Engineered in Malmesbury, Wiltshire as Dyson’s lightest and most compact hair dryer, the Dyson Supersonic r replaces the traditional bulky motor-in-head cylinder with a 325-gram curved “r” pipe. Using a streamlined 10-foil heater tucked inside the curve and RFID-chipped magnetic attachments that remember your exact heat and airflow settings, it dries hair at 12.4 litres per second without extreme heat spots.
Conventional hair dryers have not changed their basic geometry since the 1960s: a heavy electric motor and fan sit inside a wide barrel, forcing you to hold half a kilogram of weight at an awkward angle above your head until your wrist aches. Even Dyson’s original 2016 Supersonic, which moved the motor into the handle, still required a wide circular head to house the heating coils.
Originally developed strictly for backstage session stylists who dry hair for eight hours a day before releasing in the Ceramic Apricot and Jasper Plum consumer finishes, the Supersonic r shrinks the entire machine by 30% and trims the body weight down to 325 grams – lighter than a small bottle of hairspray.
It is a standout example of functional British industrial design alongside the quiet home hardware in our European home interior style and aesthetics guide.
How 10 curved heater foils eliminate hot spots
When air is blown past a traditional coiled wire element, the centre of the airflow gets too hot (scorching the hair shaft) while the outer edges stay cool.
Inside the top curve of the Supersonic r sit 10 symmetrical, low-mass metal foils spaced precisely along the air path. As the Dyson Hyperdymium motor spins at up to 110,000 RPM in the handle, air passes evenly through those 10 curved foils while a glass-bead thermistor checks the exit temperature 20 times per second – reducing static and frizz by up to 46% via negatively charged ions.
Dyson Supersonic r vs Original Dyson Supersonic (HD07/HD15)
| Engineering metric | Dyson Supersonic r (Curved Pipe) | Original Dyson Supersonic |
| Handset body weight | 325 grams (20% lighter than original) | ~560 grams (handset without cable) |
| External dimensions | 28.5 cm (H) × 10.8 cm (L) × 5.5 cm (W) | 24.5 cm (H) × 9.7 cm (L) × 7.8 cm (W) |
| Heating element | 10-foil streamlined flow heater in the curve | Circular ring heater in the barrel head |
| Attachment memory | Built-in RFID chips auto-adjust heat & airflow per nozzle | Manual button adjustment when swapping nozzles |
| Filter placement | Bottom-handle cage with LED cleaning alert | Bottom-handle twist cage |
| Power & airflow | 1,700 Watts / 12.4 litres per second | 1,600 Watts / 13.3 litres per second |
How the RFID magnetic nozzles remember your routine
Inside each of the five magnetic attachments – the Powerful Air nozzle, Pro Concentrator, Flyaway Coanda tool, Wide-Tooth Comb, and Diffuser – sits a tiny passive RFID chip.
The moment you click the concentrator or diffuser onto the nose of the pipe, the dryer reads the chip and switches automatically to the last temperature (out of 3 heat settings plus a 28°C cold shot) and airflow speed you used with that specific tool.
Dyson Supersonic r™ Hair Dryer in limited-edition Ceramic Apricot hue is available on Amazon.
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