iPhone Air is the most exciting iPhone Apple has released since iPhone X. Thin, lightweight, and surprisingly well designed, it's unlike anything I've seen in a while. Apple's iPhone lineup is starting to feel increasingly redundant. Since the iPhone 11 lineup, every iPhone has had the same look and feel. So, excuse the pun, the iPhone Air was a real breath of fresh air. We prioritize feel, design and experience over specs, and that's what makes it special. I put my primary SIM card into my iPhone Air and loved it at first. But as I lived with this problem day in and day out, two problems slowly but consistently kept me from fully committing.
Check out my iPhone Air hands-on video and why I couldn't fully commit.
First experience with iPhone Air
If you haven't gotten your hands on an iPhone Air yet, we recommend heading over to the Apple Store and picking one up. Especially if you've been using a Pro iPhone for the last few years, the phone feels incredible the moment you hold it. This is clearly Apple's best looking and feeling iPhone since the iPhone X. Apple has done a great job of making this iPhone more like a piece of jewelry than a piece of technology.
Performance is also excellent. You still get pro-level features like a 120Hz ProMotion display, A19 Pro chip, and Apple's latest modem. Daily use is fast, smooth, snappy, and really fun. It doesn't feel underpowered compared to pro-level iPhones. It's amazing how much performance they were able to fit into such a thin and lightweight phone. It handled everything I threw at it, from communication tasks, content consumption, photo editing, and even light gaming.
But as the weeks turned into months and the initial element of surprise began to wear off, we began to see the compromises Apple had to make.
USB-C port issue
There were two issues I started noticing with Apple's breach of the USB-C port. The first problem is that Apple decided to use a USB 2.0 controller to increase data transfer speeds. On paper, this doesn't seem like a big deal. For many people, that's probably not the case. But it becomes painfully obvious when you use your iPhone for videos, photos, and any other type of content creation. By the way, USB 2.0 speeds are limited to a maximum of 480 Mbps. Buying a cell phone costing more than $1,000 in 2026 seems like a crime. Especially if the file size is getting bigger and bigger. Pro-level iPhones come with USB 3.0, which is 10 times faster than USB 2.0.
I'm someone who regularly shoots 4K and HDR videos on my iPhone and offloads large files to an external SSD. On the iPhone Air, this process is slow and frustrating, especially if you have the Pro model. Interestingly, I found AirDrop to be faster than using a cable, but that shouldn't be the case. Therefore, moving a 10 GB file from your iPhone will take too long.
The second issue, which isn't that big of a deal, is that it also charges slowly. Wired charging for iPhone Air is up to 20W. If you work at a desk or have access to an electrical outlet throughout the day, this isn't a big issue. However, if you need to fast charge it for 20 minutes before heading out, it won't charge much more than a pro-level iPhone.
Single camera situation
If you decide to buy the iPhone Air, the most obvious compromise is that it only has one camera. A high-end 48MP wide lens that is perfect for certain situations. In most situations, you'll get great results for both photos and videos, as long as you don't need to zoom. Even with the 2x “optical” zoom it looks great. But as time went on, I started to miss additional lenses for both personal and work use.
The lack of an ultra-wide camera became especially noticeable in everyday situations. As a parent, I often want to be able to capture those moments up close where an ultra-wide lens can make all the difference. Without it, I found myself physically moving awkwardly just to get the shot. The same goes for telephoto. With the Pro iPhone, being able to optically zoom in on events, children's activities, or candid moments is very useful. If you go over 2x on the iPhone Air, the image quality will drop significantly.
Again, I knew what I was getting into when I got the iPhone Air, but over time it started to get annoying.
final thoughts
The iPhone Air isn't a bad phone by any means. If anything, it's a great addition to the iPhone lineup. It's bold, beautiful, and truly different. More choice is always good for consumers, and I applaud Apple for trying something new. However, I wasn't able to fully commit because I slowly started to realize that USB-C's charging and data transfer speeds were slow and that a single camera wasn't enough for how I used my phone.
That being said, I can understand why people would be drawn to this device. It feels like the future. If you value design, thinness, and portability, and don't rely too much on data transfer or advanced camera features, the iPhone Air makes a lot of sense. I'm not trying to be a pro, and that's okay. It took me several months to realize that compromise was more important to me than I expected.
Perhaps the iPhone Air 2 will alleviate some of these issues. But who knows? What do you think?
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