‘Apple will grit its teeth and push through’ — new report suggests the i Phone Air 2 isn’t dead, and I sincerely hope it’s true | Tech Radar

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‘Apple will grit its teeth and push through’ — new report suggests the i Phone Air 2 isn’t dead, and I sincerely hope it’s true

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It’s no secret that the i Phone Air isn’t selling as well as Apple hoped (one October report suggested there was "virtually no consumer demand" for the device), but there might still be some life left in Apple’s super slim i Phone project.

According to a recent Weibo post from Chinese leaker Fixed Focus Digital, Apple still plans to release an i Phone Air 2 “no matter how badly it sells,” adding that the company “will grit its teeth and push through with at least two generations.”

There are several very big reasons to doubt this claim — I’ll walk you through them below — but I, for one, am all in favor of a sequel to what is undeniably Apple’s most exciting i Phone in years.

‘The most conflicted I’ve ever been about a phone’ — reappraising the i Phone Air, 6 months later

Two future i Phones may be ‘largely unchanged in appearance,’ leaker claims

But let’s start with the skepticism. First, our translation of the Weibo post may have lost some of the original’s nuance. It begins by saying “the Air 2 will continue to be iterated as usual,” but “iterated” in this instance may not mean “released”, and “iterated” may not even be the exact translation of the original Chinese (Mac Rumors, for instance, translated part of the post as “no matter how abysmal the sales turn out to be”, which is slightly different to our translation of the same line). If you speak fluent Chinese, please correct us in the comments.

The i Phone Air measures just 5.64mm at its thinnest point (Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)

Secondly, all (most) signs point towards Apple releasing an i Phone 18 Pro, i Phone 18 Pro Max, and a foldable i Phone Ultra in September. The big leakers haven’t mentioned the i Phone Air 2 by name as yet, and Apple’s March 2027 event will likely focus on its next non-Pro models, namely the i Phone 18 and i Phone 18e.

The i Phone Air 2 would be a bona fide premium i Phone, and so it’s not suitable for launch alongside those two more affordable models, and it seems unlikely that Apple would stuff its next September event with four new and very different i Phones (the aforementioned Weibo post doesn’t actually specify September as the i Phone Air 2’s release month, but we can infer as much from the phrase “iterated as usual”).

Thirdly, Apple is not a company that typically “grits its teeth” to bring an unprofitable product to market. I recently penned an op-ed on Tim Cook’s methodical and self-confessed ‘ruthless’ approach to running the company, and if indeed the i Phone Air is selling poorly, a Hail Mary-style release of the i Phone Air 2 would totally jar with the predictability (and subsequent profitability) we’ve come to associate with Apple.

So, unfortunately, I don’t think we’ll be seeing a sequel to the i Phone Air any time soon, unless more tipsters come forward to corroborate this report. However, that doesn’t mean I, personally, think Apple should give up on its super-slim i Phone project.

Me, clearly enjoying the i Phone Air's design (Image credit: Future)

Last month, I wrote that the i Phone Air is Apple’s most beautiful, most frustrating i Phone, and while I’m not entirely surprised that it hasn’t sold as well as hoped, I do think Apple can boost its appeal with just a few tweaks.

In my anecdotal experience, I’ve never had more people approach me to ask about what phone I’m using than I have with the i Phone Air. It’s unique, it’s beautiful, and it makes me (and, clearly, others) feel excited in a way that old Apple products used to. That’s reason enough for Apple to release a second model — consumers didn’t know they wanted an i Phone Air the first time around. Now, perhaps, they’ve tried one for themselves and been sold on the idea of a super slim phone.

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But aesthetics aside, the i Phone Air 2 needs a telephoto camera to justify its inevitably high price. The i Phone Air costs

Then there’s the battery life issue. The i Phone Air’s “all-day” battery life isn’t bad by industry standards, but it’s definitely worse than the i Phone 17 Pro’s, i Phone 17’s, and maybe even the i Phone 17e’s. That’s another tough pill to swallow.

Of course, the i Phone Air is only as thin and beautiful as it is because it doesn’t have a telephoto camera and because it doesn’t have a large battery. But that’s Apple’s problem to solve. Perhaps it can look to Honor for inspiration; the Chinese brand sacrificed a few millimeters on its Honor Magic 8 Pro Air to ensure that the phone boasts flagship-level battery life and a three-lens rear camera array.

Anyway, I’m probably screaming into the void here. As much as I’m hoping for one, I don’t think an i Phone Air 2 is on the cards any time soon. But I also don’t think we should treat Apple’s original model as a failed product. It’s a truly beautiful piece of technology that, unfortunately, sacrifices too much for the Pro-inclined i Phone user. Here’s hoping the even-thinner i Phone Ultra can scratch the same design itch.

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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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• ‘Apple will grit its teeth and push through’ — new report suggests the i Phone Air 2 isn’t dead, and I sincerely hope it’s true