TECH NEWS – The Cupertino-based tech giant is set to make significant enhancements to its next slim smartphone, but Apple’s predicament will also be evident here.
The market has not responded very well to slimmer smartphone designs, so it is no surprise that the iPhone Air did not succeed in major markets either. Apple, however, is not giving up on this design, as the company intends to launch the iPhone Air 2 next spring. With this release, Apple is expected to introduce two improvements that were not present in the previous model. According to earlier rumors, Apple is testing a high-resolution dual rear camera setup on the iPhone Air 2 to address the limitations of the iPhone Air’s single camera. Adding a second physical sensor could open countless possibilities in photography and videography; according to Bloomberg editor Mark Gurman, Apple also aims to improve the iPhone Air 2’s battery life.
Unfortunately, the increase in battery life will not come from switching to a silicon-carbon battery, but rather from the conventional use of the extremely powerful and efficient A20 Pro processor, which is reportedly also set to appear in the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max. Like the rest of the lineup, the iPhone Air 2 will be equipped with Apple’s C2 5G modem, which will also contribute to extending battery life. Apple’s efforts to develop iOS 27 seem to have arrived just in time, since software optimizations also play a major role in helping supported iPhones last significantly longer. Furthermore, since Apple is working with extremely limited space, which the slim design restricts even further, earlier rumors suggest the company will use a customized version of Face ID.
This module is reportedly thinner in order to make room for a second rear camera. If Apple can properly address the two main complaints about slim flagships with the iPhone Air 2, this category could regain the momentum it needs. Several Chinese competitors have abandoned the development of their slim devices because they had to make too many compromises from the start, but Apple is getting another chance in this segment. Assuming the iPhone Air 2 does not generate a positive response, we would not be surprised if the company returned to the older Plus models in the future.
Meanwhile, Tim Cook recently told the Wall Street Journal that price increases have now essentially become guaranteed. The upcoming iPhone 18 series is certain to become more expensive – especially the base model, which is expected to get 12 GB of RAM so Apple’s newest on-device AI models can work across the entire lineup. Cook also said Apple is willing to use its balance sheet to help contribute to the solution. This suggests that Apple may also want to invest in expanding memory capacity. Of course, when announcing Apple’s quarterly results for the quarter ending in late March, Cook had already warned that the company expected a significant increase in memory costs in the June quarter.
“We are doing everything we can to mitigate the huge price increases being passed on to us, and we are trying to shield our customers from the increases, but the situation has become unsustainable. I can say that beyond the June quarter, we believe memory costs will have an increasingly large impact on our business, and we will continue to monitor this. As we have said before, we will examine a range of options” – Cook said.
In May, Apple removed the base version of the Apple Mac mini, which featured an M4 chip, 16 GB of RAM, and 256 GB of storage at a retail price of $600, from its configurator in the United States and other key global markets. It then removed the 256 GB option from the M3 Ultra Mac Studio configurator, leaving the 96 GB memory configuration as the only available choice. A single 256 GB unified memory package is enough for roughly ten M5 Pro-based, 24 GB MacBook Pro devices, which collectively also represent a higher margin than a single Mac Studio unit.
Now that Apple has also submitted to the memory industry giants, the AI-driven turmoil has finally reached its most disruptive peak for the global consumer-electronics sphere.
