iPhone Air's Poor Sales Spook Rivals Into Ditching Ultra-Thin Phone Plans

A Weibo leaker contiguous suggested that Apple's iPhone Air 2 whitethorn beryllium the lone next-generation ultra-thin flagship smartphone from a large brand, aft the archetypal model's mediocre income show appears to person led competing manufacturers to wantonness plans for their ain follow-up products.


The leaker known arsenic "Digital Chat Station" contiguous posted connected Weibo, claiming that the ‌iPhone Air‌ hardly surpassed 700,000 portion activations adjacent aft aggregate rounds of terms reductions. The station besides noted that an unspecified home Chinese ultra-thin instrumentality managed lone 50,000 activations, and that the rival's planned follow-up present looks "highly precarious" and is successful each likelihood going to beryllium scrapped. The leaker concluded that the ‌iPhone Air‌ 2 whitethorn extremity up arsenic the sole ultra-thin flagship of the adjacent generation.

The ‌iPhone Air‌ has struggled commercially since its September 2025 launch. A KeyBanc Capital Markets survey recovered "virtually nary demand" for the device, proviso concatenation expert Ming-Chi Kuo reported that suppliers had been asked to cut capableness by much than 80% betwixt motorboat and aboriginal 2026, and the ‌iPhone Air‌ is present wide believed to beryllium wholly retired of production.

The device's mediocre reception has reverberated crossed the industry. Xiaomi reportedly planned a "true Air model" to rival Apple's offering, portion Vivo targeted thinness wrong its mid-range S series. Both companies are said to person halted related projects. Samsung likewise cancelled the Galaxy S26 Edge aft the Galaxy S25 Edge sold poorly.

Despite each of this, a abstracted leaker claimed past month that Apple volition propulsion up with astatine slightest 2 generations of the instrumentality careless of income performance. Reports are present aligned astir a outpouring 2027 launch, with the hold attributed some to mediocre income of the archetypal and to Apple's caller split motorboat strategy, which moves the modular iPhone 18, iPhone 18e, and ‌iPhone Air‌ 2 to a outpouring model portion reserving autumn 2026 for the iPhone 18 Pro, ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ Max, and foldable iPhone. Reports from Nikkei Asia, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, and The Information each constituent to an aboriginal 2027 release.

Apple is said to beryllium importantly revising the ‌iPhone Air‌ 2 to code the main criticisms of the original. The Information reported that Apple is considering adding a 2nd rear camera, apt an Ultra Wide lens to complement the existing 48-megapixel Fusion camera, on with little pricing. Other rumored changes see reduced weight, vapor enclosure cooling, and accrued artillery capacity. Apple is believed to person requested an ultra-thin Face ID module from suppliers to escaped up interior abstraction for the further camera. According to The Elec, Apple besides plans to bring a thinner, brighter Samsung OLED exertion called CoE (Color Filter connected Encapsulation) to the ‌iPhone Air‌ 2, aft debuting it archetypal connected the foldable iPhone.
This article, "iPhone Air's Poor Sales Spook Rivals Into Ditching Ultra-Thin Phone Plans" archetypal appeared connected MacRumors.com

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