Who is the iPhone Air really for?

It’s very thin. And very light. And quite nice to look at. It also only has one camera, the battery life isn’t amazing, and it’s not like Apple saved some special new software feature for its fanciest phone. The new iPhone Air is just… the nice one. So where does that leave the Air? And where does that leave anyone trying to decide which iPhone to buy?

On this episode of The Vergecast, we try and answer those questions. The Verge’s Allison Johnson and Jake Kastrenakes, who have been using and reviewing Apple’s latest iPhones — the Air, the 17, and the 17 Pro — join the show to talk about what they’ve learned. Not to spoil the fun, but there’s not many surprises in these new devices. They are what you think they are. And maybe, at this point in the smartphone era, that’s just fine.

After that, The Verge’s Victoria Song tells us about her review of the new AirPods Pro 3, which are also exactly as good as you’d hoped they would be, before diving deep into the slightly confusing lineup of Apple Watches. The Watch SE 3 is Apple’s best low-end watch yet, and it’s good enough to make the Watch Series 11 seem like not such a good deal. The Series 11 does have a few upgrades, though, and so does the (even bigger and even more powerful) Watch Ultra 3. The names are confusing, but which watch you should buy actually isn’t, and Vee walks us through the process.

Finally, we answer a question on the Vergecast Hotline (call 866-VERGE11, or email [email protected]!) about Apple’s approach to AI. Is it possible that Apple is trying to essentially quiet quit the AI race? Or is something else happening here? We have a few ideas.

If you want to know more about everything we discuss in this episode, here are some links to get you started: