205: iPhone Air 2 - What Changes After a Difficult First Year

205: iPhone Air 2 - What Changes After a Difficult First Year

From The MacRumors Show by The MacRumors Show

August 7, 2026 · 44 min · Episode 205

About this episode

The episode discusses the challenges faced by the iPhone Air in its first year and what to expect from its successor.

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…

People in this episode

Host: The MacRumors Show

Topics covered

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Apple, KeyBanc Capital Markets, Luxshare, Foxconn

Products: iPhone Air, iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, MagSafe battery accessory

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