Apple fans are right: The iPhone Air really is better than the Galaxy S25 Edge

Somehow, I’ve become the resident thin phone guy at Android Authority. I’m not sure how I’ve done it, given my just-okay review of the Galaxy S25 Edge and my repeated concerns about how thin phones will all have the same problems, but here we are. And, as the thin phone guy, I now have the iPhone Air in my pocket.

Only, I’m not really keeping it in my pocket — it’s spending most of its time in my hand. Unlike the Galaxy S25 Edge, which feels slim just to prove a point, the iPhone Air is thin because nobody else can do it the same way. Sure, it comes with sacrifices, but I think the things it gets right make it the thin phone to beat.

Don’t get me wrong — the Galaxy S25 Edge is thin. When I first held it, I marveled at what Samsung managed to pull off, carefully holding the titanium edges so the phone wouldn’t slip out of my hand. And yet, I struggled to give Samsung full credit.

It felt like the Galaxy S25 Edge suffered from all the same design drawbacks as its Galaxy S25 siblings, just in a thinner form. Although slight, the titanium frame still felt industrial and somewhat sharp, making it uncomfortable to hold such a thin device. Tack on the twice-as-thick and dense camera bump in one corner, and the otherwise lightweight Edge became top-heavy.

By contrast, the iPhone Air feels like a pebble that has been washed smooth over time. It features a glossy, ever-so-slightly rounded titanium frame that rims all four sides of Ceramic Shield glass on the front and back, and it rises to meet the camera peninsula in a somewhat futuristic fashion. And yes, I realize that sounds like I’m simply praising the idea of a rounded frame over a flat one, but it’s more than that. Apple’s buttons are much easier to feel and press despite not sticking out as far, and its slightly smaller design makes everything much easier to reach.

Of course, I would be silly to sit here and tell you that the iPhone Air gives you more for your money. It doesn’t. It only has one rear camera, one speaker that lives in the earpiece, and a global eSIM-only design that puts the rest of the world on par with the iPhone restriction Americans have had for a few years.

However, I think Apple does better creating a thin phone that feels cohesive rather than cobbled together. It uses every last millimeter of available space, putting additional battery capacity where its SIM slot would be and shifting other components to the camera peninsula. I think it could fit a second camera somewhere on its sweeping glass back, but it didn’t, yet it feels mostly complete.

Then again, comparing the Galaxy S25 Edge to the iPhone Air comes down to what you expect from both phones. For its part, Samsung tried to put just enough Galaxy S25 Ultra features into an ultra-thin phone to help justify its price tag. It picked top-end titanium, a 200MP primary camera, and its best Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chipset to give the Edge the best chance at success.

Then, it doubled down with an ultrawide camera for added flexibility, decent 25W wired charging, and a suite of Galaxy AI features that are at least a little further along than its iOS-powered rival. The only problem is that all of these features come together like a youth soccer team playing its first game — they all know generally what to do, but they’re just not doing it very well together.

Apple, on the other hand, introduced the iPhone Air as something else. It pulled an OG Pixel Fold move and skipped a series number, essentially making this the first of a new line. Will it probably continue to launch alongside the main numerical iPhone series? I’d imagine so, but it’s not exactly married to Apple’s other designs — at least not its Pros.

Instead, the iPhone Air bridges a gap, pulling titanium from the top end but pairing it with Ceramic Shield glass instead of a unibody design. It draws a single camera to save space, yet opts for the most powerful A19 Pro chipset despite not having nearly as much room for a vapor chamber or cooling technology as the iPhone 17 Pro series.

It’s simple in a decidedly no-nonsense way, which is refreshing given Apple’s usual tendency to make one camera sound like three and tout its flagship chipset as being several times more powerful than a three-year-old chip.

Has it won me over on thin phones as a concept? No, not yet, I still don’t love inflexible cameras or tiny batteries, but I have to think that Apple has been building towards this for longer than Samsung, which seems to have asked what would happen if it left a Galaxy S25 Plus in a panini press.