Looking for a detailed iPhone Air vs Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge comparison? We cover size, specs, camera, battery life, price, and more.
iPhone Air vs Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge: Detailed Comparison
When it comes to slim and futuristic smartphones, the biggest battle is iPhone Air vs Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge. Both phones are crazy thin, powerful, and premium. But should you go for the Samsung S25 Edge or the iPhone 17 Air? In this detailed comparison, we break down size, specs, camera, battery life, and price so you can pick the right device.
Well, I'll try to find give you the comparison of iPhone Air vs Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge. So, Yeah Let's get started.
iPhone Air vs Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge Design
First things first, let's talk about the most important thing about these two, and that is the slimness. And the difference between the two is very minimal. It's basically just a 2 mm difference. So, the iPhone Air is 5.6 mm, and the S25 Edge is 5.8 mm. But when you hold the iPhone Air in your hand, it feels smoother and slightly more comfortable than the S25 Edge. Because the S25 Edge has slightly sharper corners compared to the nice curved rounded corners and edges of the iPhone 8.
Now, obviously, the idea for Samsung was to make a slim Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, which is why it turned it into an S25. So, it has a boxy design, but I'd say that it's a clinical approach you know, industrial design. Whereas with iPhone, it's a more comfortable approach. It feels a little more inviting.
Now that's it for the slimness of these phones. But when you compare the weight of these phones, iPhone is slightly heavier compared to the S25 Edge. But in the real world, you can't really tell the difference between the two in terms of weight. What will matter is how the weight distribution has been done and both are ergonomically fantastic.
However, when you place both these phones flat on the back, they tend to wobble a little bit. Now, one of the concerns that most people will have with slim phones is, are they durable? I don't have a doubt in my mind that these are probably some of the most durable phones ever made.
In fact, I feel like Samsung and Apple overcompensated and ensured that they give you the best premium materials. Because, you get titanium frames on both. And you also do get IP68 rating. So, they're built like a tank.
In fact, even for the glass with the iPhone, you get ceramic shield protection on the front and the original ceramic shield glass on the rear which has 4x durability. Basically, it's 4x more durable compared to regular glass on the iPhone 17. In fact, even with the Samsung, you get conclass ceramic 2 for the front and victus 2 for the rear. So unlike the infamous iPhone 6 bend gate, I don't think you have to contend with that problem on both these phones.
By the way, the rear design, you will notice one thing is that the iPhone only has a single camera and it has it inside a pixel visor like you know camera module which Apple calls the plateau. And that's actually a very interesting name because it's not just the camera that's inside this module. It's almost all of the other components because the battery takes up the rest of the back. So you have the primary camera. Along with that you have the speaker module. Along with that you also have the SoC all of that inside this. So it's quite an engineering marvel. And the interesting thing is that you can actually use this to prop up the phone on one of your fingers like this because it gives you a little bit of a ledge.
With the Samsung, it's your standard basic, you know, vertical camera layout that we've seen on most other Samsung designs as well. By the way, one thing I noticed with both the phones is that the type-C port at the bottom is not aligned at the center. It's not symmetrical. This is very unlike Apple. But that is the unfortunate reality that you'll have to live with if you want to make a slim phone.
Talking about the type-C port, Samsung actually has the faster type-C speed compared to iPhone. Overall, if you look at it build and design-wise, both are fantastic. Nothing to separate the two really. I like both except for the fact that iPhone feels slightly more comfortable. Samsung has a faster USB speed.
If you’re also curious about how Apple’s lineup compares within itself, don’t miss our detailed breakdown: iPhone 17 vs iPhone 16 Pro: The Ultimate Detailed Comparison
iPhone Air vs Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge Display
Now let's talk about the displays and both have fantastic displays. Samsung is a slightly larger one though compared to the iPhone Air. Basically the Air has a 6.5 in display whereas the S25 Edge has a 6.7 in display. Now this is your standard Samsung display with dynamic AMOLED 2X technology and 120 Hz refresh rate with a peak brightness of 2,600 nits as well.
