So stupid. Should just make the phone thicker in the first place.

If this abysmal battery size rumour turns out to be true, then I’ll be very angry they decided to replace the regular 17 Plus with this Air nonsense. My mum, after years of insisting on small phones (she currently has a 13 mini) has finally decided to embrace large phones because she’s sick of charging often and has started watching more media on her phone. Now she wants a big screen and long battery life. A non-Pro Plus model would have been a great gift for her, but since Apple decided to kill it, my only option will be to spend more on the Pro Max.

Not gonna lie, it does look nice. Shame about the (rumoured) battery size.

USB 2.0, single speaker, lesser battery life, single rear camera… you really really really must want the thinness if you’re willing to sacrifice so much. I must confess it does look pretty though.

EdiT:
Not sure about MYR pricing, but the magsafe battery is USD99.
The Air starts at USD999, while the Pro starts at USD1099
Air with magsafe battery claimed 40hrs of video playback. Pro claimed 39hrs.
So if you add the magsafe battery to the Air, you’re basically at Pro price, gain 1hr video playback but lose 2 cameras and stereo speakers.

This post has been edited by dev/numb: Sep 10 2025, 02:59 AM

Really? I didn’t read the whole spec sheet yet. You mean actual physical focus length switching (like in a periscope zoom) or just digital cropping?


I’m buying for my mum, who only changes phones every 3-4 yrs. long term battery degradation is also a concern. Such a shame they killed the Plus. Looks like I’ll need to spend big and get her a Pro Max this year.

I did consider it, but even if my mum cannot see the difference, gifting someone a screen refresh rate from the jurassic period just feels wrong to me.

If true, I hope this is the case for larger tablet screens also. The iPad mini is my favourite Apple device, and the only thing I hate is the slow screen. If you’re the type that reads quickly while simultaneously scrolling, it makes a huge difference. Considering that Apple’s new foldable will likely get 120hz, I hope they don’t neglect the iPad mini line.

Would be cool if we were charged based on features used. Then I could ask Apple for 10% cashback for every iPhone year because I always disable Siri, or I can tell Google to sell me a Pixel half price because I plan to install GrapheneOS on it to avoid all their AI crap.

Went to mum's house yesterday for a visit. Discussed and decided to wait until all models are physically displayed in stores (there's a Switch very near her house) so I can bring her to see/hold them in person. If she feels the base model 17 (size also increased to 6.3" this year) is big enough, then I can get that for her and save myself around RM2k.

Not for me. I tried a friend's Galaxy Fold and the difference between my iPad Mini is still quite big in terms if how websites render. Comfort isn't great either because the bezels are too slim and I have to do hold it in the the same pinky-finger-on-the-bottom style like a regular phone. Also, I still prefer separate devices with separate accounts - phone is classified "dirty" because of WhatsApp, Telegram, Grab and govt spyware apps that are all very hamsap to track me (this is why I prefer Android for phones because of access to proper firewall and split-tunneling apps via F-Droid/Github) and iPad is "clean" because I can carefully select just the apps I need.

This post has been edited by dev/numb: Sep 15 2025, 11:56 AM

Yes, I agree. Regular 17 is the first non pro model in the last 4-5 years that isn’t insulting its buyers by not including any new front facing features. Imho, it should always have been like this. Give the pro line faster chips, more RAM and better cameras, but everything else should be the same tech.

More reviewers need to test this. I saw one Russian review where he measured it with the function on and off and no difference in the reading. But those videos shot under bright lights so maybe it won’t kick in until screen is dark enough.

Remobie is the backend used by Switch for their trade-ins, I believe. You go to Switch website and check their trade-ins and you will see Remobie on the top of the pdf list.

Base 17 all colours and storage options 2-3 weeks delivery on Apple’s website. Air all options “In Stock”.

I held the Air for the first time at a Machines during lunch break just now. It was impressive, for the first couple of minutes, and then I remembered my old iPhone 7 Plus felt similarly thin and wasn’t so excited anymore.

I now kinda get what MKBHD and Dave2D mean when they say “the novelty of thinness wears off quick” when it comes to smaller devices. Until today I’m still impressed whenever I hold the 11” iPad Pro naked, because it feels absolutely preposterous how such a powerful device is as thin as a sheet of glass. But for the Air, my reaction was like “oooh” at first, and 5 minutes later it changed to “meh”.

This post has been edited by dev/numb: Sep 29 2025, 02:38 PM

Base model 17 seems to be selling a lot also. Made the order (256GB Blue, for my mom) on 21 Sept and only today the status changed from “processing” to “preparing to ship”.

fruitie Just read about your incident in the other thread. Good to know you (and your phone) are okay.

I don’t think it’s a matter of reseller vs Apple. More like massive shipment just came in which has all the orders everyone made. Likely your order, my order, and anyone else’s order made in between all arriving in that same shipment.

Yeah, even the Pro Max on Apple website now ships in 4-5 days but base model is 1-2 weeks.
Not surprised. First base model since Apple began the the base/pro split that feels like it respects your money by not missing out on core features.