“Apple Will Grit Its Teeth” And Push Through With iPhone Air 2 And Its Successor, Claims A Source As It Pours Cold Water Over iPhone 18 Plus

Rohail Saleem
The image shows a white Apple iPhone with dual rear cameras against a blue sky background.
Apple is trying to enhance the appeal and utility of the iPhone Air 2.
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By now, it has been largely established that the iPhone Air is the weakest link among the recently released iPhones, even if Apple's ultra-slim offering has managed to outsell the iPhone 16 Plus and Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge, as per speedtest samples from Ookla.

Even so, an established Weibo-based tipster believes Apple will still release the iPhone Air 2 and 3, pouring cold water over the prospects of the iPhone 18 Plus, which was expected to replace the iPhone Air 2 in the event Apple did end up canceling its ultra-slim iPhone lineup.

Related Story Apple’s Refusal To Bring Larger Batteries To The iPhone 18 Pro Is The Company Silently Mocking Rivals On How Efficient Its Entire Platform Is

Apple to push through with iPhone Air 2 and iPhone Air 3, dimming the prospects of a 'Plus' variant

Fixed Focus Digital has detailed in a Weibo post that the iPhone Air 2 and 3 are still coming (machine translated):

"Air 2 will continue to be iterated as usual. No matter how badly it sells, Apple will grit his teeth and make two generations."

This aligns with a JP Morgan research note back in November 2025, where the Wall Street titan had penciled in the iPhone Air 2 for 2026 and the iPhone Air 3 for 2027, going against the prevailing chorus that had begun to discount a discontinuation of this new form factor at the time. Of course, we now know that the iPhone Air 2 will likely debut alongside the base iPhone 18 and the iPhone 18e in the spring of 2027.

For the benefit of those who might not be aware, the iPhone Air has a battery capacity that is just 62 percent of the iPhone 17 Pro Max's, and around 11 percent below even that of the base iPhone 17. This means that Apple's ultra-slim iPhone can last just around 12 hours in real-world settings, which is hardly something to boast of, and becomes a debilitating shortcoming for power users.

With the iPhone Air 2, however, Apple is expected to boost the battery capacity and bring a dual-camera setup vs. the lone rear camera on the iPhone Air.

Rohail Saleem Photo

About the author: Writing is my one incontrovertible passion. Over the past six years, he has authored over 2,200 distinct articles on financial and tech-related topics, spanning nearly 1 million words. And he has been a member of Wcctech mobile team since 2025. As an alumnus of the University of Toronto, Rotman Commerce Program, I bring nuance, in-depth knowledge, and a unique perspective to every topic that I cover. When I'm not writing, I'm traveling the world, exploring hidden confectionaries and restaurants as an aspiring food connoisseur.

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