this post was submitted on 27 Dec 2025
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The marketing about it being an incredibly thin phone was a misstep - it just looked absurd to have such a chunky lump stuck onto it, and it felt very much like they were attempting a have cake / eat cake situation by claiming it had incredible camera stats (which werent very good) to justify the bump on an otherwise amazingly thin phone, and then that giant electronics bump had an external lens on it too.
Had it just been an ugly phone, I doubt it would have met with anywhere near the same criticism, but all the adcopy about how thin it was overtop of photos where you could see it had a giant lump on it felt really dishonest, and if this article is accurate it may count among the biggest apple flops ever.
(The thickness may just need to be accepted at this point. The S25 Ultra is 8.2mm, which is thinner than the Air if you include the bump. It seems like the camera wasnt the issue then, but that they hamstrung their design team with their drive for a thin phone. What elegance might even an extra millimeter of chassis space produced?)
People really don't seem to understand that in the electronics world, one single millimeter can make worlds of difference.
You absolutely can cram so much more stuff in "dumber" electronics, but phones are even more constricted in design, because they need to send and receive signals of different types, so feedback and signal noise are concerns.
Adding in even slightly more space allows for much better design, because you have more tolerances to reduce signal noise. It allows dozens of wires for camera sensors to route better. A 20% longer battery life. Heck, just being slightly more ergonomic and less droppable is a bonus to slightly thicker phones.
I didn't even consider signal noise until I got into fpv drones and rc stuff, it can mame a ton of difference if you have a single wire 2mm out of place. (and crash your drone because the motor interfered with your antenna)
Thiner≠better.
Wildly appropriate username here. Also, 100% correct.
are you talking about the Air? last time i checked all iphone models have a camera bump.
The marketing had nothing to do with it not selling. Pick one up, yeah it’s thin but it’s also a bar of soap to hold. Plus a ton of deal breaking trade off like less battery life and poor camera system compared to the alternative iPhone 17s/Pros.