Apple bet big on a dramatic redesign of its iPhone final yr, the largest shakeup to its flagship smartphone in practically a decade. But the slimmer iPhone Air hasn’t appeared to resonate with consumers.
New market analysis information signifies iPhone Air adoption lags far behind the iPhone 17, 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max: Just 6% of US iPhone customers surveyed by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners bought the iPhone Air within the quarter ending in December, the telephone’s first full quarter of availability.
By comparability, 22% purchased the common iPhone 17; 25% purchased the iPhone 17 Pro; and 27% selected the expensive iPhone 17 Pro Max, in accordance with the report. The numbers have been shared with NCS forward of their launch on Wednesday.
Apple (AAPL) is ready to report earnings on Thursday afternoon and can announce international iPhone income for the quarter. But it doesn’t escape numbers for particular iPhone fashions.
There have already been reviews of weak demand for the iPhone Air. But Apple, the world’s largest smartphone maker by some estimates, may not want a smash hit. The International Data Corporation forecast a document variety of shipments this yr for Apple pushed by its newest iPhone 17 lineup. And some analysts say the iPhone Air was by no means actually supposed to be a bestseller. Instead, the telephone was meant so as to add extra selection for consumers and set the stage for extra superior iPhones, resembling fashions that fold in half.
Still, the iPhone Air’s frosty reception raises questions on how Apple can evolve past the tried-and-true iPhone lineup: the usual, Pro and Pro Max fashions.
Apple didn’t reply to a request for remark relating to iPhone Air gross sales, launch plans for a future model or adjustments to manufacturing plans.
The new information from CIRP signifies a sizable hole in curiosity between the Air and the remainder of Apple’s newest iPhones. The report relies on a survey performed between January 2 and 21 of 500 US customers who bought an Apple product between October and December 2025.
It’s not the primary indication of sluggish demand for the iPhone Air, which was launched in September, concurrently the iPhone 17 fashions. The Information reported in November that Apple is delaying the second-generation mannequin after gross sales failed to satisfy expectations. Apple reportedly reduce manufacturing of the iPhone Air final fall and ramped up orders for the opposite fashions, in accordance with Nikkei Asian Review.
There could also be a easy motive why customers aren’t within the iPhone Air, in accordance with Josh Lowitz, one of many CIRP analysts behind the research: People don’t care about skinny telephones.
Most respondents who purchased the iPhone Air did so as a result of they have been changing an previous telephone, not as a result of they wished a thinner telephone, Lowitz mentioned.
Carolina Milanesi, president and principal analyst for tech trade evaluation agency Creative Strategies, agrees.
Consumers aren’t going into shops saying, “Oh my god, I wish this was lighter,” Milanesi mentioned. “We are used to carrying what we carry. So it wasn’t a problem per se.”
Apple has struggled to search out a fourth iPhone mannequin that resonates strongly with customers. It beforehand provided smaller and bigger variations of the usual iPhone, referred to as the iPhone Mini and iPhone Plus respectively. But Apple scrapped each of these from its lineup after reportedly weak demand.
The iPhone Air doesn’t outshine the remainder of the lineup in any space however thinness. The iPhone 17 Pro Max has the biggest display, longest-lasting battery and a digicam with three lenses. The iPhone 17 Pro is cheaper and smaller than the Pro Max and shares a lot of its different options. The iPhone 17 is the least costly of the bunch however nonetheless has a further digicam and longer battery life in comparison with the Air, though Apple’s thinner telephone has a bigger display and extra highly effective chip.
“The 17 Pro, Pro Max and the base 17 cover a lot of the features,” CIRP analyst Michael Levin mentioned. “And they kind of suck a lot of the oxygen out of the room.”
Some analysts like Milanesi say the iPhone Air is about rather more than short-term gross sales. The new design and engineering adjustments might pave the best way for a foldable iPhone, which Bloomberg reports might arrive this yr.
Unlike different fashions, the chips that energy the iPhone Air are embedded within the digicam module close to the highest of the gadget, permitting more room in the principle physique for the battery. That permits Apple to realize a slimmer design with out compromising a lot on battery life.
Such a change could possibly be necessary for a future foldable iPhone contemplating these forms of telephones are typically thicker than common smartphones when closed.
Devices with progressive designs such because the iPhone Air and foldable telephones sometimes attraction to early adopters slightly than the typical client. Even although that viewers represents a small slice of the smartphone market, it’s an necessary marketplace for Apple to seize, mentioned Milanesi.
It’s a key a part of how Apple portrays itself as being on the reducing fringe of design and know-how.
“I might not buy the Air but still think that Apple is the best company because they brought the Air,” mentioned Milanesi. “So there’s that halo that you get from a brand perspective.”