Apple’s yearly refreshes of its devices are already a tradition at this point, but the rollout for its latest iPhone 17 series is looking a little different. Instead of the standard base, Pro, and Pro Max models, there’s now a new headliner — the iPhone Air (not the iPhone 17 Air), which marks the thinnest entry in the family to date.
While its impressively slim 5.6mm and 165-gram chassis may suggest otherwise, the titanium-fitted device packs more power than the base iPhone 17, with the upgraded A19 Pro chip running on a 5-core GPU and a 6-core GPU that Apple claims is the fastest in any smartphone. In an even more impressive display of engineering, the form factor also features a 6.5-inch ProMotion panel with a 120Hz refresh rate and a 2,740 x 1,280-pixel resolution, promising smooth, crisp visuals in videos, games, and other forms of content.
Pitting it against the likes of Wuthering Waves, Zenless Zone Zero, Genshin Impact, and PUBG Mobile yielded decent performance across the board, with thermal management emerging as the surprise standout. Frame rates were also consistent, and little to no drop in performance was observed, which is always a plus point.
Check out the iPhone Air in action above, complete with benchmarking figures. The iPhone Air starts at S$1,599 and will be available from 19 September in four colour options: Sky Blue, Light Gold, Cloud White, and Space Black.
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
Kevin Low
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