Apple has unveiled the iPhone Air, its thinnest iPhone to date

The new iPhone Air combines a 5.6mm profile, recycled titanium body, and a redesigned single camera system.

Image: Apple

Note: Looking for our hands-on experience? Head over here!

Apple’s Awe Dropping event wasn’t just about new iPhone Pros and Maxes. The Cupertino-based company also introduced an entirely new member of the family: the iPhone Air. As its name suggests, this is the thinnest iPhone Apple has ever made, measuring at 5.6mm. For comparison’s sake, that’s slimmer than the already-very-thin M4 iPad Pro.

That ultra-thin design comes with some clever engineering choices. Apple revealed that it milled the inside to make space for all the hardware, and the body is built from recycled titanium. The front and back use a new glass formulation that Apple claims is three times more scratch-resistant than before. You can get it in four finishes: Sky Blue, Light Gold, Cloud White, and Space Black.

iPhone Air
Photo: HWZ

Inside, the iPhone Air is powered by Apple’s latest A19 Pro chip, which the company is calling the fastest CPU on any smartphone right now. There’s also a 5-core GPU with neural accelerators built into each core, which Apple claims gives the phone MacBook Pro-like performance for AI tasks, and a new Apple-built modem called the C1x, which is two times faster than the C1. Along with these upgrades, the iPhone Air comes with Apple’s new N1 chip design, which adds support for Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Thread and should improve Personal Hotspot and AirDrop features.

For display, the iPhone Air comes with a 6.5-inch ProMotion display with a refresh rate of up to 120Hz and 3,000 nits of peak brightness. Apple says the design is its “most durable” yet, featuring a ceramic shield that encloses a titanium frame on both sides.

iPhone Air
Photo: HWZ

But the biggest change might be on the back. Instead of Apple’s familiar triangular camera layout seen on the Pro versions, the iPhone Air sports a single 48MP Fusion camera in a horizontal bar. It merges main and telephoto capabilities into one sensor, so there’s no separate ultrawide lens this time. Apple is betting on computational photography to handle the rest, with a focus on low-light performance. The front camera features the new Centre Stage that will also be available on the iPhone 17 and 17 Pro, letting you stay framed during video calls and even shoot with both front and back cameras at the same time.

And as expected, there’s no SIM tray here – the iPhone Air is eSIM-only worldwide. Apple promises “all-day” battery life with up to 40 hours of video playback, with iOS 26 doing some of the heavy lifting to optimise power consumption. Apple also introduced a new low-profile MagSafe battery pack that can extend usage to around 40 hours.

Pre-orders for the iPhone Air start on 12 September, with general availability on 19 September. Price starts from S$1,599 (256GB). It launches alongside the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max. To pre-order, click here.

For more information on how it handles and our first impressions, head over here. For a complete rundown on pricing and how it compares to all the other iPhones launched, here’s our compilation.

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