iPhone Air First Look: Apple's Thinnest iPhone Feels Premium

[doach]

They keep the hardware race within enough range of Samsung so that Apple's entire ecosystem, support, marketing and brand makes up that gap and more.

The iPhone Air will smoke the Edge in many other categories that are more important even if one can look past Android and Samsung's skins and repetitive apps. How many Folds did Samsung need to release to finally get something with a form factor that's appealing... 7? Apple may take a generation or two to refine a new form factor if not already refined at first release.

How does marketing and brand make up for anything? It doesn't make it a better product. Just makes it sell more. Thats it. Who has better marketing. Apple. Product? No.

I have a Air. And a S25 EDGE. I use my Air more because I primarily use Apple but switch back and fourth between ecosystems. I also use Samsungs. Both are almost equally good. I give the slight EDGE to Apple. Hardware wise. Samsung. User experience. Apple. Slightly.

But its close. Gestures are almost the same between the two. Apples handoff on their Macs are better than phone link on pc. But both are good.

 

[doach]

The Air is the thinner phone.

So? Almost no difference. Same as the difference in weight. 165gm vs 163gm.

 

[doach]

I haven't used an Android device since 2009. I am sure it has come a long way (in many regards) since then but, I don't like the fragmentation, the lack of meaningful updates for whatever flavor of Android the phone happen to come with, not to mention all the bad risk just using the Android store. And most of all, Android lacks the seamless integration and hardware support, and customer service that Apple offers me. Granted I have to pay the Apple tax to get those things but, for me, it is currently worth it. If down the road that changes, I don't have a problem taking a look at something different.

Thats been done along time ago with Samsung. Very little difference between eco systems now. No lack of updates, no fragmentation, no risk using the Android store anymore than there is on the Apple one. No lack of seamless integration or hardware support. Samsung care compares very well with Applecare. Not much difference.

I use both ecosystems as a engineer. You are stuck in 2009 my friend. Those problems have not been around in quite some time.

 

[ZiBart]

How does marketing and brand make up for anything? It doesn't make it a better product. Just makes it sell more. Thats it. Who has better marketing. Apple. Product? No.

That's my point. Marketing/brand = popularity/sales. Which is the 'gap' that Apple as a company makes up. Along with the other things I mentioned. And they all have a direct and indirect benefit to ownership experience. I led the statement by saying they keep the hardware within enough range of Samsung (as a package). While beating each other in several categories.

I have a Air. And a S25 EDGE. I use my Air more because I primarily use Apple but switch back and fourth between ecosystems. I also use Samsungs. Both are almost equally good. I give the slight EDGE to Apple. Hardware wise. Samsung. User experience. Apple. Slightly.

But its close. Gestures are almost the same between the two. Apples handoff on their Macs are better than phone link on pc. But both are good.

The Air is better at aesthetics (subjective), materials, software (subjective), battery life, CPU, selfie cam, slightly thinner, and feels better in hand (subjective). Whereas Edge gives you the extras that the Air should have had like the dual cam and dual speakers(?). It's also slightly lighter, and probably other specs that I didn't research. Apple wins the cohesive thin phone challenge IMO, whereas Samsung wins the extras part (like they almost always do). That being said, I returned my Air . Couldn't get past the lack of Ultrawide and speakerphone issues in group chats with ambient noise. Perhaps the Edge addresses these for me but I'm locked into the ecosystem and have a distaste for Samsung design aesthetic and their Android customization. But I recognize both are good products and glad you are enjoying them. Just not for me personally mostly based on subjective things. If I were to try Android again in Samsung form, and leave my "blue bubble", it would be for an on sale Fold 7. But since the rumors say Apple is around the corner with one, I will wait it out.

 

[iamthedudeman]

They keep the hardware race within enough range of Samsung so that Apple's entire ecosystem, support, marketing and brand makes up that gap and more.

The iPhone Air will smoke the Edge in many other categories that are more important even if one can look past Android and Samsung's skins and repetitive apps. How many Folds did Samsung need to release to finally get something with a form factor that's appealing... 7? Apple may take a generation or two to refine a new form factor if not already refined at first release.

