The iPhone Air is compromised in two main ways: its battery life, and the fact it only has one camera. I wanted to see just how compromised that made it for me, so I took it on a 10-night family vacation to find out.

To add some context, I normally carry an iPhone 15 Pro Max that I've had for a couple of years now. I'm also the main memory-catcher for the family, so I take a ton of photos while we're on vacation. That meant the pressure would really be on the iPhone Air.

But if you put aside the battery concerns and the single camera, I think the iPhone Air is Apple's most interesting release of 2025. After years of iterative iPhone design changes, it's something new. Something fresh.

That was enough to pique my interest, so I picked one up shortly before packing my family into an airplane bound for Crete, Greece. I was instantly taken by its svelte design and light-in-the-pocket feel.

Sky view from airplane window with clouds below and a jet engine visible on the right side.

Have you even been on an airplane if you don't take a photo out of the window?

Sure, I had doubts that the battery last a day of taking photos and videos. I'm used to a Pro Max and live life with my screen brightness at 100% most of the time, after all.

I also like to use my iPhone 15 Pro Max's ultra-wide camera, too, and the iPhone Air simply doesn't have one. The lack of a 5x optical zoom wasn't such a worry, but its absence was noted regardless.

So, with the iPhone Air full of all my usual apps, we landed in Crete and I set about seeing whether it was up to the job.

And, I had a revelation while I was there.

The one camera problem

I've already mentioned it a couple of times, so you should already have an idea of how much it worried me. The iPhone Air has a single 48-megapixel Fusion Camera around back.

For comparison, the iPhone 15 Pro Max I've been carrying can call on a 48-megapixel main camera, a 12-megapixel ultra-wide camera, and a 12-megapixel telephoto camera. That's three cameras verses just the one, so I think I was right to be worried.

But, was I really?

A small mermaid sculpture with a turquoise tail sits on a rock, overlooking the calm blue sea under a clear sky.

Portrait mode struggled a little here, but not too much

As I already mentioned, the lack of a telephoto lens wasn't really a concern for me before the journey began. And it turned out that the iPhone Air could take a solid 2x shot anyway.

Sure, Apple calls it an optical zoom when it's really just using the center of the sensor's 12 million pixels and cropping the rest out. But the result is a an image that looks great anyway so I can let Apple's wording fly.

iPhone 17 Air

iPhone Air

The iPhone Air weighs just 165 grams and measures 5.6mm thick.
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I expected the iPhone Air to take great 48-megapixel 1x photos, and it didn't disappoint. Both in bright daylight and with Night Mode enabled in the evening, the resulting photos are nothing short of excellent.

At times, I think the iPhone Air outperformed what my iPhone 15 Pro Max would be capable of. That shouldn't be all that surprising given the use of latest-gen Photographic Styles and upgraded computational photography magic going on under the hood.

Store shelf with stacks of Caprice wafer cans, Lay's potato chip bags, Milka chocolate bars, and Lacta products. Sign above reads 'Champagne Sparkling Wines Beverages.'

You need snacks for a good vacation

But what about the elephant in the room? Those times when I just can't quite step back far enough to get the shot I want were definitely a concern.

In reality, though, I found that they didn't come up anywhere near as often as I'd convinced myself that they would. They did crop up, to be sure, but I'd guess that it happened twice across the entire vacation.

Which brings me to that revelation. Do I really need the 0.5 camera? Could the iPhone Air actually be my next phone after all?

Maybe. But what about the battery life?

Thin phone, small battery

The iPhone Air is incredibly thin, and you really do need to hold one to understand how thin it really is. The words just don't do it justice.

Nighttime poolside scene with illuminated water, palm trees, lounge chairs, and umbrellas.

Night time shots can be troublesome for even the best cameras

But even after ditching the physical SIM slot, Apple could only squeeze a 3,149 mAh battery into the iPhone Air. That's the smallest battery in the lineup.

For comparison, the iPhone 17 Pro has a smaller display but a larger 4,252 mAh battery. The iPhone 17 manages a 3,692 mAh part.

The iPhone 17 Pro Max is, of course, an outlier with its 5,088 mAh battery. But it sure does make the iPhone Air's 2,149 mAh figure look paltry.

But figures are only part of the story here, and you really need to use an iPhone before you can judge its battery life. So that's what I did.

I used the iPhone Air throughout the vacation. It spent the first few days on Wi-Fi because of an iOS 26 bug that prevented me converting my SIM card into an eSIM. But after that, it roamed with data enabled, staying connected to the resort's Wi-Fi where possible.

I took my usual array of photos, captured the odd video of my kids in the pool, and browsed my socials when I probably shouldn't. All with the brightness set high enough that I could see the screen outside — usually hovering around 100%.

And I'm here to report that the iPhone Air's battery was ... fine. It wasn't stellar by any means, but it usually got the job done.

There were times where it didn't make it through a full day, and needed topping up before dinner. Others, it lasted through until its nightly rendezvous with the charger just fine.

If I was at home, I suspect it would be even less of an issue. I work from home, where there are chargers everywhere. And I spend the day using my Mac instead of my iPhone, too.

Nighttime resort view with illuminated pool surrounded by palm trees, bordered by beige buildings and pathways with soft lighting against a deep blue sky.

A combination of light and dark didn't phase the iPhone Air

With all of that being said, I can absolutely see the iPhone Air's battery being too small for some. If you spend your day away from a charger, Apple's MagSafe Battery could be a good buy. You'll probably need it.

The iPhone Air conundrum

I'm writing this, back home after my vacation, and trying to put my iPhone Air feelings into words. And it's surprisingly difficult.

The iPhone Air is a compromised phone at its core. Especially if you normally use one of the Pro Max devices.

Its battery life is impacted by its sheer lack of bulk. The decision to move much of its internals into the camera plateau left space for just a single camera.

But does any of that really matter, day to day, in anything other than the spec sheet?

Bearded person with sunglasses standing in front of a swimming pool, surrounded by palm trees, with a water slides and resort background.

The iPhone's new selfie camera really (unfortunately) captured the gray in my beard

I came back from Crete thinking that, in my case at least, it might not. And even if it does, the benefits could outweigh the negatives.

The iPhone Air might be compromised, but it's also brilliant. I can't help but marvel at how nice it feels each and every time I pick it up.

And it's so light. Impossibly light.

My iPhone 15 Pro Max has always been a little on the hefty side. So much so that it had a tendency to pull my shorts down when I walked.

That's gone with the iPhone Air, and I even thought I'd left it in the hotel room on more than one occasion. I simply forgot it was there.

I still haven't decided whether I'm going to keep the iPhone Air, or return it and stick with the 15 Pro Max. But I didn't expect there to be a decision to be made before I spent two weeks with it.

Time's running out on that return window. I'm not sure the same can be said for my iPhone Air.