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Apple quietly made the ‘vanilla’ iPhone 17 so good that I couldn’t care less about the iPhone Air

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Do you know what the world’s best-selling smartphone is? No, it’s actually not Apple’s ultra-high-end iPhone 16 Pro Max or 16 Pro (although the two 2024-released powerhouses did come close to the top spot in Counterpoint’s Q1 2025 chart), and it’s certainly not Samsung’s state-of-the-art Galaxy S25 Ultra or some budget-friendly Android mid-ranger from a Chinese brand like Redmi or Oppo.

Instead, it was the non-Pro iPhone 16 that dominated the hierarchy during the first three months of the year, looking likely to follow in the “vanilla” iPhone 15’s footsteps from last year as the number one global performer of 2025. Despite all that, it feels like this year’s sequel to the massively popular 6.1-inch handset isn’t getting the respect and buzz it objectively deserves, which I’m here today to try to correct.

No, the iPhone 17 is not “lighter than air.” So what?

Technically, Apple didn’t use that cheesy (and phony) advertising slogan for the “groundbreaking” iPhone Air’s introduction either. But other big words and phrases like “breakthrough design”, “impossibly thin and light”, “innovative camera experiences”, “innovative internal architecture”, and “huge leap in design and engineering” were not only used but obsessively repeated during the announcement of a product that’s… really not that special when you look below the surface.
Yes, Apple will probably sell millions and millions more iPhone Air units than Samsung sold Galaxy S25 Edge copies so far due to… Apple fan-related reasons, but the “base” iPhone 17 deserves to be and will undoubtedly be more successful than the “thinnest iPhone ever made.”

Have you ever used or at least held the 6.1-inch iPhone 16 in your hand for more than a couple of minutes? If yes, you probably already know heft was never one of the phone’s problems. So, no, you’re unlikely to find the iPhone 17 to be chunky or bulky in real-life use at 7.95mm thick and 177 grams, although those numbers are obviously not as impressive as the iPhone Air‘s 5.64mm waist and 165-gram weight… on paper.
But you know what other number I find impressive, and most likely not just on paper? 6.3 inches. Yes, the iPhone 17 manages to squeeze considerably more screen real estate into a body that’s only seven grams heavier and under 0.2mm thicker than that of the iPhone 16, and I believe that’s a bigger “leap in design and engineering” than anything the iPhone Air brings to the table.
And yes, I will admit that the iPhone 17 is not exactly “innovative” in any department, but let’s be honest, neither is the iPhone Air, especially after the Galaxy S25 Edge launch. “Innovative camera experiences” with a single 48MP rear-facing snapper? I’d rather get the “non-innovative” experiences provided by the iPhone 17‘s two 48MP rear-facing cameras, thank you very much!

That may not sound like a big difference, but only because I haven’t gotten to the iPhone 17‘s arguably most important advantage over its first-of-a-kind Air-branded brother.

The best value proposition in Apple’s product portfolio this holiday season?

In case you haven’t noticed, the iPhone 17 Pro is $100 more expensive than its predecessor… in an entry-level configuration that offers twice the internal storage space. Meanwhile, the iPhone Air is also $100 costlier than the iPhone 16 Plus it technically acts as a follow-up (of sorts) to, although that’s hardly surprising given the very clear distinctions between the two.

But what’s certainly (more than) a little surprising is that the non-Pro iPhone 17 has somehow managed to retain the iPhone 16‘s $799 starting price… while also expanding its base storage from 128 to 256 gigs. Now that’s what I call a true “breakthrough” for Apple, and quite possibly the best way to beat the likes of Samsung, Google, and OnePlus at their own game.

$799, mind you, is how much an entry-level Galaxy S25 variant normally costs… with only 128GB internal storage, and the same goes for the cheapest Pixel 10 model. The iPhone 17 is even competitive against the likes of the $900 OnePlus 13 and $600 OnePlus 13R, which would have been impossible to conceive just a couple of years ago.
It honestly blows my mind that Apple has made this very inspired pricing decision about the sequel to its most successful handset rather than the follow-up to the less popular iPhone 16 Pro, but instead of questioning why that’s the case, I think we should all be thankful for the iPhone 17… and pay far less attention to the gimmicky (and frankly, not that good-looking) iPhone Air.

Apple quietly made the 'vanilla' iPhone 17 so good that I couldn't care less about the iPhone AirApple quietly made the 'vanilla' iPhone 17 so good that I couldn't care less about the iPhone Air

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Adrian, a mobile technology enthusiast since the Nokia 3310 era, has been a dynamic presence in the tech journalism field, contributing to Android Authority, Digital Trends, and Pocketnow before joining PhoneArena in 2018. His expertise spans across various platforms, with a particular fondness for the diversity of the Android ecosystem. Despite the challenges of balancing full-time parenthood with his work, Adrian’s passion for tech trends, running, and movies keeps him energized. His commitment to mid-range smartphones has led to an eclectic collection of devices, saved from personal bankruptcy by his preference for ‘adequate’ over ‘overpriced’.

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