Apple’s second-generation iPhone Air could bring a meaningful battery upgrade when it launches in 2027.
According to leaker Digital Chat Station on Weibo, Apple’s next iPhone Air is expected to feature a 3,500mAh battery. That would be up from the 3,149mAh battery used in the current iPhone Air, representing roughly an 11% increase in raw battery capacity.
That does not necessarily mean the iPhone Air 2 will be physically larger. Apple could use a denser battery, improve the phone’s internal layout, or take advantage of other component changes to create more room inside the same general chassis. Still, given the iPhone Air’s extremely thin design, even a modest battery increase would likely require careful internal packaging.
Battery life has been one of the obvious areas where Apple could improve the iPhone Air. The device’s thin-and-light design gives it a distinct place in the lineup, but that form factor also limits how much battery Apple can fit inside.
The rumored battery upgrade may not be the only change coming. Previous reports have suggested that Apple is also planning to add a second rear camera to the iPhone Air 2. The current iPhone Air uses a single rear Wide camera, which makes it less versatile than even the standard iPhone 17. Apple is reportedly looking to address that by adding an Ultra Wide camera to the next model.
That could complicate the internal design. Apple currently uses the raised camera plateau area on the iPhone Air to house several components and free up more room for the battery. Adding another camera would likely force Apple to rethink that layout, especially if the company also wants to increase battery capacity at the same time.
The iPhone Air 2 is also expected to use Apple’s A20 chip, reportedly built on a new 2nm process. If accurate, that should bring efficiency improvements that could help battery life even beyond the rumored capacity increase.
Apple may also be using display changes to make more room inside the device. A separate report has claimed that Apple plans to adopt Samsung’s CoE, or Color Filter on Encapsulation, OLED technology for the iPhone Air 2. The technology can help make the display stack thinner, potentially giving Apple a little more internal space for the battery without increasing the overall size of the phone.
Taken together, the iPhone Air 2 sounds like it could be a more practical version of Apple’s ultra-thin iPhone. A larger battery, a more efficient chip, a thinner display, and a second rear camera would directly address some of the biggest compromises of the first-generation model.
The iPhone Air 2 is currently expected to launch in the first half of 2027 alongside the regular iPhone 18 and iPhone 18e.
