The iPhone Air is too pure for this world

Regular readers of my output for Creative Bloq (hi, both!) will know that I haven't loved the direction the iPhone, or the smartphone in general for that matter, has taken over the last few years. Brands seem to have been entirely driven by the mantra that bigger is better, resulting in devices that can barely be used three-handed, let alone one-handed. iPhone mini aside (goodnight, sweet prince), phones have got bigger and bigger, and, to my mind, uglier.

Enter the iPhone Air. Apple's most polarising iPhone in years (possibly ever?) was announced last month, leading to choruses of, "Who's this for?" With a hamstrung feature set and reduced battery life, there's no shortage of compromises. This is not the best iPhone for photography. And yet, after one week with the phone, I can't help but feel that the answer is me. I'm who the iPhone Air is for.

You see, the iPhone Air is all about the design. It's feels like design for the sake of design. In a world of identical glass rectangles, this is the first Apple product in years that has caused me genuine delight. Unboxing the iPhone Air and holding it in the hand for the first time, I was transported not back to unboxing my first iPhone, but rather my first iPod. I've argued that Apple design was unbeatable in the noughties, and that I wish we could go back. For me, this is the closest we've come to the 'Think Different' era in years.

In the above piece, I posited that the reason design in tech has become so homogenised is because of the way our devices have evolved to do pretty everything. Before, gadgets were, if not single-purpose like the original iPod, at least designed for specific use-cases. This afforded room for designs to express an identity, and to fit into particular areas of lifestyle. Now, phones and tablets are everything devices. They're just screens. The iPhone Air is still a 'do everything' device, but for once, it feels like every aspect of it is moving towards a singular goal – the super-thin design. And there's a purity to the simplicity of it. (I realise I literally sound like Jony Ive right now.)

From the ultra thin profile to the polished titanium edges, this is the most premium looking and feeling iPhone ever – much more so than the scratch-prone iPhone 17 Pro. It's the closest thing we've had to Steve Jobs' dream of a device that's genuinely all-display – the phone is so thin and light that it disappears into the background when looking at the 3,000 nit display. And somehow, miraculously, I'm not even feeling particularly troubled by the larger 6.5-inch screen. It might be much taller and wider than the mini, but the thinness and lightness massively reduces the finger gymnastics designed to hold it.

Now, clearly this isn't a technical review – that's to come later, where I'll properly weigh the design against the specs and features. It's a few paragraphs of preliminary waffle about something that's actually hard to define: my initial physical and (am I going to say it? I'm going to say it) emotional reaction to the device. Design probably matters to me more than most – I mean, my job title is Design Editor. I often care more about whether I enjoy picking an object up than I do about it's actual usefulness. The iPhone Air might not be the most useful iPhone by a long stretch, but it's the first that's made me smile when picking it up.

So, yes, the iPhone Air is for me. It's for people who value design above pretty much anything else. Unfortunately for Apple, it seems that once again, I'm in the minority. The iPhone mini was discontinued due to poor sales, and early reports suggest the Air is struggling too. I guess I'll just have to enjoy the iPhone Air while it lasts – even if I'm the only one.