The iPhone 17 Lineup
“Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.”
The implications of using this Steve Jobs quote to open the September event are interesting, as invoking Jobs is something Apple does sparingly. I assume it is meant to be interpreted as a signal to the company’s unwavering commitment to industry-leading product design, even in spite of recent design team defections and executive departures. The quote was indeed followed by a fun video showcasing the continuity of design across Apple’s entire product lineup.
A less charitable interpretation of the quote, perhaps, is that it apologises for the imperfect tradeoffs taken in the making of the iPhone lineup this year. The Pro is a bit uglier, but works better. The Air looks and feels great, but is missing fundamental features.
For me, the iPhone has always been about elegance and affordable luxury, and the 17 Pros don’t really do that for me. They harken from the same school of design as the Apple Watch Ultra; industrial, brutalist and a little aggressive. I’m not saying the direction is a mistake — clearly many customers value battery life and cameras above all else — but a bright orange block of aluminium doesn’t appeal to my personal sensibilities.
As I work from home, I’m a relatively light user of the iPhone. I do not demand battery life as much as people that commute for hours every day or do a lot of travelling. Thankfully, this makes the Air a viable choice for me. The Air’s battery capacity is sufficient for light-to-medium daily usage patterns. I’m probably going to end up getting the MagSafe battery pack for when I go on holiday, but I simply won’t need the extra juice all year round. I will happily get by with the Air. I’ll live with the compromises.
But if I was a habitually heavier user, I might have felt a bit alienated by this year’s lineup. There’s a product between the Air and the Pro that Apple no longer offers; a premium model that isn’t pro to the extreme. Future generations of iPhone Air may fill that gap, as the march of technology will mean it will gain battery life and more camera lenses, over time.