Air, Edge, Fold: Finally, smartphone upgrades feel real

The move is a significant one, since Apple has been India’s fastest-growing smartphone brand over the past six years as per market data from IDC—despite selling at over 3x the average price of a smartphone in India. As it scales up in market share, its approach gets more diversified—the company now has multiple unique propositions in its portfolio that are not iterative in nature.

This approach is akin to what both Google and Samsung are offering with their latest smartphone lineups. Google currently has three distinct offerings in terms of flagship smartphone experiences—the entry-level Pixel 10, a large-display ‘Pro’ version, and a ‘Fold’ variant that tops its portfolio. Samsung, meanwhile, has four distinct offerings—a base Galaxy S25, a large-screen Galaxy S25 Ultra, a slim Galaxy S25 Edge, and its Galaxy Z foldable lineup.

With the iPhone Air, Apple too is taking a diversified approach—the iPhone 17 offering an upgrade on the basic features of a new Apple smartphone, the ‘Pro’ variant offering a larger display, and now, a super-slim experiment that also was Apple’s first new phone design in the past five years.

A new approach

The new design is bearing fruit. Chinmoyee Kalita, a 38-year-old banking professional, said that the brewing battle among three of the world’s top consumer technology companies has made her look at new smartphone launches with greater interest rather than hold on to an older phone that works just fine and doesn't feel dated compared to the new products and their features.

“I’ve been an Android smartphone user for a long time, and over the past five years, most phones have felt iterations of the same industrial prototype—with some glass finish here and some other extra features there. It is only over the past year that I began looking at getting myself a new smartphone again—at least there are a few new options to browse through," she added.

Kalita is not the only one. Akash Kargupta, a 32-year-old corporate executive in Gurugram, said that Apple’s new launch has also had a similar impact on him. “The last new iPhone I purchased was the iPhone 15, which felt good enough in comparison with what the iPhone 16 offered last year. But, the iPhone 17 appears to offer much more this year, which makes it very interesting," he said.

Both Kalita and Kargupta are considering the new devices, driven by their design-led innovations. Kalita is considering one of Google’s new Pixel 10 devices, while Kargupta has his eyes set on the iPhone Air.

The renewed consumer interest in smartphones and phone designs are being driven by the companies approaching industrialized devices with a new lens. After over a decade, a push from Samsung, Oppo and now Apple have brought back phones that are just around 5 millimetres in thickness. This, experts said, makes for a reset in approach where buyers are no longer looking for new specifications and features—but a revamped overall experience.

Beyond specifications

Prabhu Ram, vice-president of industry intelligence at market research firm CyberMedia, said that this approach has been a long time coming. “With smartphones maturing into a sea of sameness—where the rectangular slab dominates and incremental spec bumps no longer excite—brands are turning to new form factors to stand out in a hyper-competitive market. From foldables to ultra-slim designs, the focus is increasingly on reimagining the device as both a lifestyle statement for consumers and a differentiator in an otherwise uniform market—while also creating a halo effect that elevates the broader brand product portfolio," he said.

The move was echoed by Apple last week, which took an unusual approach with the design of the iPhone Air. The company’s latest smartphone uses a single camera on its phone, a sizeable bump to its back, and launched it with a company-designed power bank to go with it. Commentators on social media platforms said that the approach was unlike Apple, which focuses on uniform proportions and flat surfaces, over edgy design approaches.

Consumers, however, are liking it. Anisha Jennifer Sharma, a 37-year-old corporate professional and a long-time Apple user, is among them. “I loved how beautiful the iPhone Air looked, and while the Pro is the one that showcases all of Apple’s features, it is the Air that stood out right at launch—and is on my radar right since then as my next Apple phone," said Sharma, who has been an iPhone loyalist for the past 15 years.

It is this that has Apple poised to grow nearly 30% in iPhone sales this year. The new approach, both analysts and consumers alike said, are likely to see a renewed spell of interest in flagship smartphones. With the iPhone Air set to lead the new set of flagship devices in terms of unique consumer approaches, this year may well be the first in over five that design takes a centre stage, over features.