All the talk about the iPhone Air 2 being “delayed” is based on a misunderstanding of what the Air lineup actually is. Apple never promised a yearly Air model, never tied it to the main iPhone cadence, and never positioned it as a volume-seller. Instead, the Air behaves like a controlled experiment, something the company is testing before porting it to the main lineup.
The Air Quietly Prepares Apple For Its Foldable iPhone
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman notes in his latest Power On newsletter that the iPhone Air 2 is expected to jump to TSMC’s 2nm chip, but he also clarified that Apple never planned it for next year. This single detail is quite huge and gives us more than meets the eye.
Apple only moves a device to a new chip architecture when it supports a bigger engineering transition, and for the Air, it is all about an ultra-thin design, efficiency, and foldable-ready internals. So instead of a delay, we are basically seeing a product that moves when its next technological milestone is ready – TSMC’s 2nm chip in this case.
The Ultra-Thin Design Was Not Ready For Pro-Level Scale
The first iPhone Air introduced a thickness profile Apple typically reserves for major generational jumps. With a thinner chassis, the company had to make serious amends, such as:
- A noticeably thinner chassis
- A compressed internal layout
- A redesigned battery structure
- Even tighter thermal tolerances
These are not small tweaks but structural changes that align perfectly with what a foldable iPhone needs. If any of this went wrong in the Air, the impact was limited. If it succeeded, Apple gained real-world data without risking the Pro lineup. This is Apple testing the future in a controlled environment, and to be fair, the company has done this before.
Apple Never Meant To Release The iPhone Air Annually
When Gurman states that the Air 2 “wasn’t earmarked for next year,” he’s basically saying Apple doesn’t treat this like a yearly product at all. The timing is based on technology, not tradition, and as we have mentioned, we have seen the same approach before.
- The 12-inch MacBook
- Early iPad mini generations
- The first wave of M1-powered devices
These devices weren’t meant to follow a calendar, as they only existed to move Apple to the next chapter. The same can be said about the iPhone Air and how it will shape the main iPhone lineup and the foldable to come.
The Air’s Internal Layout Is Perfect For A Foldable
The iPhone Air is incredibly thin, possibly thinner than any phone out there on the market, and there are various hurdles the company had to overcome to achieve it. From a different perspective, the Air screams “foldable precursor,” as Apple has reworked:
- Logic board size
- Thermal channel distribution
- Battery segmentation
- Connector layout
- Display stack thickness
The company would never shrink and rearrange internals this aggressively unless it was preparing factories and supply chains for even more extreme constraints. This makes the iPhone Air a rehearsal device for the foldable to come.
The Air Does Not Fill A Natural Gap In The Lineup
Apple already has a handful of devices in its lineup that cover more or less each mainstream segment of the market, which includes:
- Standard
- Plus
- Pro
- Pro Max
Now, the company has decided to add another – but why? Possibly, the Air is not about filling a price or size gap but the company’s need for a real-world test platform, not a volume seller.
The Air Gets Experimental Innovation Before The Pro
The iPhone Air receiving structural-level changes before the ‘Pro’ models gives it away completely. Apple only lets a mid-tier device get ahead when it is experimenting with technology or wants to get a market reaction. Moreover, the fact that Apple did not attach the device to the rest of the lineup is another indication.
The device is called the ‘iPhone Air,’ not the ‘iPhone 17 Air,’ which means that the company does not want to associate it with the rest of the lineup – the same approach we have observed with the iPhone SE lineup. We believe that the company will follow a similar release cycle for the iPhone Air. Gurman claims that the second-gen iPhone Air will be released in 2027, possibly alongside the foldable iPhone.
The Bottom Line
The bottom line is that there is no delay. Apple never meant to release the iPhone Air 2 next year, as it is a strategic tool – an ultra-thin experimental platform designed to prepare the company for the most dramatic shift in the iPhone lineup since 2007. The 2nm shift, as Gurman highlighted, is part of that controlled evolution.
Apart from this, the report also highlights that Apple has no plans to release another Mac Pro with Apple Silicon, which would make the Mac Studio the performance king in the Mac lineup. We will be covering additional details on the story, so be sure to keep an eye out.
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