By Erna Mahyuni
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 8 — I wasn’t sure what to make of the iPhone Air when I read the press materials and saw initial chatter about it online.
Having reviewed phones for nearly 20 years I’ve seen (and used) all manner of them — from flips to so-called “feature” phones, there’s a phone for everyone.
Yet some phones just aren’t for everyone and that includes the iPhone Air.
Supermodel of iPhones
What I like doing is just handing the iPhone Air to people and seeing how they react.
“Here, hold it,” I say to whichever person, from the girl in the boutique I was shopping at, to the first few people in line for the iPhone 17 Pro, and friends unfortunate to be stuck with me on my iPhone jaunts.
“Oh, it’s thin,” is the nearly invariable comment.
To know whether you are going to like the iPhone Air you have to hold it.
That first minute in your hand is going to be the dealbreaker moment; when you decide whether or not that super sleek profile will be the most important thing to you.
As far as iPhones go, I like my phones as maximalist as possible (in contrast to my own preference for minimalism elsewhere).
Give me the biggest screen, the largest battery, the most optical zoom.
This year’s iPhone 17 Pro Max has surprised me by how much more I like it compared to last year’s model.
That’s another story to come but what about the Air then?
While I was at my sickest, even my phone had become too heavy to carry.
My iPhone 16 Pro Max sat pretty in my Stanley Cup holder bag when I needed to go up and down stairs because I couldn’t trust my weak hands to hold onto it.
Holding the iPhone Air I thought, “This would have been my favourite phone when I was ill.”
Do you need to be infirm to appreciate the Air, then?
Here’s the thing: powerful phones are, sadly, often heavy phones.
I’ve had someone drop their iPhone Pro on my foot and it bruised.
Trying to do anything one handed on an iPhone Pro is just asking for a sore wrist.
Slap a bumper case and straps onto the iPhone Air and not only will it not fall on someone’s foot, you will hardly even feel its weight across your shoulders.
While phones on straps isn’t a new trend, the nearly RM300 Apple phone straps are certainly premium in build.
You know the ends aren’t going to suddenly detach but they’re not knife-proof either so if you’re in pickpocket country, hold on tight to your phone strap.
What can’t you do?
After answering the question whether the thinness matters most to you, you will have to make peace with what the phone can’t do.
The battery isn’t going to last as long as an iPhone Pro Max but it’s also not going to sprain your wrist.
Surprisingly, I have not had to slap on the iPhone Air MagSafe battery as often as I thought it would.
If you still move your physical SIM from phone to phone, the iPhone Air being eSIM only could be a dealbreaker.
For myself, I like being able to swiftly move my phone line to a new phone with just a few taps and not have to deal with SIM trays.
I purchased a prepaid eSIM online from U Mobile, set it up within minutes then proceeded to do what I usually do in a day with a phone — browsing, some YouTube watching, music playing and maybe a little gaming.
Honestly I got as much use out of it as I would from the iPhone 16. So, basically around an average day’s usage or around 10 hours give or take.
The MagSafe battery is at least lighter than Apple’s old battery pack phone case but it adds extra weight (which defeats the purpose of the Air), so I only slapped it on when the battery was winding down to its last 10-15 per cent.
Perhaps the C1X modem (an iPhone Air exclusive) made by Apple makes the difference in battery life? That’s perhaps conjecture and not easy for me to test personally.
What I could test was how durable the iPhone Air was; I can confirm that it’s truly hard to bend so no Bendgate here, folks.
As it’s the only titanium-built new iPhone this year, it might appeal to people who are very good at destroying their gadgets (RIP to all my little sister’s past and present phones).
How about that camera though?
If you could live with “just” the iPhone 15 or 16 camera, then you could manage with the iPhone Air’s camera.
Apple calls the rear 48MP Fusion camera equivalent to “multiple advanced cameras in one” but let’s just call it what it is — an iPhone camera with 2x telephoto, just remember to turn on the setting to 48MP for the most detail as by default it shoots “only” at 24MP.
It’s the kind of phone you’d want to take on walks through a park or a new city, especially on a strap as it makes photo taking easy as opposed to digging a heavier phone or camera out of your bag or pocket.
The 6.5-inch OLED screen is still pretty and is as good as the other phones in this year’s lineup with a chip that’s slightly more powerful than the iPhone 17 though of course not as powerful as the iPhone Pro models.
I was actually surprised at how little I needed to work to get a good shot as compared to previous models.
My first outing with the iPhone 16 series I was struggling to get good pictures in dim restaurant light but the iPhone Air managed decent shots in various scenarios — indoors, indoors concert with the light source only being the stage, outdoors at dusk at a garden, taking pictures of my food.
You know, the kind of pictures you would take if you’re an average Joe (or Jane) doing average things.
I don’t have to fight the lens to focus on things nor do I have to worry as much about lack of light so while I was expecting a more lacklustre experience due to there only being one “true” camera on the iPhone Air, it was perfectly serviceable.
Just so long as you’re not too bothered about (not) having an extra ultrawide camera.
Now, pricing is where it gets a little dicey.
The iPhone Air starts from RM4,999 for the 256GB version, RM5,999 for the 512GB model and RM6,999 for the 1TB unit.
That’s a lot for a phone with its main selling point being how skinny it is while the iPhone 17 is a whole RM1,000 cheaper for the 256GB and 512GB variants.
Of course it’s not as expensive as the Pro (that starts at RM5,499 for the 256GB model).
I can’t call the iPhone Air a bad phone by any metric — it’s gorgeous, super light, ergonomically a joy, the camera’s really quite decent and the battery life is not spectacular but acceptable.
It’s the kind of phone that can grow on you if you let it but will time with it in-store, experiencing it in-hand be enough?
Get it if you’re tired of heavy phones or want a second phone that won’t feel burdensome to carry, or if you don’t need a “Pro” camera or more than 2x telephoto.
Or maybe if you want a phone you know won’t break if you accidentally forget it’s in your back jeans pocket when you sit down.
It’s an acquired taste, certainly, but at the very least the iPhone Air isn’t boring.
The new iPhones are now available at the TRX Apple Store or other official retailers online and offline.
Source: the-iphone-air-an-acquired-taste-but-undeniably-easy-to-take-with-you