5 Android phones you should buy instead of the iPhone Air

The iPhone 17 series is out, and as impressive as the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro may be, this year’s headturner is the iPhone Air. With a slim design that makes people around you say, “Wow,” it’s unlike any iPhone we’ve seen before.

At just 5.6mm thick and weighing 165g, the iPhone Air is a breeze to hold, making it a very comfortable smartphone to use throughout the day. More than anything else, it is an excellent recommendation for people who want to make a style statement, spec sheet be damned.

If you’re looking at the other side and thinking the grass is greener, know that Android phones can turn heads too, be it through style or much better tech. Here are some great Android phones you can buy instead if you want to make an iPhone Air-like statement.

The iPhone Air isn’t the only impressively thin phone on the block; Samsung edged out Apple by releasing its own thin phone earlier in the year. The Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge is just as thin as the iPhone Air (a 0.2mm difference) and just as light (about 2g lighter), so you’ll still be turning heads while also running Android, your favorite OS.

In fact, the Galaxy S25 Edge is better than the iPhone Air. For starters, you get a slightly bigger display, a more versatile rear camera setup with an ultrawide camera, a second speaker at the bottom for stereo output, faster USB speeds, and slightly faster charging. The Galaxy S25 Edge also has a physically larger battery in its svelte body, though iOS optimizations make direct battery capacity comparisons redundant. One UI 8 on the Galaxy S25 Edge runs incredibly, and you get many more AI features right away than Apple intends to deliver in the near future.

While all these physical traits make the Galaxy S25 Edge a great competitor against the iPhone Air, its pricing clinches it the trophy. While the iPhone Air starts at $999, the Galaxy S25 Edge started at $1,099 at launch, but you can routinely find it discounted to as low as $700. That’s $300 back in your pocket for just as much wow factor, if not more.

Yes, the Galaxy S25 Edge is not perfect. The battery life is mediocre, the thermals are poor, there is no telephoto camera, and I would have loved some faster charging. However, all of these limitations stay true for the iPhone Air too. People buying these thin phones know their limits, yet choose style over the spec sheet — and that’s okay. Android is about choice after all.

If you are looking for a thin and light phone that can impress people, Samsung has another phone in store for you. The Galaxy Z Flip 7 looks like a regular smartphone, but it flips shut to become a super-compact foldable that easily slides into pockets and purses.

When unfolded, the Galaxy Z Flip 7 is just 6.5mm thin (vs 5.6mm on the iPhone Air), and you’ll barely notice the 1.1mm difference. What you will notice is the smaller size when folded shut and the larger screen size when folded open — it’s the best of both portability and usability. The cherry on top is that you don’t have to open the phone to use it, as you can do most phone things on the smaller cover display.

The Galaxy Z Flip 7 also pips the iPhone Air in the camera department. It gets a very capable 50MP primary camera and a 12MP ultrawide camera on the rear. Since the phone can be used when shut, you can use the rear cameras for incredibly detailed selfies. If you’d prefer to open the phone up, there’s another 10MP camera inside. The Galaxy Z Flip 7 also has a significantly larger 4,300mAh battery and slightly faster charging with faster USB speeds.

The Galaxy Z Flip 7 launched at $1,099 for its 256GB variant. However, you can routinely get it for as low as $950, undercutting the iPhone Air’s launch price. This makes the Galaxy Z Flip 7 the overall winner, hands down.

If you want to make an even bolder style statement than the iPhone Air and would love some bling along the way, Motorola recently launched a special edition of the Razr (2025). Called “The Brilliant Collection,” this is a flip phone laden with Swarovski crystals. The phone comes in Pantone’s “Ice Melt” shade, coupled with a leather-like material on the bottom half of its back. Over 30 Swarovski crystals are placed across the lattice on the back, three more on the front for good measure, and one more on the hinge.

For even more bling, the Razr (2025) in The Brilliant Collection comes with the Moto Buds Loop open-style earbuds. The earbuds have the same Ice Melt hue, and there are Swarovski crystals along the loop section.

Much like the Galaxy Z Flip 7, the Motorola Razr (2025) is a flip-style foldable. The specifications aren’t overkill but remain practical enough to serve most needs. The standard variant comes in at $600, but The Brilliant Collection will set you back $1,000, the same as the iPhone Air.

One can argue that the Razr (2025) in its Swarovski avatar is not the best value, especially since the much better Motorola Razr Plus (2025) can be yours for $850 in a unique Pantone Mocha Mousse color, sans the Swarovski bling and the earbuds. However, Swarovski has its own appeal, and the Moto Buds Loop earbuds help sweeten the deal. Motorola also said that the phone will be available in limited quantities, making it perfect for those who prefer to stand out from the crowd.

The primary theme for the iPhone Air is its thinness, and it’s actually Samsung that doubled down on thinness this year to give us some incredible phones. The Galaxy Z Fold 7 marks its presence as it is even thinner than the iPhone Air, at just 4.2mm when unfolded. When you fold this book-style foldable, you get a more conventional 8.9mm, but most users will still be in awe of the piece of technology in their hands. For context, the iPhone Air is 11.32mm thick when you count its camera island, so the Fold 7 remains the thinner phone if you consider the phone as a whole.

At 215g, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 is a fair bit heavier than the iPhone Air, but not so much heavier than a conventional glass-slab smartphone. When folded shut, the Fold 7’s cover screen can be used as a regular-sized smartphone. When open, you get an expansive 8-inch display, akin to a tablet in your pocket.

The Galaxy Z Fold 7 is a proper flagship, so you get all the overkill specifications that you’d expect with the premium price tag. There’s very little to complain about here, even against the top-of-the-line Android flagships, and there’s nothing really that the iPhone Air can do better than the Galaxy Z Fold 7.

The Galaxy Z Fold 7 is expensive at its $2,000 starting price, no doubt, and it might even be a bit too expensive for people considering the iPhone Air. But if grabbing attention is your motto and money is no matter, then the Galaxy Z Fold 7 is one of the best pieces of tech you can do so with, at least until Samsung’s tri-fold comes along.

The iPhone Air’s claim to fame is being impressively thin, while the OnePlus 13‘s is that it packs an impressive spec sheet while still being a very manageable smartphone. It’s not a super slim phone, but it features some of the best spec combinations on Android phones in the US at a great price without feeling like an absolute brick in your hand.

The OnePlus 13 is 8.5mm thin and weighs 210g, which is thinner and lighter than several other flagships of its caliber. It also features a larger 6.82-inch display that is excellent to use. It also packs the best camera setup on this list, featuring three 50MP cameras on the rear and a 32MP front camera. It delivers both quality and versatility, as you have a dedicated ultrawide and telephoto camera.

At 6,000mAh, the OnePlus 13 also features the biggest battery and best battery life among phones on this list, easily lasting a day of heavy use and about one and a half to two days of use on lighter loads. When you run out of battery, you get 100W of wired charging that tops up 50% of the battery in just about 13 minutes. There’s also 50W wireless fast charging with the proprietary wireless charger.

Looks are subjective, but I also like how the OnePlus 13 looks. It isn’t an absolute headturner like the iPhone Air, but it holds enough identity and character of its own, especially in the uniquely blue Midnight Ocean color.

Sealing the deal in OnePlus 13’s favor is its $900 launch price tag, which goes down to $800 frequently on sale, and which can be further sweetened with a $100 trade-in bonus when trading in any device in any condition. If you are okay with a conventional Android flagship that packs a tight punch while still looking great, the OnePlus 13 should be your choice, and that $700 effective price is tough to argue against.