iPhone 17 Vs. iPhone Air: 4 Compromises And 4 Advantages For Apple's Ultra-Slim Phone

Trying to decide which new iPhone to buy might be more difficult than ever now that the iPhone 17 series is official, especially if you're not going for the iPhone 17 Pro and the iPhone 17 Pro Max. The standard iPhone 17 starts at $799, like its predecessors, despite offering several features that were previously restricted to iPhone Pro models, including a 120Hz ProMotion display, Ceramic Shield 2 cover glass, 48-megapixel ultra-wide lens on the back, and double the storage (256GB) for the cheapest model. Meanwhile, starting at $999, the iPhone Air is practically an iPhone 17 Pro crammed into a much thinner, lighter body.

iPhone buyers choosing between the standard iPhone 17 and the iPhone Air will have to decide between one of the most compelling standard iPhone models Apple has ever released and the thinnest, lightest iPhone ever made. Put differently, they'll have to accept the iPhone Air design compromises or go for the safer iPhone 17 option. Then again, the iPhone Air does have some notable advantages over the base iPhone 17.

One look at the iPhone Air will reveal the most obvious compromise Apple had to make. The ultra-thin handset features a single-lens 48-megapixel camera on the back. The iPhone 17 has two 48-megapixel cameras. As advanced as the single 48-megapixel Fusion Main camera might be, the iPhone Air doesn't support macro or spatial photography. Also, the iPhone Air won't support several video recording modes, including cinematic, spatial, slow-motion, and time-lapse.

The iPhone Air also lacks a physical SIM card slot. Apple chose eSIM connectivity to maximize battery life. iPhone buyers who prefer traditional SIM cards over the digital versions will not find iPhone Airs with SIM slots anywhere in the world.

The iPhone Air's 5.6mm thin profile looks great in photos and videos. The phone should feel great in the hand compared to the bulkier iPhones. However, a look at that profile is enough for anyone to worry about battery life. Apple says the iPhone Air offers all-day battery life, which means up to 27 hours of video playback. The iPhone 17 tops that, lasting up to 30 hours in Apple's same battery benchmarks.

Finally, the iPhone Air features a single speaker – the one at the top of the phone. Streaming content with audio playing over that speaker won't sound as clear as the stereo speaker experience on the iPhone 17.

The iPhone Air does have a few advantages over the iPhone 17 that are worth considering. The most obvious one concerns the design. The iPhone Air has a thickness of 5.64mm compared to 7.95mm for the iPhone 17. It also weighs just 165 grams, which makes it 12 grams lighter than the iPhone 17.

The screen size is another advantage. The handset features the same Super Retina XDR display as the iPhone 17 but offers more screen. At 6.5 inches in size, the iPhone Air display is slightly larger than the 6.3-inch screens on the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro, although it is still smaller than the 6.9-inch OLED screen of the iPhone 17 Pro Max.

The iPhone Air is more durable than the iPhone 17, featuring front and back Ceramic Shield glass. The iPhone 17 only has a Ceramic Shield 2 cover on the front. The Air's titanium frame is more durable than the iPhone 17's aluminum frame as well. Apple said in a press release that the iPhone Air is more durable than any previous iPhone, while that Ceramic Shield back panel gives the phone four times better resistance to cracks than the back glass on previous models.

Finally, the iPhone Air will offer better performance than the iPhone 17. The handset features the A19 Pro chip instead of the A19 found on the standard model. The better processor is paired with more RAM. The Air features 12GB of memory compared to the iPhone 17's 8GB of RAM. The Air also comes in a 1TB version, while the iPhone 17 maxes out at 512GB of storage.