Apple unveils iPhone Air, the thinnest iPhone yet

Apple unveiled the iPhone Air on Tuesday at an event in Cupertino, introducing what it calls the thinnest iPhone yet. Measuring 5.6 millimeters at its slimmest point and weighing about 165 grams, the 6.5-inch handset starts at $999 for a 256GB model and will be available for preorder September 12 with general sales beginning September 19, Apple said.

The company emphasized design and materials in presenting the Air, which uses a grade 5 titanium frame and a Ceramic Shield back. Apple also confirmed the model will be eSIM only in all markets and will be offered in four colors. The phone’s Super Retina XDR OLED display supports ProMotion at 120Hz and Apple said peak brightness can reach up to 3,000 nits. Internals include the A19 Pro chip, a custom C1X 5G modem and an N1 networking chip with Wi‑Fi 7 support. Apple removed the 128GB base option, leaving 256GB, 512GB and 1TB configurations.

In a notable departure from other recent flagship handsets, the iPhone Air has a single 48-megapixel rear “Fusion” camera. Apple said the handset leans heavily on computational photography to emulate multiple focal lengths and provide an optical-quality 2x telephoto mode without additional...