All of it appeared to be getting so neat. Earlier this yr the iPhone SE was retired, nominally changed (at a significantly greater worth level!) by the iPhone 16e, which left your complete vary helpfully categorised by era: the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus, and the iPhone 16, 16e, 16 Plus, 16 Professional, and 16 Professional Max. You solely had to take a look at the title of the product to inform which cycle it was a part of, and it was apparent that something with a 16 within the title was newer than something with a 15, and so forth.
However that handy state of affairs lasted all of six and a half months, and now we’re worse off than earlier than. There are 4 new handsets for late 2025: the iPhone 17, the iPhone 17 Professional, the iPhone 17 Professional Max, and… the iPhone Air. So why did Apple decide that title, and never the extra apparent, logical, and beforehand rumored iPhone 17 Air?
The super-special new product principle
The primary principle is that Apple needs to deal with the iPhone Air as a wholly new product line, and that its “model numbers” subsequently want to start from 1, not 17. In a lot the identical manner that the primary iPad Air, which got here out in 2013 after 4 earlier generations of iPad, was merely referred to as iPad Air. And when Apple launched one other mannequin the next yr, it was referred to as iPad Air 2, not iPad 6 Air.
The iPad Air was the primary non-generic iPad that Apple had launched, so there wasn’t a precedent for the way such issues ought to work. (What’s extra, iPad branding was a multitude earlier than the iPad Air got here out. Keep in mind “The New iPad” or “iPad with Retina Show”?) Whereas the iPhone has existed as a number of manufacturers/traces for the reason that iPhone 6 Plus got here out alongside the iPhone 6 in 2014, and within the overwhelming majority of instances, the coverage has been to maintain the era quantity in there and simply tack Plus, mini, Professional, Professional Max, or “e” on the top.
Apple
The exception to that system, and the apparent precedent for the iPhone Air’s naming conference, is the iPhone SE. The SE had its personal era numbers, with “(2nd era)” and “(third era)” steadily used to distinguish the 2020 and 2022 fashions on official supplies. However that system solely utilized to Apple’s funds telephones, and made a type of sense since they got here out within the spring and existed exterior the yearly fall cycle that the opposite telephones adopted. And it was ditched anyway when the iPhone 16e got here out this spring.
Advertising and marketing the iPhone Air as its personal factor, slightly than merely one variant of the newest iPhone era, does take pleasure in making it really feel extra particular. In spite of everything, Apple is proposing to cost $999 for a telephone that has shorter battery life than the $799 iPhone 17 and half the variety of rear digital camera lenses: clearly labelling them as separate traces makes direct comparisons much less seemingly. In fact, you’re paying extra for the iPhone Air; it’s a totally new product. Please cease wanting on the battery life estimates.
The one-off principle
One other provocative principle, proposed on Macworld’s Slack channel yesterday by contributor Mahmoud Itani, is that Apple has gone for the non-numeric Air branding as a result of it’s supposed to be a one-off product.
He means that there won’t be an iPhone Air 2 or iPhone 18 Air: except gross sales are overwhelmingly and unexpectedly excessive, the system may merely be a midpoint on the highway to the primary iPhone Fold. (A tool on which, by the way, that ultra-slim chassis will likely be needed, slightly than a nice aesthetic bonus.) Whether or not that will likely be referred to as iPhone Fold or iPhone 18 Fold stays to be seen.
Even when the iPhone Air will get a 2nd-gen replace, holding the quantity off offers Apple some flexibility with when it’s up to date. Possibly it will get a worth lower subsequent yr when the iPhone 18 arrives and sticks round for an additional yr. And not using a “17” within the title, it gained’t really feel such as you’re utilizing an outdated telephone subsequent to the iPhone 18 lineup.
One in every of this stuff just isn’t like the opposite.
Apple
The chaos principle
Finally, nonetheless, these are all simply theories. It’s by no means straightforward to make sure why Apple makes the branding choices it does. Partly as a result of the corporate is so secretive, however primarily as a result of its branding insurance policies are far and wide.
The iPhone has (largely) adopted an overarching model quantity system, with sub-brands tagged on the top; the iPad and Apple Watch, conversely, checklist sub-brands first, with their very own unbiased model numbers tagged on the top of that. Macs are at present labelled by processor however was labelled by yr… and that was the yr they got here out, whereas working methods are actually labelled by the yr they got here out plus one. And infrequently you’ll come throughout a product on Apple’s web site (such because the HomePod 2) with no label in any respect indicating which model you’re about to purchase.
So maybe we’re crediting Apple with slightly an excessive amount of sense. Maybe we’re overthinking issues. And as an alternative of asking why Apple referred to as it the iPhone Air slightly than the iPhone 17 Air, we ought to be asking why on earth we ever thought Apple would apply logic to the branding of a brand new product.
For complete evaluation of Apple’s newest spherical of product bulletins, Macworld is the place to come back. Take a look at our September Occasion hub, and our checklist of the whole lot Apple introduced.
