The iPhone Air Seems Like a Wild Preview for Apple AR Glasses

Apple had a lot of announcements this week, however arguably none was greater (and paradoxically thinner) than the iPhone Air. For one, there’s the truth that that is Apple’s first-ever cellphone with “Air” branding, marking a uncommon new class of iPhone, each current and future. Then, there’s the truth that the iPhone Air is very slim—5.64mm to be precise. Gizmodo’s Senior Editor, Client Tech, Raymond Wong, acquired some hands-on time with the iPhone Air, and he says it feels as skinny because it appears to be like—even thinner than Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Edge, to be precise. Suppose Ozempic, however for iPhones.

However as thrilling as all of that’s, it’s not the novelty and even the thinness that turned my head—it’s what the iPhone Air says in regards to the future. And to see that, it’s important to have a look at what’s happening inside.

That is HIGH sign of the longer term to return.

For context, the complete laptop. Modems, Antennas, all the pieces wanted to compute on the iPhone Air matches contained in the digital camera bump.

The remainder of the cellphone is display screen and battery.

My ideas.

Ever since Apple made the primary watch, they… pic.twitter.com/UfjAVNA52p

— Linus Ekenstam (@LinusEkenstam) September 10, 2025

For those who’ve been being attentive to X, you’ll have seen this image in your feed. That’s the within of the iPhone Air you’re , and it’s important for one motive. You see all of that stuff on the prime? That’s principally the entire cellphone—or all the computing energy, at the least. Apple managed to stuff principally all the pieces that makes its iPhone an iPhone (digital camera and compute) into one tiny part on the prime of the chassis. The remainder of the cellphone? One massive and really skinny battery. It’s a feat of engineering, actually, however past that, additionally a template for what Apple may do subsequent.

There are numerous implications of with the ability to cram a robust laptop in an area that small, however the one which intrigues me probably the most is a pair of AR glasses. Why AR glasses, particularly? Properly, they’re an ideal case of miniaturization getting in the way in which of a vibrant new future. It’s not that we don’t have the tech (in concept) to make AR glasses work—we are able to put screens in a glasses show, we’ve apps and UI, and digital camera sensors are smaller than ever—but it surely’s doing all of that in a type issue that individuals are prepared and keen to put on on their faces that throws a wrench in issues. We have to make issues smaller if we’re going to suppose greater. Write that down, Apple advertising.

It simply so occurs that’s precisely what the iPhone Air does. It crams a robust laptop into an area that previously felt too confining. And what makes me much more excited in regards to the miniaturization contained in the iPhone Air is the truth that Apple has lengthy been rumored to be creating a pair of AR glasses.

In February, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman revised earlier claims that Apple stopped creating AR glasses, reporting as a substitute that it killed a “stopgap product” that might have competed with Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses. To me, that claims Apple isn’t disinterested in AR, solely that it’s ready till it has a product that truly strikes the needle—maybe a pair of AR glasses that resemble common glasses in measurement and weight however can nonetheless run apps and act as secondary screens for messaging, calls, and navigation. You realize, the best pair of smart glasses. With the miniaturization of iPhones and the pc inside them, it feels prefer it’s one step nearer to that aim, although there are different issues with making a gadget of that caliber that the iPhone Air doesn’t essentially handle.

A type of hurdles is the battery. Apple did a great job of (at the least on paper) making the iPhone Air battery appropriate for most individuals, claiming that it lasts “all day,” which on this case means about 27 hours of offline video playback and 22 hours of streaming playback. That being stated, it nonetheless bothered to launch the iPhone Air alongside a MagSafe Battery pack that extends the cellphone’s battery. Possibly I’m studying into that an excessive amount of, but it surely appears to me that Apple could possibly be getting out forward of one thing. That very same difficulty may lengthen to a pair of AR glasses, too.

Even when Apple may cram an entire laptop inside a pair of light-weight glasses, working all the pieces would nonetheless must be very environment friendly, particularly if there’s a display screen inside with excessive brightness, audio capabilities, and the power to run apps. All of that stuff eats up battery—and quick. That’s all to say that shrinking down a pc is big, however powering the rattling factor is equally vital. Even with that piece of the puzzle doubtlessly unsolved, it’s exhausting to not consider that Apple may make it work… ultimately.

Only a few years in the past, we’d have appeared on the thought of an iPhone Air and stated, “No manner.” It’s not sturdy sufficient; there’s not sufficient battery; Moore’s Regulation is useless; yadda, yadda. However right here it’s. An iPhone that’s skinny and light-weight and even has Apple’s strongest A19 Professional chip. If I had been a betting man, I’d wager that Apple is already methods to up that ante, bettering battery life, cameras, and making its Air simply as succesful as its base mannequin iPhone. And who am I to wager towards them at this level? Name me loopy, but when the iPhone Air is any indication, my cash is on a pair of Apple AR glasses that do all of it—and possibly before you suppose.