Apple’s upcoming iPhone Air 2 will reportedly prioritise dramatically improved battery life through a new 2-nanometer chip, positioning the device as a technical bridge toward Apple’s future foldable iPhone rather than a major hardware overhaul.
Apple’s next-generation iPhone Air 2 is reportedly shifting its priorities, with battery life set to take centre stage thanks to a major move to a new 2-nanometer chip.
According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the second-generation Air will lean less on sweeping hardware redesigns and more on efficiency gains driven by cutting-edge silicon – a strategic pivot meant to solve the endurance issues with the current model
While some reports suggested the Air 2 had been delayed into 2027 due to weak sales, Gurman says the device was never firmly planned for 2026, and Apple’s naming scheme – dropping the numbered “iPhone 17 Air” – signalled from the start that this line wouldn’t follow a strict annual cadence.
Instead, the Air serves as something of a technical bridge between traditional iPhones and Apple’s upcoming foldable, sharing internal components, miniaturisation techniques and battery systems.
The headline upgrade is supposedly the 2-nanometer chip, expected to offer significant efficiency improvements and longer battery life.
With the iPhone Air already being criticised for underperforming in this area, Apple is reportedly treating power optimisation as the defining feature of the Air 2.
Other rumoured enhancements, such as a second rear camera for ultrawide shots, appear unlikely.
Gurman notes that the Air’s compact “plateau” camera housing is already cramped and reworking it simply to add the least-used iPhone lens “seems like a lot of work for a phone that few people are buying”.
Only if Apple standardises a dual-camera design on future foldables might this trickle down.
Despite modest sales expectations – internally projected at just six to eight per cent of new iPhone volume – Apple sees the Air line as strategically valuable.
The thin device allows the company to trial next-gen internals while preparing manufacturing partners for a far more ambitious foldable rollout.
iPhone Air 2 ‘to focus on improved battery life with new 2-nanometer chip’
