Slim iPhone Air could be a design win for Apple, analysts say

Apple chief executive officer Tim Cook appeared to be channeling his predecessor and design genius Steve Jobs on Sept 9 when he unveiled the iPhone Air, the company's slimmest handset yet and the biggest change in eight years to a line-up that fans and analysts complained was stagnating.

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CUPERTINO, California —

Mr. Cook kicked off the company's annual product launch event at its Cupertino, California, headquarters with a quote from Mr. Jobs: "For us, design goes beyond just how something looks or feels. Design is also how it works."

Inside its 5.6mm-thick frame — thinner than Samsung Electronics' S25 Edge at 5.8mm — the iPhone Air's circuitry has been shrunk to the size of a few postage stamps, clearing the way for as much battery capacity as possible.

Many analysts had predicted a ho-hum reception to the product launches, but on Sept 9 some said the four new iPhones — iPhone Air, iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max — offered a line-up likely to appeal to customers with varied budgets.

And doubts still linger about whether the new smartphone will match its promised battery capacity and whether consumers will settle for one less camera.

It will have Apple's best and newest A19 Pro processor chip, which is tuned to handle artificial intelligence tasks, and two new custom Apple communications chips.

"I heard loud claps the moment it was announced," said Mr. Gaurav Chaudhary, a YouTuber with nearly 24 million followers, popularly known as "Technical Guruji."