Apple is working on a sequel to the recently-released iPhone Air, a new report says. And where there have been indications that it’s been postponed, that’s not quite the whole story, it seems.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman in his latest Power On newsletter has more details. “The Information reported that a second-generation iPhone Air had been postponed from next fall into 2027 in order to add a second rear camera (and that a vapor chamber and beefier battery are in the cards). The news outlet also cited poor sales as a cause for the schedule change,” Gurman said. I’ve covered this news here.
“But from what I’ve heard, the second-generation iPhone Air hadn’t actually been earmarked for next year — at least not in recent months. So this wasn’t a delay due to the phone’s sales performance. The fact that Apple named the device the iPhone Air (rather than the iPhone 17 Air) signaled that it didn’t want to tie the product to an annual release schedule,” he went on.
This last point is spot on, I think — I had suggested that the iPhone Air would be called that for reasons like this before it was unveiled.
Gurman also said that the change to the next iPhone Air will focus mostly on a new, more efficient 2-namometer processor. “The chip upgrade should help improve the Air’s battery life — the biggest drawback of the first model,” he said.
I’d disagree with that: in my tests and other reviews, the battery life has been more than fine. A bigger issue, I’d say, was the lack of multiple lenses. Gurman has a different take on this.
“Adding a second rear camera for ultrawide shots is technically possible, but I find that idea strange. The phone’s ‘plateau’ area (where the camera is located) is already crowded. Redoing that entire section just to add the least-used iPhone camera seems like a lot of work for a phone that few people are buying,” he added.
Gurman also said that rumors of disappointing sales of the iPhone Air may be wide of the mark as Apple apparently believed it would make up 6% to 8% of sales.
