Last year, the iPhone Air was a solid first attempt at an ultra-thin iPhone, but it had issues. It sounds like Apple is aware of that, too.
Bloomberg’s resident Apple insider Mark Gurman reported on Wednesday that Apple is looking to launch the next iPhone Air in spring 2027 with a couple of key upgrades. First, Gurman said that Apple will reportedly add a second camera lens to the phone’s backside, turning a monocular phone into a binocular one. It will be an ultrawide lens, so fans of telephoto zoom might be disappointed, but given that the original model only had one 48MP lens, that’s a big deal.
Second, Gurman reported that Apple will be improving the device’s relatively disappointing battery life, which isn’t a surprise. There isn’t any info on how Apple engineers will accomplish this, given the phone’s extremely small form factor, but nonetheless, it sounds like Apple wants the next iPhone Air to be a longer-lasting device.
Mashable Light Speed
This report reaffirms previous reporting from The Information, namely the idea that the new iPhone Air will launch next spring rather than this fall. It’s expected that Apple is going to launch the high-end iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Fold phones this fall, with the base iPhone 18 and the new iPhone Air coming later in the spring.
That delay for the next Air was apparently caused by poor sales for the first device.
Our resident iPhone reviewer, Stan Schroeder, was impressed by the first iPhone Air’s form factor but noted the lack of a second camera lens and meager battery life in his review. It seems like those problems may have had some impact on its sales performance, as anecdotally speaking, we at Mashable rarely see them in real life. Still, people who love this phone seem to really love this phone, and Apple is still investing in the ultra-thin form factor.
If Apple can fix the camera and battery problems, perhaps the iPhone Air 2 will have a broader appeal.
