I’d pick Apple’s new ultra-thin iPhone Air over the Galaxy S25 Edge for this key reason
Apple's super-slim iPhone has finally arrived, and it might beat out the Galaxy S25 Edge on both performance and battery
At today’s Apple event, the tech giant finally lifted the curtain on the heavily rumoured iPhone Air – and yes, it’s absurdly thin. It even ditches the 17 – Apple wants to make it clear this is something special. We’re talking 5.6mm at its slimmest point, which is slimmer than Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Edge. Apple reckons it is “impossibly light” yet still managed to cram everything you know, need, and love about the iPhone into this thin frame.
The iPhone Air isn’t a replacement for now killed Plus model, but it does slot between the iPhone 17 and 17 Pro in terms of size and price. It also packs a unique aesthetic with a sleek aluminium frame, a new horizontal camera bump, and just two speaker holes either side of the USB-C port. On the front, Ceramic Shield 2 (a new follow-up version) makes the glass 3x stronger, and Ceramic Shield appears on the rear for the first time to be 4x stronger than previous devices.
Due to its diet-like profile, it only comes with a 48MP single rear camera and a 24MP front snapper. But, both have been upgraded for better low-light shots and sharper selfies. The 48MP Fusion camera sounds rather similar to the one found in the more affordable iPhone 16e model. Apple’s Center Stage camera tech comes to the selfie cam, alongside plenty of new photographic styles. You’ll also find optical image stabilisation and 2x optical zoom.
Around front, you’ve got ultra-slim bezels and the Dynamic Island on the 6.5in display – though Apple’s not made that any slimmer this year. Display-wise, the panel is almost identical to last year’s Pro models, meaning you’re getting a bump in brightness, better longevity, and 120Hz ProMotion. The Always-On Display also makes an appearance, clocking down to just 1Hz.
Under the hood, the iPhone Air is one of the first to use Apple’s in-house Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 chip (called N1) and its custom 5G modem, borrowed from the iPhone 16e. This modem is more efficient and better for battery, which is a good thing given what’s bound to be a smaller cell inside this handset. It’s running on the new A19 Pro chip – just like the iPhone 17 Pro models.
Apple claims that the CPU is the fastest in any smartphone, while the GPU gets improved caching for even better performance. I’d go as far to say it’s near MacBook-levels of performance, and Apple would agree. To make room for all the new innards while keeping things slim, the iPhone Air is eSIM-only, so you’ll have to ditch your plastic card. But how much battery life will you get from this slim handset? There are new low power mode options and a new slim MagSafe battery pack, and Apple reckons it will last “all-day” – though there’s no exact figure here.
Colours include space black, cloud white, light gold, and sky blue – identical to the M4 MacBook Air. It starts at 256GB of storage and goes up to 1TB. Pre-orders for the iPhone Air open this Friday from $999/£999, with shipments arriving the following week on Friday, 20 September.
Connor Jewiss
