Begun, the Skinny Telephone Wars Have

The way forward for skinny telephones is up within the air, leaving me on the sting of my seat. Apple’s newest smartphone redesign is epitomized by the $1,000 iPhone Air, whereas Samsung continues to be attempting to promote customers on a slim $1,100 Galaxy S25 Edge. Tales as outdated nearly as good versus evil—or Android versus iOS—don’t ever have an anticipated consequence, and we doubt both machine will make you wish to change ecosystems. Nonetheless, we all know you’re interested in how the gadgets stack up, and we lastly have the specs to match them.

You would be forgiven in the event you can’t spot the distinction primarily based on pics alone from Apple’s “Awe Dropping” showcase. Whereas there’s a dramatic distinction between the iPhone 16 and iPhone Air, there are extra issues occurring beneath the hood to maintain the Samsung and Apple gadgets distinct, and it units us up for an entire new class of smartphone. Samsung is generally the corporate extra keen to innovate, particularly contemplating its Galaxy foldables, culminating on this 12 months’s Galaxy Z Fold 7. Apple will seemingly take a few of these skinny design cues into its inevitable foldable competitor. We don’t counsel you exit and purchase both of those telephones proper off the bat. Irrespective of which ecosystem you belong to, chances are you’ll be giving up on some anticipated options—whether or not battery life or digital camera capabilities—for the sake of a tool that slides simpler into your pocket.

Galaxy S25 Edge vs. iPhone Air: Design

Specs can’t do justice to the key distinctions between Samsung’s and Apple’s slim telephones, however we have to clarify how the minute millimeter variations play out in actual life. The iPhone Air clocks in at 5.64mm whereas the S25 Edge measures at 5.8mm. Samsung’s machine is barely bigger with a 6.7-inch show in comparison with the iPhone Air’s 6.5-inch, but it surely’s additionally lighter at 163g versus 165g.

What issues extra is seems. The iPhone Air seems thinner if you maintain the 2 telephones aspect by aspect. A part of that’s coloration alternative and aesthetic, particularly in the event you evaluate the black mannequin to the silver sides of the S25 Edge, the place the sunshine tends to mirror. The Edge additionally has a bigger digital camera bump in comparison with the Air’s skinny “plateau.” By way of show, the S25 Edge has a higher-resolution show with 513 PPI, or pixels per inch, versus the Air’s 460 PPI. No less than each screens now help 120Hz refresh charges (older base iPhones had been locked at 60Hz).

iPhone Air thinned comparability with Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge #AppleEvent pic.twitter.com/BlujtA6wV1

— Ray Wong (@raywongy) September 9, 2025

Each telephones use titanium for the edges, because it’s seemingly higher for maintaining the cellphone from bending beneath pressure. As for added safety, Samsung is utilizing Gorilla Glass Ceramic 2 for the display screen and Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on the again. Apple went with a Ceramic Protect 2 layer on the entrance and a first-gen Ceramic Protect on the again. Slapping a case on a skinny cellphone would defeat all the objective, so having a sturdy machine is paramount. The S25 Edge has one factor the iPhone Air doesn’t: a bodily SIM card tray.

Galaxy S25 Edge vs. iPhone Air: Chip

Samsung’s Android gadgets have relied on Qualcomm chips for the final a number of cellphone generations, and that didn’t change with the Galaxy S25 Edge. The cellphone makes use of the highly effective Snapdragon 8 Elite, a CPU with an octa-core CPU and Adreno 830 GPU on a 3nm course of. The iPhone Air is utilizing Apple’s extra highly effective A19 Professional chip, although it notably has one much less GPU core than the identical processor discovered on the iPhone 17 Pro.

We’ve got not achieved any benchmarking with the A19 chips, so we gained’t understand how the 2 chips stack up compared aspect by aspect. Apple promised the A19 Professional may have higher single-thread efficiency in comparison with the A18 chip, which suggests it can deal with particular person duties quicker than earlier than. The A18 Professional was already higher in multi-core situations in comparison with the Snapdragon 8 Elite, although the Qualcomm chip has a slight edge in multi-core situations.

We’ve got so as to add a giant asterisk amid all this hypothesis. Having a skinny cellphone with a restricted quantity of thermal administration will probably hamper efficiency. How nicely the cellphone can carry out in artificial duties gained’t dictate how nicely it performs in hand.

Galaxy S25 Edge vs. iPhone Air: Battery

Apple has but to share particular battery capability specs for its iPhone Air. As an alternative, it used obscure mentions of an “all-day battery” alongside a number of video playback battery life benchmarks. Video playback checks are by no means going to equate to real-life utilization. The iPhone Air guarantees to do 27 hours of on-device video playback in comparison with 30 hours of the common iPhone 17. On paper, that sounds prefer it’s equal, however relying on the utilization situation, the battery life may very well be worse in comparison with your normal sweet bar-style machine.

Apple designed its new iPhone to shove all a very powerful internals into the brand new digital camera “plateau,” giving extra room for a bigger battery. Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Edge did one thing related, and it homes a 3,900mAh battery. That’s smaller than any of the opposite gadgets within the S25 household. That doesn’t essentially imply shorter battery life due to {hardware} effectivity adjustments. The identical could be stated for the iPhone Air, however it can take testing to search out out if Apple’s claims match real-life use.

A more in-depth take a look at the iPhone Air MagSafe Battery Pack and the way it compares to the outdated MagSafe Battery Pack. It’s thinner, bigger, and prices with USB-C! $99 so as to add extra battery life to the iPhone Air #AppleEvent pic.twitter.com/Ssmbo5wScQ

— Ray Wong (@raywongy) September 9, 2025

The iPhone Air helps Qi2 wi-fi charging as much as 20W in comparison with the S25 Edge’s 15W wi-fi. Apple additionally promoted a brand new unique MagSafe Battery for the iPhone Air, claiming it takes the overall battery life to a complete of 40 hours for video playback. Sticking that magnetic battery to the again not solely ruins the look of the iPhone Air, it additionally makes it as thick as a daily machine.

Galaxy S25 Edge vs. iPhone Air: Digicam

The Galaxy S25 Edge needs you to snap pictures within the common approach, by means of the rear cameras and its twin sensors. The iPhone Air, by comparability, is extra of a selfie machine than something. The S25 Edge makes use of a 200-megapixel extensive alongside a 12-megapixel ultrawide. The cellphone can shoot video at 4K and 120 fps. The iPhone Air has a single “Fusion” digital camera with a 48-megapixel extensive lens that doubles up for 12-megapixel 2x telephoto taking pictures.

The iPhone Air, alongside the remainder of the iPhone 17 lineup, homes 24-megapixel “Heart Stage” digital camera that homes a sq. sensor. This enables customers to decide on to shoot 18-megapixel vertical or horizontal pictures with out having to tilt the cellphone to panorama. The S25 Edge makes use of a 12-megapixel selfie digital camera, like most Samsung cell gadgets.

Ultimately, the variations between each telephones are trivialities. Skinny telephones will solely ever actually attraction to particular customers. It’s higher to consider every machine as a primary step. Apple could take this skinny design to be used in its long-awaited foldable rumored for 2026. Each corporations will seemingly push battery life tougher in future iterations. Possibly, ultimately, all our telephones will probably be this skinny. Possibly they gained’t value over $1,000, both.