But the one advantage with Samsung compared to the iPhone Air is that you get a slightly better resolution or higher resolution compared to the iPhone. Now with the iPhone also again you get 120 Hz refresh rate. It's promotion no doubt and both are extremely fast smooth displays but iPhone offers you slightly higher brightness of 3,000 nits. Nits are just brightness numbers but what matters more is when you take these phones outdoors they're extremely bright. I don't really have a complaint per se, but with the iPhone, you actually get slightly better brightness and more importantly the anti-reflective coating as well, which Samsung did not provide with the S25 Edge. It did with the S25 Ultra, but not the Edge. So, that's definitely an advantage for the Air.
Now, with respect to the color tuning, iPhone's definitely slightly better because it's got a wider color gamut of 10 bit compared to Samsung's 8-bit panel. Not that Samsung's bad. In fact, in the natural mode, it actually does exhibit very close to real colors. But, I prefer the iPhone's display. It's more color accurate and more trustworthy. More importantly, you get Dolby Vision support with the iPhone Air, which Samsung doesn't provide. Samsung has HDR10 Plus. So, Netflix does offer HDR capabilities, but iPhone's Dolby Vision just looks so much better.
And the main reason for that is if you take a look at the shadows in the Netflix video that we're playing right now for you, you will see more shadow detail in the iPhone compared to the S25. So overall both are fantastic displays but when we tested it out we felt like iPhone Air was better primarily because you get slightly better brightness, you get that anti-reflective coating, the color tuning is also better and Dolby Vision is generally a better format than HDR10 plus.
By the way to close off the whole multimedia experience we have to talk about the speakers. Well, speaker there's only a single speaker with the iPhone Air with the S25 Edge you actually get a stereo speaker setup and it definitely sounds better take a listen to it for self.
iPhone Air vs Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge Performance
Now, here's the interesting thing with the iPhone Air. Apple has used the A19 Pro chipset with one less GPU core compared to the A19 Pro inside the 17 Pro Max. Now, you must be wondering why did Apple use the A19 Pro? Because fun fact, the A19 Pro is actually supposed to be more power efficient.
Let's compare the benchmark scores. In Geekbench single core, Apple actually beats Samsung. But in multi-core, Samsung beats Apple. Yeah, Snapdragon 8 Elite inside the Samsung is actually more powerful than the A19 in multi-core scores. But what matters more is real world gameplay. In Genshin Impact, the game actually runs smoother on the Samsung than iPhone. Plus, the iPhone also gets unbearably hot.
Also, the interesting thing to note here is that iPhone doesn't throttle the performance. Even in the 3D Mark Wildlife Extreme test. It actually gave better sustained performance. In fact, 10% more sustained performance than the S25 Edge. However, I actually prefer Samsung's performance tuning here. And the reason for that is plain and simple. Yes, it throttles performance, but the phone doesn't get unbearably hot, which the iPhone Air does.
iPhone Air vs Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge Battery
With the S25 Edge, battery life has 3,900 mAh battery inside and about 4 and 1/2 hours to 5 hours of screen on time depending on the usage. But the iPhone Air, with the A19 Pro and the custom C1X and N1 chip, actually offers fantastic battery efficiency, which is something nice. Now, this has a smaller 3,000 mAh battery inside.
The iPhone Air actually gave us close to 5 and 1/2 hours of battery life. So, Apple has managed to do a very good job with the battery efficiency of the iPhone Air in my opinion, and it is actually almost as good as the iPhone 16 Pro.
Now, as for the battery charging speeds, both charge at about 40-45 W. So, you can charge from 0 to 50% in about 20 minutes. So, yeah, battery charging speeds are going to be largely similar. But more importantly, imagine if Apple had managed to fit in a larger 3,500 mAh battery or a 900 mAh battery like the Samsung did. Wow, the battery life would have been much better.
