Iphone air flop shakes up ultra-thin phone market

A surprise hit for apple in 2026, the iPhone Air's dismal sales have sent shockwaves through the tech industry.

Leaked figures reveal meager demand

A Weibo post from prolific leaker Digital Chat Station claims the iPhone Air barely scraped past 700,000 activations, even after appleslashed prices multiple times. That's a far cry from the millions apple typically moves.

But the Air's struggles are just the tip of the iceberg. According to the leaker, at least one unnamed Chinese ultra-thin rival did even worse, landing at a paltry 50,000 activations.

Competitors back away from thinness

The dire numbers have competitors rethinking their own ultra-thin strategies. Xiaomi has reportedly halted production of its true Air rival, while Vivo is backing off thinness in its S series.

Samsung, meanwhile, had already seen the writing on the wall. The Galaxy S25 Edge sold poorly enough that the company decided to skip the ultra-thin Galaxy S26 Edge entirely.

Why thinness failed to catch on

So what went wrong? apple's iPhone Air, with its sleek design and premium feel, was meant to lead the charge into the ultra-thin era. But in reality, buyers were turned off by the phone's mediocre battery life, single speaker, and $999 price tag.

As one commenter put it,