Apple and Samsung are both chasing ultra-thin, lightweight designs this year – but who nailed it? Here’s my early verdict.
The market of ultra-thin and lightweight phones is officially at its tipping point, as Apple threw its hat into the ring this week with the new iPhone Air.
The newest and arguably most innovative iPhone features the company’s slimmest design yet, measuring at around 5.6mm thick. How did the folks at Cupertino achieve such a record? By opting for a smaller battery, fewer cameras, and some design elements that disrupt the norm, especially by iPhone standards. In other words, this is a totally different beast.
Its closest competitor, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge, is another one. The S25 Edge follows a similar design philosophy, serving users a burdenless hardware experience with some questionable omissions. Between the two phones, which one should you buy? That’s what I’m here to answer.Specifications You should buy the iPhone Air if.
What do I mean by that? For starters, the iPhone Air starts at $999, undercutting the S25 Edge by $100, so it’s already an investment that should be easier to manage. That money gets you 256GB of internal storage (the same as the Samsung), Apple’s repubtable software update policy that keeps the phone feature-relevant for years down the road, and an iOS experience that has proven reliable for app support and fluidity.
It goes without saying that if you’re a current iPhone user, the iPhone Air will be the better choice of the two, with benefits like easier data transfer (including those pesky contacts that never save properly) and access to a familiar suite of iOS apps like iMessage and FaceTime.
