Apple made sure you’d want the iPhone Air over the iPhone 17 Pro by removing the most expected “feature”

After months of exciting leaks and rumors about Apple’s boldest design change in years, the iPhone 17 series is finally here. Much to the disappointment of many, the iPhone 17 Pro and the iPhone 17 Pro Max do, indeed, feature a much larger rear camera module. Similarly, despite the poor sales for the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge, Apple has unveiled the iPhone Air.The iPhone Air, while an absolutely fantastic phone in many ways, also has some shortcomings compared to the Pro models. One of the biggest concerns that everyone has is battery life, which is lower than the Pro models. Though Apple is still marketing it as “all day” battery life.

Apple knew that the iPhone Air would be subject to controversy, just like the Galaxy S25 Edge. The very early leaks let Apple study public reception to the Air model months before they officially announced it.

And so, Apple made a pretty controversial decision. A decision that, to me, almost feels like the company wanting its Pro models to sell less than before.

iPhone 17 Pro drops your favorite color

When you ask people about their favorite phone color, the overwhelming majority answers with black. Black, white, and silver remain the world’s most desired colors for smartphones, despite a vocal minority always complaining about the lack of eye-catching colors on today’s phones.

I, myself, have always purchased phones in black. The simple nature, and the sleek, professional look, always makes phones in this color seem like the best option to me, and apparently most of you agree.

Apple has decided to remove black as an option from the iPhone 17 Pro. This isn’t the first time that “black” hasn’t been an option, but previously, you would always have a black adjacent shade under a different name, like Graphite for the iPhone 12 Pro.

That isn’t the case for the iPhone 17 Pro models. You can get a “Deep Blue” iPhone 17 Pro, but it is most certainly not black. However, guess which new iPhone does have black as an option? Correct: the iPhone Air.

This is a bigger deal than you may think

You might be wondering if the removal of a black color option from the Pro models is that big of a deal. In my opinion, it definitely is.

You see, Apple isn’t simply marketing the iPhone Air based on its slim profile alone. From leaked reports, we all thought that this would be the Air’s only selling point, but that is not the case at all.Apple has deliberately made the iPhone Air a fantastic phone, good enough to directly take on the Pro models despite being a $100 cheaper. The iPhone Air uses the same processor as the Pro models, has the same amount of RAM, has the same ProMotion display, and still manages to give you “all day” battery life.

If there’s one aspect that the Air falls behind in, it’s the cameras. But Apple promises that the camera will still be more than enough for the average user.

By making the Air such a worthy alternative, Apple is planning to do the same thing it did with the MacBook Air: go from a launch viewed with skepticism, to making it the most popular product in its category.

And what better way to nudge users in that direction than by taking away small “features” like the option for a black phone? If I were a business professional, I like to think that I would much rather pull out a super sleek, ultra slim, black phone instead of a blue, silver, or orange phone that’s thicker than its predecessor.

Don’t get me wrong, many people will still choose the Pro models for the better cameras, more efficient cooling, and longer battery life or larger displays. But, in my honest opinion, I think that Apple may have finally found a worthy successor to the unpopular mini and Plus models.

With silicon batteries being adopted worldwide, I think that future iPhone Air models won’t have battery life as a big problem at all. And, from the newly released iPhone 17 series, I would go for the Air as well.

The Deep Blue on the iPhone 17 Pro is nice, but it’s not enough to stop me from choosing the iPhone Air in black. If I was planning to get an iPhone, that is, and I might very well be sooner or later, considering the direction that Samsung is headed with the ugly Galaxy S26 Ultra.

“Iconic Phones” is coming this Fall!

Rediscover some of the most unique and memorable phones of the last two decades! “Iconic Phones” is a beautifully illustrated book that we’ve been working on for over a year – and it’s coming out in just a couple short month!