Apple just future-proofed the i Phone Air in a way that only the i Phone 17 Pro can match | Tech Radar

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Apple just future-proofed the i Phone Air in a way that only the i Phone 17 Pro can match

i OS 27 will breathe new life into Apple’s most beautiful i Phone

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I’m sorry to keep banging on about the i Phone Air, but WWDC 2026 provided an unexpected boost to the appeal of Apple’s super slim i Phone.

Now, irrespective of what I’m about to explain,

You see, at WWDC 2026, Apple announced its all-singing, all-dancing Siri AI assistant, which will soon be available on all Apple Intelligence-compatible i Phones as part of i OS 27. But only three i Phones will get the very best version of Siri AI — and the i Phone Air is among that number.

Specifically, only the i Phone 17 Pro, i Phone 17 Pro Max, and i Phone Air will get Siri voice customization and more advanced systemwide dictation, because only these phones run on Apple’s AFM Core Advanced model and 12GB of RAM.

The device requirements of AFM Core Advanced (Image credit: Apple)

Admittedly, these two features alone aren’t reason enough to buy a top-end i Phone — the former gives you the ability to customize the expressiveness and pace of Siri’s voice, while the latter makes Siri more effective at converting speech into accurate text — but I would bet my (non-existent) house that Apple locks several additional, more significant features behind this AFM Core Advanced paywall in future versions of i OS.

Only 3 i Phones are getting the best version of Siri AI — here's which features are locked to certain models

Indeed, we’ve already seen this segmentation start to happen with the move from Apple Intelligence in its original form to Apple Intelligence as it exists in i OS 27. Anyone who bought an i Phone “built for Apple Intelligence” can access all of the AI features revealed at the software’s announcement in 2024 — Apple has covered its back, legally speaking — but the i OS 27 version of Apple Intelligence (let’s call it Apple Intelligence 2.0) contains a handful of features that only i Phone 17 Pro, i Phone 17 Pro Max, and i Phone Air users can access.

I THOUGHT THE IPHONE 16 WAS BUILT FROM THE GROUND UP FOR AI? Apple not supporting everything on their less than 2 year old AI devices is insane. https://t.co/u Uz 3p FYt Z7 June 8, 2026

I THOUGHT THE IPHONE 16 WAS BUILT FROM THE GROUND UP FOR AI? Apple not supporting everything on their less than 2 year old AI devices is insane. https://t.co/u Uz 3p FYt Z7 June 8, 2026

At the moment, these features are limited to those two relatively minor tools mentioned above — but who’s to say what hardware-specific features Apple will introduce with Apple Intelligence 3.0 and i OS 28? I noted as much in a separate feature explaining the significance of Apple’s AFM Core Advanced model:

In classic marketing fashion, Apple’s small print on the matter leaves the door ajar for more features to be made exclusive to the AFM Core Advanced model: “Apple’s most powerful on-device model and the features it enables, like expressive voices and more advanced dictation, are available on…,” reads the company’s Siri AI press release. ‘Like’ is the operative word there — more hardware-exclusive features are surely coming down the line, ones which require more compute power than Apple’s base AFM Core model can provide.

In other words, like the i Phone 17 Pro and Pro Max, the i Phone Air will soon support more software features than any other i Phone — and the gap between model capabilities will only grow wider as more hardware-exclusive features are announced.

Maybe, for you, the promise of upcoming features still isn’t enough to justify the Air’s sizable price tag and lack of hardware in other areas — but finally, Apple's super slim i Phone boasts more than just looks.

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Axel is Tech Radar's Phones Editor, reporting on everything from the latest Apple developments to newest AI breakthroughs as part of the site's Mobile Computing vertical. Having previously written for publications including Esquire and Four Four Two, Axel is well-versed in the applications of technology beyond the desktop, and his coverage extends from general reporting and analysis to in-depth interviews and opinion.

Axel studied for a degree in English Literature at the University of Warwick before joining Tech Radar in 2020, where he earned an NCTJ qualification as part of the company’s inaugural digital training scheme.

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