The iPhone Air and 17 Pro test: featherweight, battery and super zoom
Apple's newcomers between innovation (the Air) and incremental improvements (the Pro). Here are the pros and cons
4' min read
4' min read
The iPhone Air takes its name and underlying philosophy from the MacBook Air because it is actually very very light and thin. The feeling once you pick it up is very pleasant, it fits in your pocket and you don't notice it, and the design is also successful. Above all, it is something new after years of very similar form factors from one generation to the next. How does it perform in everyday use? We get there, and we also talk about the iPhone 17 Pro, also tested for a week.
iPhone Air is 5.6 millimetres thick and weighs just 165 grams. While the 17 Pro weighs 204, a little more than the 16 Pro, and the 17 Pro Max weighs 240.
This weight and manageability is certainly the first merit of this new iPhone, but what I liked most is that it combines this lightness with a 6.5-inch screen. For as much as we now use the phone for photos, for video editing, that 6.5 inch is a very comfortable size. Again as a yardstick, the 17 Pro has a 6.3-inch screen, and the Pro Max a 6.9-inch. And even the basic 17 model has 6.3 inches, while the 16 was 6.1.
Let's stay a bit on the iPhone Air since it's the new thing. The Apple engineers I spoke to at the design centre in Munich, who work on some of the new chips Apple made for this device, focused a lot on efficiency. Everything in here is very small to make room for the battery, which without this work would not have been up to scratch. The single 48 MP camera and most of the components are in fact concentrated up here to leave all the space for the battery. There is also no slot for a physical sim but only for the esim. Why? Again to save space for the battery. Note that in several countries, including the US, the entire iPhone 17 range has only esim. The 17 Pro also changes from its predecessors as a camera design, with part of the component optimisation process in common with the Air.
The choice of materials
.In terms of materials, Air and 17 Pro have ceramic shield front and back covers, a type of proprietary ceramic glass that is much more resistant to scratches and drops. Air has a titanium frame. In Apple's tests it proved to withstand three times the pressure a human can withstand without bending. Or rather: it bends but then returns to its original position. Trying it with full force with your hands, it flexes slightly but only during pushing.
