iPhone Air Launched: Ultra-Slim Form Factor, Apple Intelligence Features, and More

Apple finally took the wraps off the iPhone Air at the ‘Awe Dropping' event in California on Wednesday. It is an all-new model in the Cupertino-based tech giant's lineup, replacing the iPhone 16 Plus from last year. It carries all of the features of the iPhone 17 series, including an A19-series chipset and support for Apple Intelligence. However, the iPhone Air repackages it in a much slimmer form factor, competing with Samsung's Galaxy S25 Edge in the ultra-slim smartphone space.

iPhone Air Price and Availability

The price of iPhone Air starts at $999 (roughly Rs. 88,100) for the base variant with 256GB of storage. It is also available with 512GB and 1TB of storage, priced accordingly. The handset will be offered in four shades --- Sky Blue, Light Gold, Cloud White, and Space Black.

In India, the iPhone Air price begins at Rs. 1,19,900 for the base variant, while the 512GB and 1TB varinats cost Rs. 1,39,900 and Rs. 1,59,900, respectively.

The handset is avaialble for pre-order beginning September 12. Deliveries of the iPhone Air will commence September 19.

iPhone Air Features and Specifications

The iPhone Air is an eSIM-only handset that runs on iOS 26. It sports a 6.5-inch Super Retina XDR OLED display with a 3,000 nits peak brightness and ProMotion capabilities. This means, like other iPhone 17 models, the iPhone Air can also operate between 10-120Hz refresh rates, depending on the use case. 

Apple claims that the iPhone Air is its thinnest iPhone model to date, coming in at 5.6mm. It is said to be manufactured from 80 percent recycled Titanium materials. The handset has Ceramic Shield 2 on the front and back, for the first time. As per the company, this makes the iPhone Air up to four times more resistant to cracks.

The iPhone Air is powered by a similar A19 Pro SoC as the Pro models. However, it is a binned version of the chipset, comprising a six-core CPU, five-core GPU, and a 16-core Neural Engine. It features second-generation Dynamic Caching, resulting in increased math rates and unified image compression. The phone also comes with support for Apple Intelligence features.

Apart from this, it also features Apple's new N1 chip, which powers Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6 and thread capabilities. Meanwhile, there is a new C1X modem that is claimed to deliver twice as fast networking speeds, while being more efficient compared to the C1 modem on the iPhone 16e.

For optics, the iPhone Air adopts the 48-megapixel Fusion main camera from the other handsets in the lineup. It has sensor-shift optical image stabilisation, f/1.6 aperture, and 2X telephoto capabilties. On the front, you get the same 18-megapixel Centre Stage camera as other iPhone 17 models.

While Apple has not revealed battery specifications of the iPhone Air, it is claimed to deliver an "all-day" battery life, with up to 27 hours of video playback on a single charge. The handset can get charged up to 50 percent in 30 minutes.

(This is a developing story)