Right now, both these phones also do come with wireless charging support and CH 2.2 support. So, which means that you can get up to 25 watt charging speeds with the wireless charging. But Samsung doesn't offer MagSafe, which Apple does.
When it comes to gaming and raw speed, both phones are competitive. But if gaming is your priority, you should check this dedicated comparison: iPhone 16 vs iQOO 13: Gaming Performance Face-Off
iPhone Air vs Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge Camera
Now, let's talk about the cameras. On the iPhone Air, there's only a single 48 MP fusion camera. With the S25 Edge, you get a 200 MP primary camera which actually performs as good as the S25 Ultra and you also get a 12-megapixel ultra wide camera.
Now, don't underestimate that 48 MP primary camera on the iPhone Air because it actually outputs 24-megapixel bin samples, which means that you get more details and better textures from the iPhone's primary camera shots in daylight compared to the S25 Edge.
Now, the color reproduction is largely similar on both phones, except for slightly brighter on the Samsung. But otherwise, both are largely similar. Now, when you look at the HDR scenes, neither is perfect. iPhone tends to blow out highlights more than the Samsung, and Samsung's shadows are more crushed.
In low light shots, I feel like the iPhone's 48 MP fusion camera again comes in handy. Samsung does a good job. The Nightgraphy is not too bad, but the Fusion camera actually does capture sharper textures and more details at 100% crop.
Now, as for the ultra wide angle comparison, there's no comparison. Samsung is the only one that has an ultra wide and it wins obviously. So you get that versatility as well.
Now, with video recording, the Air pulls ahead once again. You get Dolby Vision HDR which looks pretty cinematic. The stabilization is top-notch and Samsung's footage, especially in low light, picked up more noise, which is obviously problematic. because if you're going to be shooting in low light a lot, then the iPhone Air is a better video performer. In general, the iPhone Air has a better video recording capability than the S25.
iPhone Air vs Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge Selfie Camera
Now let's talk about that selfie camera. It's, I don't think it's an 18 MP selfie camera. It just offers 18 MP outputs from the new 1:1 sensor that Apple has used. And if you ask me what is the actual sensor size. It takes two aspect ratios.
iPhone Air takes 4:3 and 16:9, both in portrait and landscape. And the 16:9 shot is an 18 MP shot, but the 4:3 shot is actually a 7 MP output, which means that you will get lower details and lower textures as well.
Which is why if I were to use the iPhone Air's camera, I would always use it wide angle and then crop it later in post. In general, I mean, the camera performance itself is pretty good.
In fact, the S25 Edge's camera is also good. But when you look at the minor technicalities, iPhone does have a bit of an advantage in low light, especially the larger sensor pulls in more light and the faces will look clearer.
With the Samsung's camera, you can see a lot of technical problems, like the green chromatic aberration. So if you look at it, Samsung does have more cameras, but the performance of the primary camera and the selfie camera, and of course the video recording capabilities of the iPhone Air is actually better than the S25 Edge. But if you want versatility, you get that ultra wide angle camera, which can come in handy once in a while.
iPhone Air vs Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge Software
Now let's talk about the software experiences. Now with the S25 Edge, when it launched, it actually came with One UI 7. because One UI 8 wasn't live.But of course, it should get One UI 8 really soon and Samsung is also promising 7 years of updates.
Now with the iPhone, you get iOS 26 out of the box and Apple doesn't give you any promises , but you can expect about 6 to 7 years of updates from Apple as well.
However, if you're comparing One UI experience to iOS experience. It's two completely different experiences. One that is a little more walled garden approach of Apple. One that's a little more open and customizable. That is One UI.
Now, with respect to animation tuning, I feel like One UI actually does it better and it gives you more granular control as well especially with One UI 8 when it comes out with the S25 Edge. And more importantly, with the S25 Edge, if you are somebody who is gung-ho about AI experiences on smartphones, then Galaxy AI is definitely better than Apple intelligence and it's better placed right now than Apple intelligence.
