You have to hand it to Apple. While the market wants a folding iPhone, Apple sticks to what it knows and gives them pretty much what they already have but make it thinner and bump the price up.
There will be people who love the iPhone Air simply because it’s so thin – just 5.64mm. But, when you get past that you’ll find that many of the specifications are similar to the iPhone 17.
The iPhone Air has a 6.5-inch Super Retina XDR display with promotion, always-on capability and Apple’s Dynamic Island. It’s protected with Apple’s new Ceramic Shield 2 front which, unlike the iPhone 17, extends to the back. It’s powered by an A19Pro system chip which, curiously, has the same number of CPU. GPU and Neural Engine cores as the iPhone 17’s A19 chip.
Battery life is rated at 27 hours of video playback – about 10% less than the iPhone 17 and 10 hours less than the iPhone 17 Pro.
Camera tech in the iPhone 17 Air is similar to the iPhone 17. The front camera on the iPhone 17 Air is an 18MP Center Stage snapper that can do video stabilisation and supports dual capture so you can use the front and rear cameras simultaneously.
But the iPhone iPhone 17 Air only has a single rear camera. While it can do most of that the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro can do, it is limited to only 1x and 2x zoom and lacks macro photography capability.
From a technical design perspective, the iPhone 17 Air is quite remarkable. Almost all the main components are housed in the rectangular plates on the back. That means almost the entire body is designed to house a single component – the battery.
The plateau holds the A19 Pro system chip, N1 networking chip that provides Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Thread wireless radios, and the new C1X modem chip.
One thing you won’t find on the iPhone Air is a SIM card tray. The quest to conserve space means the iPhone 17 Air is an eSIM only phone – the first time Apple has done this in Australia. The iPhone 17 Air supports dual eSIMs.
Pricing and Availability for the iPhone 17 Air and accessories
iPhone Air will be available in space black, cloud white, light gold, and sky blue, starting with 256GB storage, as well as 512GB and 1TB options. iPhone Air starts at $1,799 inc. GST.
Pre-orders for iPhone 17 begin at 10pm AEST on 12 September 2025 with availability beginning Friday, 19 September.
iPhone Air MagSafe Battery will be available for $159. iPhone Air Case with MagSafe is available for $79, iPhone Air Bumper will be available for RRP A$65, and a Crossbody Strap will be available for RRP A$99 inc. GST. FineWoven Wallet with MagSafe will be available for $99 in black, navy, midnight, purple, fox orange, and moss.
Anthony is the founder of Australian Apple News. He is a long-time Apple user and former editor of Australian Macworld. He has contributed to many technology magazines and newspapers as well as appearing regularly on radio and occasionally on TV.