Samsung has put its cards on the table with the Galaxy S25 Edge, showing us what it thinks an ultra-thin phone should offer. Now it’s up to Apple to reveal its hands and the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge vs. iPhone 17 Air face-off we’ve been anticipating can truly begin.
The iPhone 17 Air is still a rumor at this point, as Apple hasn’t confirmed claims that it’s adding this thinner version of the iPhone to its lineup this fall. But there are enough rumors out there to convince us that it’s the real deal and that it will join the rest of the iPhone 17 lineup later this year.
When it does arrive, the iPhone 17 Air will face a formidable rival in the just-released Galaxy S25 Edge. While we’ve known what the phone will look like since the start of the year, all the Edge’s specs are now official. And they add up to a pretty impressive device if our Galaxy S25 Edge hands-on is any indication.
Here's what a Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge vs. iPhone 17 Air match-up looks like at the moment, now that Samsung has revealed the details about its ultra-thin phone.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge vs. iPhone 17 Air: Release date and pricing
Everything’s in place for the Galaxy S25 Edge launch, with the phone going on sale in Korea on May 23. Sales elsewhere, including the U.S., start a week later on May 30. You can place your Galaxy S25 preorder now, though, either through Samsung or via the many U.S. wireless carriers offering preorder deals on the phone.
The Galaxy S25 Edge starts at $1,099 / £1,099 / AU$1,849 for the 256GB base model. There’s also a 512GB version available for $1,219, though right now if you preorder from Samsung, you can upgrade your storage to 512GB while still paying the $1,099 price of the 256GB model.
With the iPhone 17 Air tipped to replace the iPhone 16 Plus in Apple's current iPhone lineup, there's a hope that the new model would match the $899 starting price of the Plus. However, another rumor claims that the Air will be a premium device that turns out to be even more expensive than the $1,199 iPhone 16 Pro Max. Whether that's true will depend on what the Air offers beyond a thinner device.
iPhone 17 pricing as a whole is up in the air, with rumors circulating that the new models may see a price hike in the fall. Since the iPhone 17 is a new model, it’s unclear what that might mean for its price, though there is a scenario where the Pro models now cost more than $1,000, leaving space for Apple to price the Air at $999.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge vs. iPhone 17 Air: Specs
| Row 0 - Cell 0 | Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge | Apple iPhone 17 Air (Rumored) |
Release date | May 30, 2025 (U.S.) | Fall 2025 |
Price | $1,099 / £1,099 / AU$1,849 | TBD |
Screen size | 6.7 inches | 6.7 inches |
Chipset | Snapdragon 8 Elite | A19 |
RAM | 12GB | 8GB |
Storage | 256GB, 512GB | 128GB, 256GB, 512GB |
Rear camera | 200MP main, 12MP ultrawide | 48MP |
Front camera | 12MP | 24MP |
Battery size | 3,900 mAh | Unknown |
Thinness | 5.8mm | 5.65mm |
Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge vs. iPhone 17 Air: Design and display
The big question leading up to the Galaxy S25 Edge launch was just how thin were these phones going to be. And the answer, at least in the Galaxy S25 Edge’s case, is pretty thin.
Samsung’s new phone measures 5.8mm at its thinnest point. To put that number in context, the Galaxy S25 is 7.2mm thin. In fact, the Edge is thinner than just about any flagship phone you can name, save for an opened Galaxy Z Fold 6.
But that’s prior to the iPhone 17 Air launch, as Apple’s phone is expected to be even thinner.
Specifically, in a video that featured purported dummy units of the upcoming phone, the Air measured 5.65mm at its thinnest point. That’s only a little bit thinner than the Edge, but nevertheless, it would still make the iPhone 17 Air the more slender of the two devices.
We don’t know how much the iPhone 17 Air will weigh, but it will take some doing to match the Galaxy S25 Edge’s 5.75-ounce weight. Samsung turned to titanium frames and a new Gorilla Glass Ceramic 2 screen covering to keep the phone thin and light without sacrificing durability.
As for displays, the Galaxy S25 Edge features a 6.7-inch panel with an adaptive 120Hz refresh rate — the same specs as the Galaxy S25 Plus. We’ve heard dueling rumors about the iPhone 17 Air screen — one that suggests a 6.6-inch panel and the other that puts the screen at 6.7 inches. At any rate, expect similar screen real estate on the Edge and Air.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge vs. iPhone 17 Air: Cameras
It’s certainly clear the Galaxy S25 Edge offers more rear camera lenses than the iPhone 17 Air. Early reports suggest Apple’s phone will have just one lens on its back, while the Galaxy S25 Edge features two.
