On this week's episode of
The MacRumors Show, we discuss the latest rumors about the
iPhone Air not selling as well as Apple hoped.
There have been many recent reports suggesting the iPhone Air has failed to catch on with consumers, with Apple moving to cut production due to lower-than-expected sales. The first warning sign was the
ready availability of the iPhone Air at launch, suggesting lower than expected demand.
Last week, Japan's Mizuho Securities said that Apple would
reduce iPhone Air production by at least one million units because of underwhelming sales performance.
Nikkei then
reported that Apple planned to cut production significantly almost to "end-of-production levels."
KeyBanc Capital Markets said that there is "virtually no demand" for the iPhone Air and that Apple would
"drastically" cut production as a result. Apple analyst
Ming-Chi Kuo then
clarified that suppliers have been asked to reduce capacity by more than 80% between now and the first quarter of 2026, and some components with longer lead times will be discontinued by the end of 2025.
Samsung is apparently seeing a similar response to its super thin iPhone Air rival, the Galaxy S25 Edge. Reports indicate that Samsung
canceled a next-generation model after disappointing sales.
According to Kuo, the iPhone Air's poor performance suggests that the
iPhone 17 and 17 Pro models already "cover the majority of high-end user demand," so there is little room for new market segments. All of the other new iPhones are all believed to be selling better than expected, with Apple increasing up production of these models.
Apple apparently planned three more iPhone Air generations, but that could now change in light of real-world sales data. We could get yet another new
iPhone form factor as soon as 2026, with rumors suggesting that Apple will debut a foldable model alongside the
iPhone 18 lineup.