Ultra-thin phones are having a moment at last. Apple’s iPhone Air and Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Edge are the two most nakedly ambitious ones yet, stripping back every last, extraneous gram and millimeter in search of the slenderest, most flyweight slabs without, we hope, hollow out what counts. I’ve been working in both and my choice depends on which balances physics with everyday practicality.
Design and ergonomics
The iPhone Air is a ridiculously razor-thin 5.6mm. It more so feels like a piece of precision equipment than it does a phone, thanks to its flat, grippy sides that feel comfortable when using it one-handed. The rigidity is apparent; there’s no creak, no flex. The restraint of Apple’s shows: fewer lenses, a lighter camera bump, and careful component stacking.
Even Samsung’s S25 Edge is a svelte device, with a tastefully curving display that dips sharply into the frame. It looks sharp on a desk and slips more effortlessly into pockets. The sacrifice is the ergonomics: Those curved edges can be slippery, particularly when your palms get sweaty. If you despise cases, the Air’s flatter anatomy is more comfortable to hold over long periods.
Display and outdoor readability
Apple’s panel comes out ahead on paper with peak brightness: 3,000 nits compared with Samsung’s 2,600. In practice, that margin makes a difference. On the Air, the latest sunlight, maps and messages remain readable where the Edge might require a palm shadow or a tilt. Both go up to 120Hz for smoother scrolling and better color accuracy and both feature solid glass, but size favors different hands — the 6.5-inch Air is easier to stretch around, the 6.7-inch Edge is better for media and multitasking.
Display experts have been telling us for years that a bright peak brightness is one of the things that contribute to HDR pop and outdoor readability, even if the window is small. In other words, the Air’s luminance edge isn’t just a spec sheet flex — it’s a daily quality-of-life enhancement.
Performance and heat within a thin shell
Both phones use top-tier silicon and pack in lots of RAM, and both feel impressively quick for photo edits, video exports and on-device AI tasks. Skinny phones, though, are the trick. And they will warm up after extended gaming or 4K recording more quickly than the chubby flagships.
Apple’s thermal management is conservative, slightly curtailing the performance of the 8-core CPU to prevent the frame from growing too warm in the hand. Samsung lets the clocks ramp for longer, more of which into the area around the camera island does get rather toasty – which is nice for bursty workloads. Neither gets unbearably hot in normal day-to-day use, though I would recommend a thin case if you’re a gamer or spend a lot of time just watching video.
Cameras: flexibility vs consistency
The 200MP main camera and 12MP ultrawide afford the S25 Edge more framing options and generous headroom when it comes to cropping. Detail recovery is excellent for daytime landscape and fine textures (think architecture or close up shots of products). This is consistent with the broader observations of labs like DxOMark: high-resolution sensors shine whenever there’s strong lighting and well-tuned processing.
Apple’s 48MP “Fusion” system plays a similar numbers game, relying on computational photography to achieve results that surpass its pixel count. The Air is pretty true to color, skin tones reliable and exposure predictable over scenes. Low light is where Apple’s pipeline shines; night portraits keep realistic contrast, without the waxy smoothing you get sometimes on high-megapixel Androids.
If you desire more creative control and shoot a lot of ultrawides, S25 Edge is the better pocket camera. If you value reliability and the most lifelike faces out of the shutter, the iPhone Air feels more consistent.
Battery life and charging
Numbers are in Samsung’s favor here: 3,900mAh compared with the roughly 2,800mAh in an Apple device. As expected, the Edge lasts longer on heavy days. Don’t worry though, stream video or navigate with GPS or take clips and the Edge still lands in the evening with a buffer. The Air is adequate for light-medium duty, but power users will tap out late in the afternoon.
Charging speeds tend to also lean Samsung’s way, going faster on a wired top-up than on the more conservative Apple alternative. Each has wireless charging. Efficiency is the friend of the Air, but physics is physics — thinner often means smaller cells and less spare.
Software, AI, and longevity
The S25 Edge comes with an impressive AI suite, combining Samsung’s Galaxy AI with Google’s offerings. And features like Circle to Search, Live Transcription and Translation and solid image-editing tools really help if you live in your phone all day. Android’s flexibility continues to be a bonus for power users.
What Apple has going in its favor with iOS is not so much features as polish and ecosystem gravity — the “it just works” of reliably optimized apps, of largely seamlessly handing off work between devices, of the sturdiness of long-term support. Although Samsung has committed on public for longer OS and security updates on recent flagships, Apple’s software support is also historically stretched over many years. For service, Apple’s own retail network can be a real advantage when things go wrong.
Connectivity could sway travelers. The S25 Edge also has a slot for a physical SIM as well as eSIM (market dependent), though the iPhone Air will reportedly be eSIM-only. There has been a rapid growth of eSIM around the world, per GSMA Intelligence, but frequent roamers that prefer physical local SIM cards will appreciate Samsung’s flexibility.
Price and value
Priced at $999 for 256GB, the iPhone Air is $100 cheaper than the S25 Edge for the same storage tier. Given its brightness lead and build feel and the ecosystem perks, Apple’s value story, surprisingly, is a strong one for a phone as radical as this. Samsung hits back with longer battery life, faster charging, and a more versatile camera — all of which also justify the higher asking price, depending on your needs.
Verdict: the slim phone to get
If minimalist, unadulterated ultra-thin phone is what you are aiming for, iPhone Air is the one where no compromise is required. It gets the ergonomic and outdoor readability and the day-to-day physical reliability right, while also saving you a bit. For most people, that combination makes it the more prudent, intelligent choice.
If you want a more-capable camera, longer battery life, faster charging, the broadest range of Android’s AI features—and you do a ton of traveling— the Galaxy S25 Edge is your phone, if you need the option of a physical SIM. But for that the iPhone Air, it feels complete, even, and like a thinner phone you can just live with.
