A Lesser GPU

Reports on which chip Apple would put in the iPhone Air were mixed leading up to Apple’s event, but it was a pleasant surprise when it turned out to be the A19 Pro rather than just the standard A19.

That means the iPhone Air will perform mostly the same as the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max during most everyday tasks. However, expect Apple’s more expensive iPhone models to outperform it when gaming.

That’s because the A19 Pro used in the iPhone Air is a “binned” version that has one less GPU core — five cores instead of six on the iPhone 17 Pro. It also lacks the vapor chamber cooling of its pricier cousins, which means that, while it can still handle AAA console games like Assassin’s Creed: Mirage with aplomb, it will heat up faster, resulting in performance being throttled sooner.