Specifically, Samsung equips the Edge with a 200MP main camera and a 12MP ultrawide lens. That main camera matches the resolution of the Galaxy S25 Ultra, so we’re expecting some detailed shots from the Edge. The new phone also supports Samsung’s Nightography features for low-light shooting, so once we test the Edge, we should see some impressive night shots in there.
As for the iPhone 17 Air, the speculation is that it would adopt the same 48MP main sensor found on other iPhones. This theory gained support when the iPhone 16e debuted this spring with a single 48MP rear lens.
While the iPhone 17 Air would lack both an ultrawide and telephoto lens, it should be able to compensate for the latter by using pixel binning to simulate a 2x optical zoom with its main camera. That’s exactly how the Galaxy S25 Edge handles zoom shots of its own.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge vs. iPhone 17 Air: Performance and battery life
Like the rest of the Galaxy S25 family, the Galaxy S25 Edge runs on a Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset — one that’s been specifically optimized for Samsung phones. As a result, we would expect that Edge to produce similar numbers to the rest of the Galaxy S25 lineup when we benchmark the phone.
One thing we do plan to keep an eye on, though, is how such a slender phone handles the heat generated by such a high-performance chipset. Samsung has said the Edge uses a specially configured vapor chamber to address that issue, but it’s something we’re going to have to experience for ourselves in testing.
Just as the Edge offers the same chipset as the rest of the s25 family, we’re expecting the iPhone 17 Air to adopt whatever silicon Apple uses in the fall. Right now, that figures to be the A19 system-on-chip. Like the A18 powering the iPhone 16 lineup, the A19 will reportedly be built on a 3nm process, but it could be a next-generation version that yields better performance and power efficiency.
There’s one last performance difference to take note of — the amount of memory included with each phone. The Galaxy S25 Edge offers 12GB of RAM. Among Apple’s fall releases, only the iPhone 17 Pro Max is expected to feature 12GB of memory, which would suggest the iPhone 17 Air will stick with the same 8GB found in current iPhones.
Battery life figures to be an area of interest with these thinner phones, as the lack of space has prevented Samsung from turning to a bigger battery — and you’d think that Apple would face the same challenge. The Galaxy S25 Edge relies on a 3,900 mAh power pack to stay charged up, but that’s a smaller battery than the 4,000 mAh cell in the Galaxy S25.
As for the iPhone 17 Air, we've only really heard rumors about Apple's plan for the battery. However, the most trustworthy comes from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, who states that Apple is aiming to match the battery life on par with the rest of the iPhone range. Supposedly, this will be done by using the same C1 modem that debuted with the iPhone 16e. This modem is much more power-efficient than the ones used in other devices.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge vs. iPhone 17 Air: Software and special features
After thinness, artificial intelligence figures to be a major selling point for both the Galaxy S25 Edge and iPhone 17 Air, given how AI has big focus for both Samsung and Apple. In the case of the Galaxy S25 Edge, that’s true — up to a point.
The Galaxy S25 Edge with the same Galaxy AI features that debuted on the S25 series, highlighted by cross app actions and the new Now Brief screen. But if you’re looking for new Galaxy AI capabilities that arrived specifically as part of the Galaxy S25 Edge launch, you won’t find any.
Meanwhile, the iPhone 17 Air is likely to support the same Apple Intelligence features currently available to Apple's iPhone 16 lineup as well as the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. And once Apple introduces more AI as part of this year's iOS 19 update — that's when, not if — the iPhone 17 Air will be in line to support those capabilities, too, just like any of its fellow iPhone 17 models.
The Galaxy S25 Edge offers the same seven years of software and security updates that Samsung provides for its other flagships — matching Google for the best support among phone makers. Apple doesn’t list an official time frame for support, but we’d anticipate that the iPhone 17 Air will be good for at least five years of iOS updates.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge vs. iPhone 17 Air: Outlook
The official launch of the Galaxy S25 Edge answers a lot of questions we had about the specs and features for Samsung’s phone. Now it’s a matter of waiting for Apple to fill in the blanks for the iPhone 17 Air. (We’re guessing phone leakers will be more than happy to do that on Apple’s behalf as we wait for the iPhone 17 release in the fall.) Our Galaxy S25 Edge testing will give us even more information about how this new era of super-thin smartphones is shaping up.
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