

9:04 Turns out those engineers and material science people over there are actually pretty good. Or maybe they had some incentive to not repeat a certain past incident.

9:13 And then it also turns around and gets a 7 outta 10 from iFixit and still retains dual entry so you can take just the front glass or just the back glass off and Apple posted all their repair manuals. Kudos.

9:29 So I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that through all my throwing it in a frizzy bag and tossing it on a chair next to me, and all the abuse I’ve put it through it hasn’t even come close to breaking.

9:40 So that brings us to the battery. So the battery on the iPhone Air is small and there’s no getting around that. Remember earlier this year though, when I said one of the big pillars of 2025 smartphones was higher-density silicon carbon batteries?

9:58 Well it turns out two of the biggest phone manufacturers Samsung and Apple, well, they just didn’t wanna use those on any of their phones. So not only is this a thin phone with less room inside but it’s also not even a higher density battery to make up for it.

10:16 So the result is this big, bright, gorgeous six and a half inch, 120 hertz OLED display being powered by a battery the same size as much smaller phones. I will say parts have gotten more efficient. So like the display can drop down to one hertz and the A19 Pro chip can underclock super well. So it’s not a disaster, but I’m giving the battery a thumbs down.

10:42 Ending the day with like 15% left in Low-Power Mode in normal use with four hours of screen on time for a brand new phone is not that great. Makes me concerned for how this will look in three or four years down the road.

10:57 It’s actually kind of similar to the situation with older phones. Like, there are lots of people out there, it might be you, using a phone that was awesome when you first got it. But now years later, if you’re a heavy user and it’s dying and you realize the battery has degraded, the Air is probably not the best choice for you.

11:16 But if you are getting to year two and the battery is not an issue and you feel like you’re a lighter user then the Air could be fine for you.

11:25 So to be specific, for my own use, like standby time I expected to be great like it is on so many other iPhones, but this Pro chip can be hungry. So even with like some screen off stuff like wireless CarPlay for example, it would take big chunks outta my battery. Anytime the phone was doing anything it drains fast.

11:44 And then this phone also has the slowest wireless charging of the 17 lineup, which is frustrating. So if you’re a heavy user like me, well, you literally just end up keeping it on a wireless charger as much as possible. It’s annoying, it was just a constant thought.

12:00 And that’s sort of the two things that made it a deal breaker for me is the cameras and the battery. The difference though is the battery you can kind of work around with accessories.

12:10 Also pretty classic Apple to create a problem and then sell you the solution. So this is the MagSafe battery pack sold alongside the Air. It’s sold separately for a hundred bucks, and it’s also just not great to be honest. It turns out it’s basically the same size battery that’s in the iPhone Air, but only charges it to about 65%, because of the heat loss from wireless charging. Not a great deal.

12:34 So originally I said there were two ways to look at the iPhone Air. One is it’s just Apple throwing things out the wall to see what sticks - oh, maybe people like this - or it is a long, premeditated step towards the future of all smartphones when everything gets thinner.

12:54 But I lied. There’s actually a third way and that is as one half of a foldable iPhone that we all expect as early as next year.

13:04 Because it’s easy to be impressed by the thinness of the iPhone Air, but if you’ve paid attention to the rest of the smartphone world lately, each half of a good folding phone is often even thinner than this iPhone.

13:17 It’s obviously a huge priority for them, because they’re trying to make foldables feel as thin as a normal phone when closed, so double their typical Z axis.

13:26 So all of this work, all of the rearranging of the inside of the phone and the miniaturization of parts and the efficiency maxing with their in-house developed modem and chips all of that effort is absolutely geared towards seeing if they can make the first ever, truly new iPhone form factor maybe since the 10.

13:51 And it just so happens to enable this really thin and light iPhone that they’ll make in the meantime. Kind of the exact same way we got a Galaxy S25 Edge and then a few months later the Galaxy Z Fold which was an ultra-thin foldable.

14:08 So I’m very much looking forward to that crazy foldable and what they’ll call it, and what software it’ll run.

14:16 But for now, this one, the iPhone Air, is what we have. You know, every year we get the new iOS and all of its features and visual intelligence and Apple Intelligence. And I review that separately and you guys already know how I feel about that.

14:32 And then we get the new iPhone hardware and there are almost zero hardware changes other than the selfie camera. But now it’s like I’m reviewing, you know, the box that iOS comes in, you know?

14:47 And I think this package, like, this will speak to plenty of people. It’s beautiful, it’s super trim, it’s super light in the hand. People are gonna pick this phone and love it.

14:59 But I think maybe the best thing about the iPhone Air is actually how much it frees up Apple to make the Pro phones even more pro, which are now thicker and heavier and bigger cameras and more capable. That’s the one I’ll be daily driving.

15:19 Stay tuned for the full review, of course, on the Pro phones next.

15:21 But hey, if you are planning on getting the iPhone Air or literally any other iPhone or any Android phone for that matter, then channel sponsor Ridge has it covered. And I know Apple made their own battery pack but trust me, you’d rather have this one.

15:37 Because this power bank has a bigger battery. So that’s good for about two full charges. Plus, it can actually do other things so it can charge your Apple Watch. It has two built in cables, USB-C and Lightning for any device. And it even has a kickstand so you can prop it up and watch videos while you’re charging.

15:57 It comes in Matte Black, Matte Olive, or Basecamp Orange to match your style. So whether you’re getting the iPhone Air or literally grabbed any other new phone that Ridge power bank has you covered. So check it out today at the link in the description.

16:12 Thanks for watching. Catch you guys to the next one. Peace.