Thin Phones Head-to-Head: iPhone Air vs. Galaxy S25 Edge

Phone-makers have steadily made their units thinner — get ahold of an early iPhone or Android cellphone in the event you do not imagine me — however the present crop are taking slim designs to the acute. The Apple iPhone Air and Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge symbolize the present peak of thinness.

However are you giving up an excessive amount of else for a slim cellphone? For those who press them collectively, are they a lot thicker mixed than an everyday iPhone 17 or Galaxy S25? And do they overcome trade-offs in battery life, camera and sound quality that include a thinner design? I am right here to do the maths and examine options for you.

Seeking to order the iPhone Air? Take a look at our order guide to study if you will get it free and different nice offers.

Need to purchase the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge? Discover out which carriers and retailers are providing the best deals on Samsung’s slim cellphone.

Do not miss any of our unbiased tech content material and lab-based critiques. Add CNET as a most well-liked Google supply.

iPhone Air vs. S25 Edge worth comparability

• iPhone Air: $999. The iPhone Air takes the place previously held by the iPhone 16 Plus, making it the one mannequin with a display screen bigger than the iPhone 17 that is not an iPhone 17 Professional.

• Galaxy S25 Edge: $1,100. The S25 Edge joins the S25 and S25 Extremely on this yr’s Galaxy lineup.

The iPhone Air contains fewer options than the iPhone 17, such because the variety of cameras. Nevertheless, it includes a bigger show, an A19 Professional processor, and is provided with 256GB of storage to start with. Moreover, Apple has persistently utilized premium pricing for minor design modifications. The unique MacBook Air match into an inter-office envelope and value $1,799, regardless of being underpowered in comparison with the remainder of the MacBook line. (Over a couple of generations, it could finally grow to be Apple’s entry-level reasonably priced laptop computer at $999, the place it nonetheless resides.)

The Galaxy S25 Edge’s increased worth ($101) may very well be an try to seize extra {dollars} from prospects on the lookout for a cellphone that units them aside, however we’re already seeing occasional steep reductions on it.

In each circumstances, it is value noting that the pricing has held up towards the Trump administration tariffs up to now.

iPhone Air vs. S25 Edge dimensions and weight

Now it is time to go deep — as in, simply how skinny is the depth of every cellphone?

No cellphone producer describes its telephones as cumbersome or chunky, even for extra-large fashions just like the iPhone Professional Max. But, the distinction between the depths of the iPhone Air and the S25 Edge, in addition to the usual telephones of every respective household, is stark.

Not counting the digicam meeting, which Apple refers to because the “plateau,” many of the iPhone Air’s physique is 5.64mm thick. The S25 Edge, at its narrowest level, is a hair thicker at 5.8mm. (Each firms checklist solely the thinnest measurement, not together with the cameras.) Examine that to 7.9mm for the iPhone 17 and seven.2mm for the Galaxy S25.

The Galaxy Z Fold 7 is definitely thinner when open, at 4.2mm, nevertheless it additionally has a bigger floor space to accommodate its battery and different elements. Different foldables from Chinese language firms, corresponding to Huawei, Oppo and Honor, additionally boast thinner our bodies than the iPhone Air or S25 Edge, however solely when opened.

And if you press the 2 skinny telephones collectively, do they actually match as much as the everyday cellphone slab you are carrying now? Mixed (and once more, excluding the digicam bumps), the iPhone Air and S25 Extremely are 11.44mm thick, which is thicker than both the iPhone 17 or Galaxy S25, and even the iPhone 17 Professional Max at 8.75mm. Nevertheless, if you wish to obtain a extra classic really feel, the unique first-generation iPhone, launched in 2007, measured 11.6mm.

Surprisingly, the much less depth interprets to solely a slight lower in weight in comparison with the opposite fashions in every lineup. The iPhone Air weighs 165 grams versus 177 grams for the iPhone 17, whereas the S25 Edge pips in at simply 163 grams however will get barely undercut by the Galaxy S25 at 162 grams.

How huge is every cellphone within the hand? Whereas each are related, the iPhone Air is barely shorter and narrower, measuring 156.2mm tall and 74.7mm huge, in comparison with the S25 Edge’s dimensions of 158.2mm tall and 75.6mm huge.

iPhone Air vs. S25 Edge shows

Apple calls the iPhone Air’s 6.5-inch OLED display screen a Tremendous Retina XDR show. It includes a excessive decision of two,736×1,260 pixels at a density of 460 ppi (pixels per inch) and might output a most of three,000 nits of brightness open air, in addition to a minimal of 1 nit in the dead of night.