That's for sure. And that is pretty evident from the fact that Apple didn't talk much about Apple intelligence at the iPhone 17 series launch anyway. So for software, I'm not going to pick sides for you because it's a subjective experience and you have to figure out what you would like and maybe you can test it out at some retail store both these phones. But what I prefer is One UI over iOS.
By the way, I was telling you about the N1 and C1X, right? These are two Apple-made custom chips for networking capabilities. Now, the C1X is an upgrade over the C1, which was introduced with the iPhone 16E. This is the 5G modem. The N1 is basically an Apple custom chip that includes, that's across all the iPhone 17 series phones, and that includes the Wi-Fi 7 module, the Bluetooth 6 module, and the Thread module as well.
Now, along with these two custom chips and Apple's very own SOC, I think across the stack, the iPhone Air is probably the first phone that uses an all Apple silicon approach, if I'm not entirely wrong. Maybe there's something that is non-Apple inside. But, you know, that's probably the reason why you're getting such good battery efficiency from the iPhone Air.
| Specification | iPhone Air (iPhone 17 Air) | Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge |
|---|---|---|
| Slimness | 5.6 mm – Ultra Slim, Rounded Corners | 5.8 mm – Slim, Boxy Edges |
| Weight | ~ Slightly heavier but smooth grip | ~ Lighter, sharper feel in hand |
| Build Quality | Titanium Frame, Ceramic Shield Glass (4x stronger) | Titanium Frame, Gorilla Glass Victus 2 + Ceramic Glass 2 |
| Durability | IP68, Futuristic “Plateau” module | IP68, Industrial boxy design |
| Display | 6.5" OLED, 120Hz ProMotion, 3000 nits, Dolby Vision | 6.7" Dynamic AMOLED 2X, 120Hz, 2600 nits, HDR10+ |
| Performance | A19 Pro, Apple N1 + C1X chips, efficient but runs hot | Snapdragon 8 Elite, smoother gaming, better thermal control |
| Battery | 3000 mAh, ~5.5 hrs SoT, 45W fast charging, MagSafe | 3900 mAh, 4.5–5 hrs SoT, 45W fast charging, Wireless (25W) |
| Camera | 48MP Fusion, Dolby Vision HDR video, sharper low-light | 200MP + 12MP Ultra-wide, versatile, better daylight |
| Selfie | 18MP output, clear low-light selfies | 12MP, struggles in low-light |
| Software | iOS 26, Apple Intelligence, 6–7 years updates | One UI 8 (soon), Galaxy AI, 7 years updates |
| USB Port | USB-C (not perfectly aligned, slim design compromise) | USB-C 3.2, faster transfer speeds |
| Futuristic Factor | Ultra Slim Comfort, Anti-reflective display, All-Apple silicon | Boxy Slim design, Galaxy AI, Hardware versatility |
Conclusion
The S25 Edge is not as slim as the iPhone Air, but it doesn't make as many compromises as the iPhone Air in terms of hardware approach because what you get is that extra ultra wide angle camera, a larger battery. You also do get a USB type-C 3.2 port and a proper stereo speaker setup, which is mono, which is actually a single speaker on the iPhone Air.
But what Apple does with the iPhone Air is that it optimizes it really well. It makes it more desirable if you ask me, primarily because it's more comfortable to hold in use firstly. Secondly, the battery optimization has been done really, really well.
However, I still feel like Apple needs to issue an update to ensure that it throttles the performance a little bit and doesn't let the phone run so hot. That's my biggest concern with this iPhone Air.
But between these two phones, I won't pick either because I am not a fan of slim phones in general. That's just my perspective. I prefer compact phones more regardless.
However, if you were to pick between one of these two phones, which one would you pick? Let me know in the comments.
COMMENTS