*

iPhone Air features Apple's ( AAPL ) thinnest design and advanced

A19 Pro

processor

*

Challenges include single camera and questions over

battery life

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Priced competitively, expected to outperform Samsung's

Galaxy

S25 Edge in sales

By Stephen Nellis and Aditya Soni

CUPERTINO, California, Sept 9 (Reuters) - Apple ( AAPL ) CEO Tim

Cook appeared to be channeling his predecessor and design genius

Steve Jobs on Tuesday when he unveiled the iPhone Air, the

company's slimmest handset yet and the biggest change in eight

years to a lineup that fans and analysts complained was

stagnating.

Cook kicked off the company's annual product launch

event at its Cupertino, California, headquarters with a Jobs

quote: "For us, design goes beyond just how something looks or

feels. Design is also how it works."

Inside its 5.6-millimeter-thick (0.22 inch) frame - thinner

than Samsung Electronics' ( SSNLF ) S25 Edge at 5.8 mm - the

iPhone Air's circuitry has been shrunk to the size of a few

postage stamps, clearing the way for as much battery capacity as

possible.

Going into the event, many analysts had predicted a ho-hum

reception to the product launches, but on Tuesday some said the

four new iPhones - iPhone Air, iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro and

iPhone 17 Pro Max - offered a lineup likely to appeal to

customers with varied budgets.

And doubts still linger about whether the new smartphone will

match its promised battery capacity, and whether consumers will

settle for one fewer camera.

It will have Apple's ( AAPL ) best and newest A19 Pro processor chip,

which is tuned to handle artificial intelligence tasks, and two

new custom Apple ( AAPL ) communications chips.

"I heard loud claps the moment it was announced," said

Gaurav Chaudhary, a YouTuber with nearly 24 million followers,

popularly known as "Technical Guruji." He praised the Air's

titanium frame and "ceramic shield" glass, which Apple ( AAPL ) said make

the device more durable.

Chaudhary said that despite hearing numerous leaks about the

device ahead of time, he was still impressed after handling it

in the Steve Jobs Theater at Apple ( AAPL ) headquarters, even if he

still wants to see if Apple's ( AAPL ) battery life claims hold up.

Seventeen years ago, Jobs famously introduced the company's

first MacBook Air by pulling the ultra-thin laptop from an

interoffice envelope, to highlight how portable it was.

The iPhone Air, which borrows its name and design language

from the laptop, may be what Apple ( AAPL ) fans have wanted for years: A

device that looks different from others on the market and is

packed with feats of hardware engineering in every square

millimeter.

"I think in an era where we've seen a large degree of

sameness, it's great to see Apple ( AAPL ) bring a new product to the

market. It kind of reinvigorates the whole segment of iPhone,"

said PP Foresight analyst Paolo Pescatore.

On the downside, however, the iPhone Air has only one

camera, compared with two separate cameras on the base iPhone 17

and three on the Pro models.

Ben Bajarin, CEO of technology consultancy Creative

Strategies, said it will also be critical to confirm whether it

can live up to Apple's ( AAPL ) battery life claims. He said Apple's ( AAPL )

custom chips should help, because the company has spent more

than a decade designing its own chips with a relentless focus on

energy efficiency and size.

The new product launches brought no new announcements, however,

on artificial intelligence features that would help Apple ( AAPL ) to

close the gap with the likes of Alphabet's Google

, which has used its latest flagship phones to showcase

the capabilities of its Gemini AI technology.

But analysts said the iPhone Air, especially, was likely to

spur many upgrades, boosting Apple's ( AAPL ) sales in the crucial

holiday shopping season.

It could also help Apple ( AAPL ) win back customers in China, where

Apple ( AAPL ) has lost market share to rivals who have introduced

slimmer smartphones, analysts said.

"It's miniaturization at its finest in a phone," Bajarin

said.

The iPhone Air is priced in the middle of the iPhone lineup

and at $100 less than the debut price of Samsung's Galaxy S25

Edge, which hit markets earlier this year and shipped 1 million

units in the second quarter, according to IDC. The price should

make it a strong seller, said Nabila Popal, senior research

director with IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker

unit.

Popal predicted better sales for the iPhone Air, "not only

because it's priced better, but because the (iPhone) Plus -

which essentially the Air is replacing - already did between

5-7% of Apple's ( AAPL ) shipments."

"Apple's ( AAPL ) late, but when they do it, they do it bigger or

louder or better than anyone," Popal said.