The iPhone Air is Apple’s attempt to make smartphones exciting again

 

A person holds an Apple iPhone Air during Apple's "Awe-Dropping" event.

Nic Coury/AFP/Getty Images

New York —  

For the better part of the last decade, sharper cameras, bigger screens and longer battery life have defined annual smartphone upgrades.

But that may no longer be enough to dazzle consumers – at least not in Apple’s opinion.

The company on Tuesday announced the iPhone Air, the first major design overhaul to its flagship product in nearly a decade. An Apple executive described it as being “so thin and light, it seems to disappear in your hands” during the company’s keynote presentation.

The iPhone Air’s debut comes as Apple’s hit product, and smartphones more broadly, are in need of a refresh. The smartphone market has finally rebounded after years of slumping sales, dragged lower in part by a lack of compelling new features. That means consumers are holding onto their smartphones for longer periods of time.

Launch weekend sales of the iPhone 16 in 2024 were estimated to be lower than the previous year, ramping up pressure for Apple to deliver with the iPhone Air and iPhone 17 lineup.

Analysts have been waiting more than a decade for an upgrade “supercycle” like the one Apple experienced more than a decade ago with the iPhone 6, one of Apple’s most successful phones in history.

It’s unclear if the iPhone Air can help Apple deliver that, but some analysts are optimistic that a sleek new iPhone will do more to persuade shoppers to upgrade than the iterative updates of years past. And more importantly, the new device could set the direction for where Apple takes the iPhone next.

“The new iPhone 17 lineup represents the biggest design overhaul since the iPhone X. In itself, this is a strong reason for users to upgrade,” Francisco Jeronimo, an analyst for the International Data Corporation, said Tuesday via email.

Slow smartphone sales

The smartphone market is coming out of a rough patch, with sales seeing their largest ever decline in a single quarter in the fourth quarter of 2022 because of sluggish demand, according to the IDC. Counterpoint Research, another major firm that tracks global smartphone shipments, also reported that the smartphone market saw eight consecutive quarters of decline in 2023.

The situation is different in 2025; sales grew by 1.4% year-over-year in the second quarter of this year according to the IDC, although the report says unemployment, inflation and tariff uncertainty are still hindering demand.