It’s my fifth 12 months in a row writing about Apple’s annual iPhone occasion, and I’ve by no means really been tempted to purchase the most recent and biggest iPhone. Like my colleague Julie Bort, I’ve at all times waited to improve my telephone till it’s completely essential. However then the iPhone Air got here alongside. I need it.

Apple’s new iPhone 17 line is spectacular in its personal proper, however this era of gadgets marks the primary time that Apple has made an iPhone Air. Just like the MacBook Air, it’s a thinner, sleeker gadget, which emphasizes model over its tech specs.

Whereas I can admire a state-of-the-art chip, what actually makes me need to purchase a brand new telephone is that it appears cool. And, boy, is that iPhone Air cool. Within the announcement video, Apple confirmed off the telephone because it sat delicately atop somebody’s finger, which is wider than the telephone itself. It’s a cool visible that’s going to make Apple billions of {dollars}.

At first, I wasn’t significantly moved by the thought of an iPhone Air, as a result of I assumed that as a way to be so small, it must be technically weaker than the iPhones I’m used to. Plus, the second I noticed how gloriously slim it’s, I feared that I’d drop it on the sidewalk and destroy it (it’s 5.5 millimeters, or somewhat thicker than three quarters stacked).

Apple guessed that this could be how most clients would react. The iPhone Air was revealed with a wonderful video illustrating how robust it’s; in comparison with earlier iPhones, the corporate says that the display has 3x higher scratch resistance, whereas the again glass is 4x extra proof against cracks. In his presentation, Apple’s SVP of {Hardware} Engineering, John Ternus, even proclaimed that it’s “extra sturdy than any earlier iPhone.”

The iPhone Air additionally exceeded my expectations on the subject of its specs. The iPhone Air really has a extra highly effective processor and barely bigger ProMotion show than the iPhone 17. Apple really known as the iPhone Air’s A19 Professional chip the “quickest CPU in any smartphone.”

“That is MacBook Professional ranges of compute in an iPhone,” VP of Platform Structure Tim Millet stated within the announcement.

The battery lifetime of the iPhone Air looks as if it could possibly be a disadvantage. Not even this putting telephone can overcome its dimension, and a few sacrifices are inevitable, proper? No different iPhone has been so intertwined with the announcement of a brand new slim battery as a most likely essential accent, which prices an additional $99.

Apple says that with the battery, you’ll be able to watch 40 hours of video, however 27 with out it. For streaming video, the Air can assist 22 hours of playback with no additional battery pack, which is definitely the similar battery life as final 12 months’s iPhone 16.

Whereas I’m much less involved concerning the telephone’s digicam capabilities — I stay too cussed to make use of an iPhone for my “severe” inventive endeavors — it’s value mentioning that this telephone has (gasp!) only one again digicam lens. Which means no separate telephoto digicam, though Apple says the telephone can nonetheless zoom in like fashions with their very own telephoto lenses. However I’ll take the modern design over an additional digicam lens, particularly if the only lens is nearly as good as different iPhones’ major lens.

It appears too good to be true. May the iPhone Air actually be a magical gadget that defies every little thing we’ve ever recognized about {hardware}? May it really be that tiny and that highly effective?

I gained’t be shopping for the iPhone Air on the day of its launch. I’m too cynical and have to know from actual individuals, not Apple, that this gadget is well worth the $999 price ticket. But when the opinions are good, properly, I feel I’ll go along with the Cloud White end on my new iPhone Air.