It’s starting to feel like déjà vu over at Apple. According to a recent report from the Asia-based leaker “Fixed Focus Digital,” Apple’s big play for the entry-level market, the iPhone 16e, is “not selling well,” with the leaker flat-out calling the attempt a “failure.”

If you’re feeling a sense of whiplash, you’re not alone. This news comes as the other new entry in Apple’s lineup, the ultra-thin iPhone Air, is also being widely reported as a sales disappointment.

It seems Apple has a new, and very expensive, “mid-range” problem. And it’s a problem of its own making.

The $599 squeeze

Let’s be honest, the iPhone 16e looked great on paper when it launched earlier this year. For $599, you get a modern A18 chip, a bright OLED display, the new C1 modem, and a very capable 48-megapixel camera. It was supposed to be the “iPhone for everyone” that the aging iPhone SE design could no longer be.

So what went wrong? In short, it’s stuck in the worst place possible: Apple’s own product ladder.

The 16e is a classic “tweener.” It’s not cheap enough to be a true budget impulse buy (especially with strong Android competition), and at $599, it’s uncomfortably close to the price of a discounted iPhone 15 Pro or even a standard iPhone 16, which many customers would rather stretch for. It’s a phone without a clear audience, and the sales figures are apparently reflecting that.

The ‘Air’ apparition

Then there’s the iPhone Air. While the 16e was meant to capture the budget-conscious, the Air was Apple’s attempt at a new premium category: the “style-conscious.” It was incredibly thin, light, and sleek. But to get that thinness, it came with compromises.

And, just like the 16e, it’s reportedly a sales dud. All production is expected to be shut down by the end of this month.

This one feels painfully familiar. We all remember the iPhone 12 mini and 13 mini—phones that tech enthusiasts adored for their small size, but that mainstream consumers ignored. Shoppers, it turns out, don’t want compromises. They want the best battery life and the best cameras they can afford. The iPhone Air, like the ‘mini’ before it, was a niche product that Apple tried to sell to the masses.

The irony, of course, is that while these two new models are floundering, demand for the flagship iPhone 17 lineup is reportedly surging, with Apple increasing production orders. This paints a clear picture: the market is splitting. Customers are either going all-in for the “Pro” experience or looking for a real bargain—and the 16e and Air are stuck in the “dead zone” in between.

Can Apple fix this twice?

Despite the gloomy reports, Apple isn’t giving up on either idea. They’re just doing what Apple does: iterating.

1. The iPhone 17e (Spring 2026): The successor to the 16e is already planned for the spring. The big rumor is that it will finally get the Dynamic Island, along with the newer A19 chip. Bringing the Dynamic Island to the entry-level model would be a huge step in making it feel less like a “budget” phone and more like a “real” iPhone. But the question remains: will it have a “real” iPhone price?

2. The iPhone Air 2 (the big delay): This is where it gets really interesting. According to a report from The Information, the second-generation iPhone Air, which was supposed to launch next fall with the iPhone 18, has been delayed.

And this is almost certainly a good thing.

Apple is likely delaying it to fix what was wrong with the first one. The company is reportedly using the extra time to cram in the features it should have had all along: a dual-camera system (adding an ultra-wide), a significantly larger battery, and a new vapor-chamber cooling system.

In other words, they’re trying to turn it from a fashion statement into a functional powerhouse. They are delaying the Air 2 to actually make it good, not just thin.

Apple’s core business is clearly fine—the iPhone 17 Pro is printing money. But the 16e and the first-gen Air are looking like two very public, very expensive experiments in finding out what doesn’t work. Whether Apple has learned the right lessons for 2026 is a multi-billion-dollar question.