iPhone Air Said to Be Roughly Twice as Popular as iPhone 16 Plus
MacRumors • • general
Key Points:
- Independent Ookla data shows the iPhone Air captured 6.8% of U.S. iPhone 17 generation samples in Q4 2025, outperforming the iPhone 16 Plus's 2.9% share a year earlier, validating Apple's decision to retire the Plus model.
- The iPhone 17 Pro's market share declined from 34.9% to 30.6% year-over-year, suggesting some buyers chose the thinner iPhone Air over the Pro's better camera and processing power.
- Unlike previous attempts with the iPhone mini and Plus models, the iPhone Air gained significant traction both in the U.S. and internationally, with shares of 11.2% in South Korea, 8.9% in Japan, and 8.4% in Singapore.
- Ookla's testing indicates Apple's in-house C1X modem in the iPhone Air matches the Qualcomm X80 modem in the iPhone 17 Pro Max for download speeds and outperforms it in latency across most markets, though Qualcomm retains an advantage in upload speeds.