Listen bud. As a software engineer I use both eco systems. I actually agree with most of what you say. I prefer Apple and use them 90 percent of the time. I have the Air. Black.

I also own the S25 EDGE. I prefer the Air because of mainly face ID and iOS. Even though the EDGE has better hardware. Now the Air 2 will be getting a 200MP sensor from guess who. Samsung.

Guess what sensor the S25 EDGE has. The same 200MP camera the Air will be getting.

You can call out Apple for not doing enough. Anyone reasonable can see this is the case.

One speaker, One camera, no vapor chamber. The EDGE has two speakers, two cameras, a vapor chamber and a better camera.

Weaker 48 MP camera. This is important as a larger sensor say 200MP can digital crop much better than a 48MP sensor and have 4x the digital zoom capability.

The S25 EDGEs hardware is similar to what we will see on a iphone Air 3. That is how far Apple is behind. They chose to use a smaller sensor. Didnt have too.

Weird how everyone defends Apple no matter what they do. Very strange.

Apple just copies hardware now. Anyone paying just a little attention can see that. Samsung copies software. They both copy off each other. But Apple is mainly hardware. But they do copy software off of Samsung as well(ahem Live Translate).

That was not the case when Steve was around. Apple actually did innovate back then. The Apple of today would have never released the original iphone. They would wait for someone else to do it. How is that corporate culture a good thing?

They were redefining product categories every other year. Imac, Ipod, Iphone, MacBook Air (ultra light) and iphone. They were all firsts and created new product categories.

What categories have they invented since then. What firsts?

They have a rumored foldable, flip, and ring. And just released a thin phone. Which I might add is inferior hardware wise. So this time they didnt do it better. Or were not able to is more like it.

Samsung took 5 years to perfect the foldable. 5 years of perfecting thin. The ZFold 7 is 4.2mm thin. Apples rumored foldable is said to be 9.5 inches thick when folded.

If they couldn't match Samsung in the thin catagory, what makes you think they will do so on the foldable? Those days are over.

Its the mentality that Apple can do no wrong that drives them to get away with it. They know you will still buy it regardless. So why innovate? Why make it better? What incentive is there?

As Apple users. We should demand better with our wallet. Sadly most do not. I put up with the Airs shortcomings but do acknowledge its inequalities but buy because of Face ID and Apples seamless ecosystem.

With that being said I realize that they are far behind on the hardware front. And slightly ahead on the software front. But Samsungs One UI is about on par with iOS now. Hardware, no.

 

[iamthedudeman]

That's my point. Marketing/brand = popularity/sales. Which is the 'gap' that Apple as a company makes up. Along with the other things I mentioned. And they all have a direct and indirect benefit to ownership experience. I led the statement by saying they keep the hardware within enough range of Samsung (as a package). While beating each other in several categories.



The Air is better at aesthetics (subjective), materials, software (subjective), battery life, CPU, selfie cam, slightly thinner, and feels better in hand (subjective). Whereas Edge gives you the extras that the Air should have had like the dual cam and dual speakers(?). It's also slightly lighter, and probably other specs that I didn't research. Apple wins the cohesive thin phone challenge IMO, whereas Samsung wins the extras part (like they almost always do). That being said, I returned my Air . Couldn't get past the lack of Ultrawide and speakerphone issues in group chats with ambient noise. Perhaps the Edge addresses these for me but I'm locked into the ecosystem and have a distaste for Samsung design aesthetic and their Android customization. But I recognize both are good products and glad you are enjoying them. Just not for me personally mostly based on subjective things. If I were to try Android again in Samsung form, and leave my "blue bubble", it would be for an on sale Fold 7. But since the rumors say Apple is around the corner with one, I will wait it out.

The Air is not better in battery life. They are about the same. Almost exactly. I own both phones. It is slightly thinner, does have a better front camera. Not better software. But better polished software. Yes.

