Unlike other iPhone models, the iPhone Air comes with a single speaker only, which is located at the top of the display.
Apple’s New iPhone Air Does Not Include a Bottom Facing Speaker, Just One at the Top of the Display
In order to make an iPhone this thin and light, some sacrifices were bound to be made. One decision was to ship the iPhone Air with eSIM only, while the other one included removing the bottom-facing speaker.
If you have any iPhone around you, you’ll notice that it has two speakers – one at the top, one at the bottom. This creates a stereo effect when watching movies, TV shows, or when you’re listening to songs.
On iPhone Air, Apple made the decision to ship it with a single speaker, and it also doubles as the earpiece.
This diagram from Apple’s website shows that the cutouts at the bottom are for the microphones only:
Is that a deal-breaker? It’s subjective, and I don’t want to speak up for everyone because this is something that does not bother me, because my iPhone is always on silent and I use AirPods to listen to anything.
I’m never ever that guy in public who listens to loud stuff on their iPhone.
If you’re planning on buying the iPhone Air, do keep the speaker thing in mind though. Who knows it might just nudge you into buying the iPhone 17 Pro instead.
