iPhone Air could be Apple’s disappointment of the year

The ultra-thin iPhone Air smartphone looks and feels revolutionary in the hand, but that doesn’t seem to be enough to make it more desirable than the other models in the iPhone 17 series. This has been reported several times already, and now analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reports an 80% decrease in orders.

Kuo claims that Apple overestimated its expectations for iPhone Air sales and as a result reduced component orders for the model by 80 percent. This applies from now until the first quarter of 2026.

The analyst justifies the failure of the Air by the fact that the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 models are already able to satisfy the greater need of consumers for a high-end smartphone and there is simply no room for a fourth offering in a new market segment.

Apple isn’t alone in these hot waters, because for Samsung, we recently heard that the poor performance of their first ultra-thin phone, the Galaxy S25 Edge, has led them to abandon its sequel altogether.

On the other hand, the trio of iPhone 17 models enjoys more success than their predecessors, and this is good news for the American company, which always uses the fourth model for experiments anyway. From one with compact dimensions, through a “plus” model with a large display and battery, to today’s ultra-thin Air.

The iPhone Air is said to account for only 10 to 15% of sales of all models in the series, but from November onwards, this share will be seriously reduced. Nikkei Asia reports that Apple has already increased production of the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max, and that of the base iPhone 17 is about to be raised by 5 million units.