Post

I've now seen more ads for the iPhone Duo (1), five weeks ahead of launch, than I have for the iPhone Air (0), an entire year after launch.

16/9/26, 9:31 pm1 repost91 likes

markcweaver.bsky.social

@markcweaver.bsky.social

17 Sept

Why Apple has failed to promote one of its best-ever iPhones is a mystery for the ages.

Ralph

@ralphhhenson.bsky.social

16 Sept

Guessing they realize that the Duo must NOT be allowed to be a flop. OTOH, a new version of the SE would be well received. That's as long as the kept the same profile, maybe thinner but same size. Small.

seen a few in LA

What’s your take on the future of Air? I bought one and love it. It’s made it very hard for me to imagine using an ugly, heavy Pro again despite how much I miss that camera system. Will we get an Air 2 with improved specs? Will the Air’s form factor become the ‘regular’ iPhone? Will it just die?

John Gruber

@gruber.foo

20 Sept

But they made a second-generation iPhone Mini too. So the question isn’t whether there will be a second Air, but whether there will be a third. These phones have 2-3 year runways. Just by launching the first iPhone 12 Mini and iPhone Air, Apple effectively committed to 2 generations.

John Gruber

@gruber.foo

20 Sept

I believe the rumors that there will be an Air 2 in the spring, debuting alongside iPhone 18 and 18e. Now that the Air has dual cameras I’m sure Air 2 will also, with the second camera being ultrawide 0.5x.

Andrew Carrier 🍸

@andrewcarrier.com

20 Sept

I’d pay a lot for an Air with a Pro camera system. Like…I’d pay more than the price of a Pro. But I recognise the rest of the market wouldn’t.

John Gruber

@gruber.foo

20 Sept

One spitball, looking at battery life gains YoY (18 Pro gets longer battery life than 17 Pro Max): at a certain point maybe Apple calls battery life “good enough” and rather than increase it YoY, they make the device noticeably thinner, merging Pro specs with Air design.

WA𐕣LY 🎃

@wallyjones.com

16 Sept

This is Philly, yeah? I don’t think I have seen an ad for any other product other than iPhone on this exact billboard. Same for the one on I95 south when exiting the city.

John Gruber

@gruber.foo

20 Sept

Yep. 21st and Chestnut. Has been an Apple billboard for I think at last 15 years — since before the Apple Store opened on Walnut even.

Zac

@ztj.lol

16 Sept

I’ve hypothesized since the Air’s announcement that it was never a deliberate product but actually an opportunistic one mainly serving to validate engineering techniques “in the field” that would serve the Duo. Plus, bonus product category for people who like ironic product names.

Yup.

The air, seems to me, was a test product for manufacturing processes that were going to be used for the duo. This is not the first time Apple does this… dipping their toes in before committing to something crazy. the iPod mini was a test for cnc based high volume manufacturing.