Samsung packed a bigger 6.7-inch QHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X display screen into the S25 Edge, which interprets to a high-resolution show measuring 3,120×1,440 pixels at 513 ppi. Its brightness goes as much as 2,600 nits.

Each telephones’ screens characteristic adaptive 120Hz refresh charges for smoother efficiency.

Evaluating the iPhone Air and S25 Edge cameras

To date, most of the specs have been shut sufficient to weigh every cellphone pretty evenly. Then, we get to the cameras.

The iPhone Air features a single rear-facing 48-megapixel huge digicam with a 26mm-equivalent area of view and a continuing f/1.6 aperture. In its default mode, the digicam outputs 24-megapixel “fusion” pictures that outcome from an imaging course of the place the digicam captures a 12-megapixel picture (utilizing teams of 4 pixels appearing as one bigger pixel for improved mild gathering, often called “binning”) and a 48-megapixel reference for added element.

Apple additionally claims the iPhone Air can seize 2x-zoomed (52mm-equivalent) telephoto photos which can be 12 megapixels in dimension and symbolize a crop of the middle of the picture sensor.

The S25 Edge options two built-in rear cameras: a 200-megapixel wide-angle lens and a 12-megapixel ultrawide lens. There is no devoted telephoto digicam, so the S25 Edge additionally affords a 2x-zoomed crop that shoots pictures at 12 megapixels in dimension.

The front-facing selfie cameras on every cellphone differ considerably. The iPhone Air introduces a brand new 18-megapixel digicam with an f/1.9 aperture. However the elevated decision over the S25 Edge’s 12-megapixel selfie digicam is not what’s notable. 

Apple calls it a Middle Stage digicam as a result of it includes a sq. sensor that may seize tall or huge photographs with out requiring the consumer to bodily flip the cellphone, in contrast to the 4:3 ratio sensors present in typical selfie cameras. It may well adapt the facet ratio based mostly on the variety of individuals it detects in entrance of the digicam: a conventional portrait orientation if you’re snapping a photograph of your self, for instance, or change to a panorama orientation when two mates stand subsequent to you within the body.

iPhone Air vs. S25 Edge batteries

In the case of considerations, the battery lifetime of skinny telephones is on the high of the checklist. The insides of most telephones are filled with as a lot battery as will match, so making a cellphone slimmer naturally means eradicating area for the battery. With both mannequin, you find yourself sacrificing battery energy for design. However how a lot?

Apple would not checklist the iPhone Air’s battery capability, however claims “all-day battery life” and as much as 27 hours of video playback. It additionally sells a particular iPhone Air MagSafe Battery add-on that magnetically snaps to the again of the cellphone and works solely with the iPhone Air. In her overview, CNET’s Senior Tech Reporter Abrar Al-Heeti drained the battery in 12 hours over a phone-intensive day, however did finish a extra typical day with 20% remaining.

The S25 Edge includes a 3,900-mAh battery, which Samsung claims will help as much as 24 hours of video playback. (Come on, cellphone producers, our telephones aren’t televisions left working within the background.) 

In her S25 Edge overview, Al-Heeti famous that the cellphone additionally usually lived as much as Samsung’s personal “all-day battery life” boast, saying, “Finally, you may get much less juice out of that slimmer construct, however S25 Edge affords simply sufficient battery life to make me completely happy…However the S25 Edge has shifted my priorities. I am having fun with the glossy type issue a lot that I am prepared to make some compromises, even when meaning I’ve to you should definitely cost my cellphone every night time, which is one thing I are inclined to do anyway.”

It is value noting that each telephones help quick charging when used with a 20-watt or increased wired energy adapter, permitting them to achieve round 50% cost in half-hour from a totally discharged state.

iPhone Air vs. S25 Edge processor, storage and working system

The iPhone Air is powered by Apple’s newest A19 Professional processor, the identical one discovered within the iPhone 17 Professional fashions (in comparison with the A19 within the inventory iPhone 17). Apple would not checklist the built-in reminiscence, however we suspect it contains 8GB of RAM (which is acknowledged because the minimal quantity to run AI options corresponding to Apple Intelligence). The bottom storage configuration is 256GB, with choices to order the iPhone Air with 512GB or 1TB capability. It ships with iOS 26, the newest model of the working system that Apple launched broadly this week.

The S25 Edge is powered by a Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, the identical one which powers the opposite S25 fashions. It contains 12GB of RAM and is offered in storage capacities of 256GB and 512GB. The cellphone comes preinstalled with Android 15.

iPhone Air vs. S25 Edge all specs

Watch this: iPhone Air, One Month Later: Digicam and Battery Worries Put to Relaxation

05:55