Nobody who drives a Bentley keeps the seat covers on. Nobody installs bull-bars on a Rolls-Royce. Nobody puts aftermarket bumpers on an Bugatti. Certain cars are kept pure as a mark of respect to their sheer design and engineering. The iPhone Air is the phone equivalent of those cars. Think about it – a specially formulated all-titanium frame, a ceramic shield backplate, a design so thin you’d expect it to bend but so resilient you’ll probably hurt your palms trying. Sure, an iPhone Air and a Bugatti are two entirely different beasts – but the both of them have the exact same ethos – they represent very pinnacle of design and engineering, coming together to create something impossibly beautiful and powerful. So here’s my pitch – if you plan on buying the iPhone Air, please don’t ruin it with a case.
Now I don’t expect or recommend you to buy an iPhone Air at all. It’s a brilliant celebration of Apple’s R&D, but it isn’t the best example of practicality. I own an iPad Pro M2 and I purposely chose not to upgrade to the M4… because just the thought of owning a tablet that’s 5.7mm thin terrified me. My iPad Pro perpetually lives in a case (it needs to, because the case has a kickstand), and I love my iPad Pro because it’s powerful, not because it’s thin. Anyone who buys the iPhone Air (and I’m pretty sure people are lining up already), do make sure your intent is in the right place. Don’t buy it because you think it’s a powerful computing device, or because you want to upgrade from your iPhone 13 and this seems ‘cool’. The only reason you should buy an iPhone Air is because its slim design gives you great social cache. And the best way to milk that social cache is to not shroud your iPhone Air in a crummy-ass case.
Designer: Apple
Before I talk about this further, here’s my complete disclaimer. I love cases. They’re awesome, and both my iPhone and iPad are clad in them. Apple is a marvelous company, but I don’t NEED a slim gadget, I need a gadget that’s intact. I’d much rather spend $30 on a case than $300 on AppleCare+… and you should too (in fact, I routinely find myself writing about some great casemakers on this blog, so it behooves me to ensure I don’t contradict myself just for the clicks). The iPhone Air isn’t for me, and it’s probably not for the most of us… yet a bunch of us are going to buy one anyway.
If you match it feature-for-feature, the Air’s only true highlight is its slimness. Apple’s gone to great lengths to ensure the phone measures just a mere 5.6 millimeters thick at an average, and doesn’t bend to pressure like its predecessor, the iPhone 6. It has a single camera lens, a 3,149mAh battery, a single speaker, and lacks a SIM tray. On paper, these specs are fairly average for a phone. What makes the iPhone Air impressive, however, is the sheer R&D gone behind making a device that feels paper-thin. That’s its USP (it’s literally in the name too), and that should be the only motivating factor at play.
So for the person either lining up at a store or placing your order for an iPhone Air online, don’t disrespect the phone’s one true pièce de résistance with a bulky, horrible case. Don’t put a crappy frame on an artistic masterpiece. And despite Apple’s claims at sturdiness, don’t, for the love of everything holy, drop the phone!
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