Apple Launches ‘Sport Changer’ Slimmer iPhone Air for $999 With Denser Battery

The iPhone Air mannequin was the star of the annual product launch occasion, with CEO Tim Cook calling it a “game changer.” Apple stated the mannequin is its most sturdy iPhone but. It will use the A19 Pro, a processor chip that it stated it had tweaked for higher power effectivity and efficiency to match the machine’s thinner battery.

Its worth is slotted in between the corporate’s different fashions, as analysts had predicted.

The iPhone Air will go head-to-head towards Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy S25 Edge, and analysts advised reporters it might be a stepping stone towards competing with Samsung’s folding telephones, that are of their seventh technology. A foldable cellphone is necessary for Apple to enchantment to clients in China, the place customers like foldables and the corporate has been shedding market share.

“This new device will bring a sense of newness to the iPhone, which has remained the same for too long,” stated PP Foresight analyst Paolo Pescatore. He stated the “new and much-improved iPhone line-up looks impressive, which puts (Apple) in a strong position to cater for different segments.”

The firm additionally launched the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro, the newest improve to its flagship smartphone, in addition to a brand new model of its AirPods Pro wi-fi headphones and a blood strain monitor in its newest Apple Watch. The firm successfully reduce or held costs regular on these up to date fashions.

Apple stated the iPhone Air will even function a brand new “N1” chip to deal with Wi-Fi communications and new “C1X” modem for mobile information. Chips for these capabilities in Apple’s premium gadgets have been lengthy equipped by Broadcom and Qualcomm, whose shares have been down 2.2% and 0.5%, respectively, on Tuesday afternoon. Apple shares have been down 1.6% after the corporate introduced pricing of the smartphones.

“This is MacBook Pro levels of compute, in an iPhone,” Tim Millet, one in all Apple’s chip executives, stated through the presentation on the firm’s Cupertino, California, headquarters. The iPhone Air can have two cameras and get rid of the bodily SIM card slot, releasing up extra room for battery capability.

Apple stated the bottom mannequin iPhone 17 can have a brighter, extra scratch-resistant display screen. It will even have a greater front-facing digicam with a in a different way formed sensor to make horizontal selfies look higher.

A 256-gigabyte model of the iPhone 17 base mannequin begins at $799, the identical because the earlier iPhone 16 mannequin with half the space for storing. The iPhone 17 Pro begins at $1,099 for a 256-gigabyte mannequin, the identical because the earlier yr’s mannequin with the identical storage dimension, however with out the choice of a smaller-capacity cellphone at a decrease $999 just like the iPhone 16 Pro.

The new AirPods Pro 3 will function reside translation of languages. Apple additionally stated that if each folks in a dialog are sporting the brand new AirPods Pro 3, the earbuds will translate conversations in close to actual time. Apple stated the brand new AirPods shall be priced at $249, the identical because the earlier technology, and change into accessible on September 19.

The blood strain monitor function is pending regulatory approval, Apple stated. The watch won’t detect each case of hypertension however the firm stated it expects the function to inform 1 million folks and can make it accessible in 150 nations.

Apple didn’t elevate the value on watch fashions both. New variations of the SE will value $249, the Series 11 will value $399 and the bigger Ultra mannequin will begin at $799, as all their predecessors did.

The firm’s product launch occasion comes amid a world commerce reordering sparked by U.S. President Donald Trump, with Apple estimating that tariffs will value it greater than $1 billion within the present fiscal quarter.