The MacRumors Show: iPhone Air 2 - What Changes After a Difficult First Year
The
iPhone Air reaches one year on sale next month, and Apple is now closer to launching its successor than it is to the original's debut. On this week's episode of
The MacRumors Show, we discuss what's next for the device.
The first-generation model has had a difficult run. A KeyBanc Capital Markets survey found
virtually no demand for the device within weeks of its September 2025 launch, supply chain analyst
Ming-Chi Kuo reported that suppliers were asked to
cut capacity by more than 80% between launch and early 2026, and Luxshare and Foxconn both wound down production, leaving the phone believed to be entirely out of manufacture. Apple
discounted it heavily in March, and SellCell data put its
ten-week depreciation at 44.3% on average, against 34.6% for the
iPhone 17 series. The Weibo leaker known as "Digital Chat Station" said in May that the device had
barely surpassed 700,000 activations even after multiple rounds of price cuts.
A single rear camera left a $999 phone looking less capable than the cheaper iPhone 17, which has two, and the absence of the
iPhone 17 Pro's vapor chamber cooling means the Air runs warmer under load. It also lacks stereo speakers. Battery life falls short of a full day for many users, mitigated in part by the dedicated
MagSafe battery accessory Apple sells alongside it. With the iPhone 17 Pro starting at $1,099, the Air occupies a $100 gap that gave buyers little reason to stop there.
Almost every change rumored for the second-generation model targets one of those points.
Bloomberg reported in June that Apple will
add an Ultra Wide lens alongside the existing 48-megapixel Fusion camera, and that the dual-lens design has reached advanced testing with the same exterior as the current model save for the extra lens.
Almost everything other than the battery sits inside the iPhone Air's camera plateau, and Apple has reportedly asked suppliers for an
ultra-thin Face ID module to free up space. The company also plans to adopt Samsung's CoE display technology, which is
thinner and brighter than the current panel and debuts first on the foldable iPhone. Digital Chat Station expects a
3,500mAh battery, up from 3,149mAh, and
The Information reported that Apple wants the device to be
lighter and to gain vapor chamber cooling despite the added hardware.
The device will also likely feature the A20 Pro chip, binned in some form like its predecessor, along with Apple's second-generation N2 wireless networking chip, the C2 modem, and 12GB of RAM, unchanged from the current model. Externally, little is expected to change beyond the additional rear camera, but Pu expects a slightly smaller
Dynamic Island, in line with the wider
iPhone 18 lineup. A lavender color option could replace Sky Blue.
Pricing is the biggest open question.
The Information reported that Apple is
considering a lower price for the second model, but the surrounding lineup is moving too. Pu expects the
iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max to cost
$250 to $300 more than the current Pro models owing to 2nm silicon and memory costs, and the foldable iPhone is rumored to start somewhere
between roughly $2,000 and $2,500. A widened gap between the Air and the Pro tier could change the calculation that undermined the original, particularly once the camera disparity with the standard iPhone disappears.
The leaker "Fixed Focus Digital" claimed in April that Apple will
push through at least two generations of the device no matter how poorly it sells, a position consistent with
Bloomberg's
Mark Gurman, who expects the Air 2 in spring 2027
alongside the standard iPhone 18 and iPhone 18e.
Nikkei Asia reported in January that
no second-generation Air was expected before 2027 at the earliest.
Apple's confidence in the fall lineup appears to be growing in the meantime. The company reportedly told suppliers to prepare roughly
10 million foldable iPhones this year, up from an earlier forecast of seven to eight million, and has booked parts for around 80 million smartphones in the second half of 2026. Samsung, meanwhile, says the Galaxy Z Fold 8, Z Fold 8 Ultra, and Z Flip 8 drew 1.44 million pre-orders in South Korea across seven days, a company record, with the redesigned Z Fold 8 accounting for close to half of them.
The iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, and foldable iPhone are expected in September, and Apple has already begun
preparing for the event, opening a lottery for U.S. retail employees to staff it.
The MacRumors Show has
its own YouTube channel, so make sure you're subscribed to keep up with new episodes and clips.
You can also listen to The MacRumors Show on
Apple Podcasts,
Spotify,
Overcast, or other podcast apps. You can also
copy our RSS feed directly into your player.
If you haven't already listened to the
previous episode of The MacRumors Show, catch up to hear our discussion about the
iOS 27 beta, talking through our experiences with
Siri AI, Liquid Glass refinements, and more.
Subscribe to The MacRumors Show for new episodes every week, where we discuss some of the topical news breaking here on
MacRumors, often joined by interesting guests such as
Kayci Lacob,
Kevin Nether,
John Gruber,
Mark Gurman,
Jon Prosser,
Luke Miani,
Matthew Cassinelli,
Brian Tong,
Quinn Nelson,
Jared Nelson,
Eli Hodapp,
Mike Bell,
Sara Dietschy,
iJustine,
Jon Rettinger,
Andru Edwards,
Arnold Kim,
Ben Sullins,
Marcus Kane,
Christopher Lawley,
Frank McShan,
David Lewis,
Tyler Stalman,
Sam Kohl,
Federico Viticci,
Thomas Frank,
Jonathan Morrison,
Ross Young,
Ian Zelbo, and
Rene Ritchie.
The MacRumors Show is on X
@MacRumorsShow, so be sure to give us a follow to keep up with the podcast. You can also email us at
podcast@macrumors.com or head over to
The MacRumors Show forum thread. Remember to rate and review the podcast, and let us know what subjects and guests you would like to see in the future.
This article, "
The MacRumors Show: iPhone Air 2 - What Changes After a Difficult First Year" first appeared on
MacRumors.comDiscuss this article in our forums
Ander nieuws op MacRumors.com: 
