If you doubt that 2025 is going to be the year of thin phones, look no further than what Samsung and Apple have planned for the coming months. Samsung has already shown off its ultrathin smartphone, and rumors indicate that Apple will answer with a slim handset of its own in the fall, setting the stage for a Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge vs. iPhone 17 Air.
Even though we've laid eyes on the Galaxy S25 Edge when Samsung briefly previewed the phone during January's Galaxy Unpacked event, we don't have a lot of official details about the upcoming device. The iPhone 17 Air — which Apple has to yet to confirm — is even more mysterious.
Fortunately, enough rumors are circulating about both devices to whet our appetite for an eventual thin phone showdown. Here's what a Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge vs. iPhone 17 Air match-up looks like at the moment, as both phone makers look to produce a standout slender device.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge vs. iPhone 17 Air: Rumored release date and pricing
As mentioned, the Galaxy S25 Edge appeared at Galaxy Unpacked, where Samsung also showed off the rest of the Galaxy S25 lineup. But those phones, highlighted by the Galaxy S25 Ultra, are already on sale, while we don't have a launch date for the Galaxy S25 Edge.
Back before Samsung's preview, when the phone was rumored to be called the Galaxy S25 Slim, listings in the GSMA IMEI database seemed to indicate a June launch date for the phone based on when Samsung historically registers those numbers for upcoming releases. Other rumors have claimed an April release, without citing the evidence that would suggest that particular date.
At the very latest, we'd anticipate a launch alongside Samsung's foldable phone updates for the year. That would place the Galaxy S25 Edge's arrival sometime in the summer, which would also give the rest of the S25 lineup six months of sales to themselves.
Apple's release date timeline is a little bit more clear, assuming the company includes the iPhone 17 Air with the release of the rest of the rumored iPhone 17 lineup. Apple tends to announce new flagship phones in the fall — early to mid-September if you want to get more specific — and there's no reason to believe that timeline is going to change this year.
As for price, there are very few credible rumors about either the Samsung or Apple phones. A rumor claims the Galaxy S25 Edge will essentially take the place of the Galaxy S25 FE as a lower-cost edition of Samsung's smartphones. The current Galaxy S24 FE model costs $649, so you'd expect a similar price for the Edge — if it is, in fact, an FE replacement. Another theory focuses on the gap between the $999 Galaxy S25 Plus and $1,299 Galaxy S25 Ultra, imagining that the Galaxy S25 Edge will slot in between those two phones.
Similarly, with the iPhone 17 Air likely replacing 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.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge vs. iPhone 17 Air: Design and display
When the name of the phone emphasizes its thinness, naturally the question is going to turn to "Just how slim a device are we talking about here?" Based on the eyeball test when we saw the Galaxy S25 prototype in person at Galaxy Unpacked, the answer is "pretty slim," though Samsung has yet to provide a specific number.
Rumors are more forthcoming, with some suggesting that Samsung is trying to make the Galaxy S25 Edge as thin at the Galaxy Z Fold 6 is when it's unfolded — that would be 5.6mm. Another rumor points to a 6.4mm-thin design for Samsung's phone. To put all that in context, the Galaxy S25 is 7.2mm thin, so we'd expect the Edge to be more compact than that.
The current iPhone 16 is 7.8mm thin, so we'd imagine that the iPhone 17 Air is going to cut down on that figure. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has suggested that the iPhone 17 Air could get as thin as 5.5mm, though that would be the thinnest point on the device — the camera bump would add some extra thickness. Contrasting reports claim Apple is running into technical and cost issues surrounding the size of the battery that could fit inside the Air. The end result may be that Apple will release a 6.6mm-thin phone instead.
The current Galaxy S25 Edge prototype didn't include a screen, leaving us to guess how big a display Samsung is planning to use. Rumors have suggested a 6.7-inch panel, matching the current screen size of the Galaxy S24 FE. Reports suggest the iPhone 17 Air will offer a 6.6-inch screen, which is a little smaller than the 6.7-inch display on the iPhone 16 Plus that's set to leave the iPhone lineup to make way for the Air.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge vs. iPhone 17 Air: Cameras
The Galaxy S25 Edge prototype shows two rear camera lens. If we had to guess, that could mean no dedicated telephoto lens, as those cameras can take up the most space in a camera array.
The cameras that are present on Samsung's phone should be formidable. One rumor suggests the Galaxy S25 Edge will have a 200MP main camera, matching what the Galaxy S25 Ultra offers. A sensor with that high of a megapixel rating may also offer a workaround for the telephoto lens as the Edge could theoretically crop in on shots to approximate an optical zoom.
We also wonder if the Galaxy S25 Edge will pick up one of the other S25 Ultra cameras — specifically, the 50MP ultrawide camera that Samsung added to this year's Ultra.
Most iPhone 17 Air camera rumors posit that the phone will only have enough space to fit in one rear camera. If true, it sounds like Apple would go with a 48MP lens, which would also be able to mimic a 2x zoom by cropping in on shots. Single-camera phones are rare these days, but not unheard of — the iPhone SE 4 Apple's expected to announce soon is probably going to have just one camera, for example.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge vs. iPhone 17 Air: Performance and battery life
With the Galaxy S25 family featuring Snapdragon 8 Elite chipsets across the board, you'd think that the Galaxy S25 Edge would follow suit. But the thinness of the phone could put a limit on just what kind of silicon Samsung uses. There'd be limited room for any sort of cooling chamber, which may make the high-performance Snapdragon 8 Elite ill-suited for this particular device.
To that end, one leaker forecasts that the Galaxy S25 Edge might turn to the Exynos 2400. That system-on-chip powered the Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24 Plus for models released outside of North America in 2024.
As part of the iPhone 17 lineup, we'd expect the Air to feature the same silicon Apple uses in its other phones this fall. Right now, that figures to be the A19 system-on-chip. Like the A!8 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.
Battery life figures to be an area of interest with these thinner phones, as the lack of space may prevent Samsung and Apple from turning to bigger batteries. Instead, these phones may be especially reliant on their chipsets to eke out greater efficiency, which is why we're eager to see if that rumor about the older Exynos 2400 powering the Galaxy S25 Edge turns out to be true.
So far, we haven't heard too much about battery sizes, but there has been one piece of information relevant to the Galaxy S25 Edge's charging ability. Regulatory filings indicate the Galaxy S25 Edge will offer 25W wired charging, matching the speed on the entry-level Galaxy S25. The more expensive S25 models offer 45W charging speeds.
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. We'd imagine the Galaxy AI features that just debuted with the S25 series such as cross app actions and the new Now Brief screen will also be present on the Galaxy S25 Edge. The biggest question around Galaxy AI and Samsung's thinner phone is whether even more AI capabilities arrive at the same time as the S25 Edge's launch.
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.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge vs. iPhone 17 Air: Outlook
We'll need to hear a lot more details about both the Galaxy S25 Edge and the iPhone 17 Air — chiefly, what makes them special beyond the fact that they're thinner than the other phones made by Samsung and Apple. That's especially true if either phone maker charges a premium for their slim model.
It seems like we'll have some time before either phone comes out, though, and knowing the rumor mill, it won't be long before more details fill in the picture for a Galaxy S25 Edge vs. iPhone 17 Air face-off.
More from Tom's Guide
- Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge — I've got 7 big questions about this super hyped phone
- Galaxy S25 Ultra vs. Galaxy S25 Edge
- I'm not excited by the iPhone 17 Air — here's why
