Its not even a new product. Convection ovens have been a thing for years. But because standard toaster ovens and convection ovens look so similar people thought they were the same.
You know what a larger air fryer is called? It's called an oven.
In effect it’s closer to a microwave meets an air sous vice. Much quicker heat up, much more even heat dispersal.
I have a convection oven too that’s the same size, we use the air fryer 5x more often and it’s almost entirely due to the fan not the size. Cuts cooking time in half comparatively.
I think its not technically size at all, but:
(1) Heating output relative to size, and
(2) Fan capacity relative to size, and a less contribution from
(3) Arrangement of heating element and fan.
"It's not due to the size because they didn't shrink /all/ the components equally."
:)
But, I’m mostly saying that its not inherently the case that a small convection oven would have the advantages of an air fryer, and, a major reason for the name “air fryer” for the product categoriy is because countertop convection ovens without those advantages already existed, because they were optimized for other goals, so just calling them “countertop convection ovens” would have sent the wrong message to buyers familiar with the existing category.