Nachdem ich das iPhone Air zerlegt habe, denke ich, dass Apple noch etwas in der Tube hat.

Hey, has the iPhone Air been discontinued?

Have you guys come across this trending topic in the past couple of days? It's said that some bloggers have reported that the iPhone Air is out of production due to poor sales both at home and abroad.

Source: Cailian Press Technology

Actually, after checking the original blogger's post, I found that this is another piece of news taken out of context.

What the original post said was that the pre - processing of the manufacturing process, specifically the production of metal parts, has stopped. These parts were made before the iPhone Air was launched and can meet the current order volume, so there's no need for further production.

Apple plans to accumulate a batch of orders before making new metal parts for the Air.

Source: Dingjiao Digital

As a result, the media reported it as "iPhone Air discontinued", which even confused the author of @Dingjiao Digital.

Actually, we didn't have high expectations for the sales of the iPhone Air in the first place. As early as its release, we heard from our supply - chain friends that Apple's internal sales forecast for this device was only in the millions.

In contrast, Apple's sales expectations for the standard and Pro versions of the iPhone 17 start at tens of millions.

So, it's predictable that the sales of the iPhone Air are sluggish.

Source: Nikkei Asia

However, as a tech enthusiast, I'm more concerned about the technical aspects of a phone like the iPhone Air than its sales performance.

Many people have said that Apple launched the iPhone Air mainly to pave the way for future foldable phones. But is that really the case?

I think to answer this question, we need to look inside the phone. So, we bought two iPhone Airs for disassembly.

Here's my conclusion: The iPhone Air is not just a trial for foldable phones. You can see more exploration of Apple's future devices in it. It's more like the prototype that lays the foundation for Apple's technological development in the next decade.

So, what kind of exploration has it done?

I think it's mainly in three aspects: material technology, stacking design, and component miniaturization.

Let's start with the materials. The iPhone Air is the only one among this year's three new models that uses titanium.

Do you know that the titanium used by Apple is different from the pure - titanium vacuum flasks you can buy online?

Since the iPhone 15 Pro, Apple has been using Grade 5 titanium alloy.

Compared with pure titanium, this titanium alloy, with 90% titanium, 6% aluminum, and 4% vanadium, is called the "golden ratio".

To put it simply, in the alloy, aluminum can penetrate the titanium lattice, enhancing the alloy's heat resistance and stability. As a result, the titanium alloy is less likely to deform and soften at high temperatures, increasing its overall strength.

The addition of vanadium can improve the material's forgeability and formability during processing, making it easier to process. It can also improve the material's fracture toughness, so the titanium alloy is less likely to crack under impact.

So, compared with pure titanium, Grade 5 titanium alloy performs better in terms of strength, heat resistance, toughness, plasticity, and fatigue resistance. It is commonly used in key parts of aerospace.

Due to the better toughness of Grade 5 titanium alloy, the iPhone Air can have a middle frame as thin as 0.6 mm (at its thinnest) while having better anti - dent ability and being less likely to have permanent deformation.

Source: LS Manufacturing

According to some bloggers' tests, this year's iPhone Air is not only difficult to bend, but also can rebound immediately after slight elastic deformation.

It can be said that the strength and toughness of Grade 5 titanium alloy allow Apple to make the body frame thinner while solving the core problem of the fragility of ultra - thin bodies.

Source: JerryRigEverything

Okay, after talking about the materials and technology, let's talk about the internal stacking design of the phone.

From the overall layout, like the iPhone 17 Pro, the iPhone Air uses a three - section layout similar to Android phones. The motherboard is arranged horizontally and moved up. From top to bottom, the phone consists of the motherboard/camera, battery, vibration motor, microphone, and other peripheral components.

The advantage of this is that when the phone bends, the horizontally - arranged motherboard won't be affected. You know, the motherboard is the most valuable part of the phone.

Of course, this also leaves more space for the battery. We estimate that about 60% of the internal space is used for the 3149 mAh (rated) battery.

However, even with this design, the actual battery life is not that great.

In a 3 - hour battery - life test, it only had 67% of the battery left, which is worse than the standard version of the iPhone 17.

Below the battery, you can see that Apple has allocated more space for the vibration motor and removed the bottom speaker.

Actually, if the USB - C port is removed, does it mean the bottom speaker can come back?

I have a feeling that Apple will eventually remove the USB - C port, just like it removed the 3.5mm headphone jack.

Next, let's look at the top of the phone. This area showcases the art of stacking to the fullest.

Specifically, there's a protrusion that Apple calls the Plateau. It means a high - land area.

The biggest difference between it and the Deco we often mentioned before is that the Deco is for decoration, while this extended platform design has engineering considerations.

Apple has hollowed out a space inside this extended platform to accommodate the camera, speaker, and the double - stacked part of the motherboard.

Since the structural strength will decrease after hollowing out, and this extended platform is the most vulnerable area of the glass cover, Apple applies glue around the platform and then reinforces it with a metal plate.

However, according to what I've seen online, when this area is dropped, it still breaks...

Source: A Reliable Ordinary Person

The structures of the rear camera and the top speaker have been optimized for the design of the extended platform. The concave part in the middle of the speaker can just fit the back microphone and the flash module.

Our tech - blogger friend, Gaocuoge, also said that the components in this year's Air are arranged more closely than before. If the parts are slightly misaligned, the screws won't fit.

It can be said that Apple has squeezed every inch of available internal space in the iPhone Air.

However, to make the phone thinner and lighter, Apple has to make some compromises.

For example, it removed the bottom speaker.

Another example is that the front - camera module of the iPhone Air had to be moved