By Lisa Eadicicco, NCS
(NCS) — 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 patrons.
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 buyers 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 dear iPhone 17 Pro Max, based on the report. The numbers have been shared with NCS forward of their launch on Wednesday.
Apple (AAPL) is about to report earnings on Thursday afternoon and can announce world iPhone income for the quarter. But it doesn’t escape numbers for particular iPhone fashions.
There have already been experiences of weak demand for the iPhone Air. But Apple, the world’s largest smartphone maker by some estimates, won’t want a smash hit. The International Data Corporation forecast a file 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 patrons and set the stage for extra superior iPhones, equivalent to 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 concerning iPhone Air gross sales, launch plans for a future model or adjustments to manufacturing plans.
iPhone Air lags far behind different fashions
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 carried out between January 2 and 21 of 500 US shoppers 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, similtaneously 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 lower manufacturing of the iPhone Air final fall and ramped up orders for the opposite fashions, based on Nikkei Asian Review.
There could also be a easy purpose why shoppers aren’t within the iPhone Air, based on Josh Lowitz, one of many CIRP analysts behind the examine: 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 needed 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 seek out a fourth iPhone mannequin that resonates strongly with shoppers. 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 digital camera 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 an extra digital camera 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.”
The iPhone Air’s objective
Some analysts like Milanesi say the iPhone Air is about rather more than short-term gross sales. The new design and engineering adjustments may pave the best way for a foldable iPhone, which Bloomberg reports may arrive this yr.
Unlike different fashions, the chips that energy the iPhone Air are embedded within the digital camera module close to the highest of the system, permitting extra space in the principle physique for the battery. That allows Apple to attain a slimmer design with out compromising a lot on battery life.
Such a change may very well be essential for a future foldable iPhone contemplating these sorts of telephones are typically thicker than common smartphones when closed.
Devices with modern designs such because the iPhone Air and foldable telephones sometimes attraction to early adopters quite than the common client. Even although that viewers represents a small slice of the smartphone market, it’s an essential marketplace for Apple to seize, mentioned Milanesi.
It’s a key a part of how Apple portrays itself as being on the chopping fringe of design and expertise.
“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.”
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