iPhone Air checks full gamut of portrait photography boxes in preliminary camera review

Apple asserts that the iPhone Air is "what the future looks like" with its dramatic lack of a third dimension compared to the ~8.8mm 17 Pro and Pro Max. It also makes it seem its prospective buyers are looking at the inability to take convincing portrait shots with its single wide-angle 48MP rear shooter.

That is not the case after all, according to a new 9to5Mac article. The blog claims to have an Air unit with which to test its facility with the "next-generation" portrait features introduced with the iPhone 15 series.

Not only is the Air apparently somehow capable of applying 'proper' bokeh effects in the right places, it is not restricted to using people or animals as subjects in this mode, as is the case with the iPhone 16e, SE 2022 and SE 2020.

Therefore, the Air might be the first single-camera iPhone able to help the user upload their next tasteful food snap to Instagram after all.

The new ~5.6mm thick smartphone was also found to save depth-of-field information automatically with every shot, meaning its file can be converted into a portrait shot after the fact.

The Air is also rated to support other related tools one might be more likely to expect of the 17 or 17 Pro series, Depth Control, Focus Adjustment and HDR in Portrait included.

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