Materials are almost the same. Both titanium and glass. Both do not bend. CPU is about the same with the SD being faster in multicore and A19 pro better at single core. But will have lower sustained performance because the lack of a vaporchamber.

So you admit the lack of a ultrawide and two speakers is a deal breaker for you. Samsungs S25 EDGE has both. You just proved my point for me. You were unwilling to compromise. With the S25 EDGE you wouldn't have to. That is my point.There really isn't a justified reason Apple couldn't give us both of those.

They just chose not too. Or worse yet couldn't do it. Both scenarios are bad. You can still acknowledge their shortcomings and prefer them anyway. Neither are exclusive.

Marketing does not make a better product. You have it backwards. It fools users into buying their products. In Apples case their inferior products. It works on most but not all. Case in point.

 

[ZiBart]

The Air is not better in battery life. They are about the same. Almost exactly. I own both phones. It is slightly thinner, does have a better front camera. Not better software. But better polished software. Yes.

Battery life is the same like you say, but the Air does it with approx 3150mah? while Egde is 3900mah?. That's a notable size difference. Which leads me to say that the software is substantially better polished, optimized vs the Edge. Can't disregard the in house C1X and N1 either on the hardware side that most likely helps with that efficiency. The innovations still exist at Apple, accept they are more under the hood these days and less flashy. Apple Silicon, IMO, is a top three Apple innovation of all time. But that's for another conversation..

Materials are almost the same. Both titanium and glass. Both do not bend.

The Air is one of the best feeling phones in hand. I held the Edge in Samsung store and it didn't have the same appeal. It still had the sharp corner design they copied from iPhones of the past (iPhone 4 or iPhone 12 on). Obviously they copied it for a reason so it's not bad looking but it doesn't feel as good as the Air in hand.

CPU is about the same with the SD being faster in multicore and A19 pro better at single core. But will have lower sustained performance because the lack of a vaporchamber.

Its not something I noticed or cared for as they are both faster then I would need them to be for what I do with a phone. But as per Android Police, the difference seems more significant:

"GSMArena's testing highlights the Galaxy S25 Edge's poor sustained performance, with the GPU achieving a stability score of less than 50% in the 3D Mark stress test.

Even worse, the phone reached a scorching peak temperature of 54.7C under heavy load.

In comparison, the iPhone Air delivered 61% GPU stability, and its CPU only throttled down to 76% under sustained load. That's significantly better than the S25 Edge, and this is a difference you'll notice when using both phones in daily life.

The Galaxy S25 Edge will likely throttle after a few minutes of heavy camera and Google Maps use while you are out and about, while the iPhone Air should fare much better in such scenarios.

The slim iPhone hit a peak temperature of 54.6°C in GSMArena's testing, almost the same as the S25 Edge, which is impressive considering the device is 0.2mm thinner than its Android competitor."

Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge shows why thin Androids will flop — and how iPhone Air gets it right

Optimization makes or breaks thin phones

www.androidpolice.com

So you admit the lack of a ultrawide and two speakers is a deal breaker for you. Samsungs S25 EDGE has both. You just proved my point for me. You were unwilling to compromise. With the S25 EDGE you wouldn't have to. That is my point.There really isn't a justified reason Apple couldn't give us both of those.

They just chose not too. Or worse yet couldn't do it. Both scenarios are bad. You can still acknowledge their shortcomings and prefer them anyway. Neither are exclusive.

Correct. It was a deal breaker vs other iPhones. The Edge is a deal breaker because of Android OS, Samsung UI, Samsung as a company whom I have had bad experiences with; major reliability and support issues with their appliances, tvs' and monitors. Then you add the ecosystem like you mentioned and things like MagSafe etc. It adds up. I totally agree and have said it on this form, the dual cams and dual speakers should have been standard specs in gen1. Instead they are being held back for the upgrade cycle on purpose. And when you hold back the phone on purpose so much, and you have a base iPhone with so much better specs at slightly thicker/heavier footprint and substantially cheaper, the pricing starts to make less sense as well. I also said before, the Air will be the phone for me in gen2 or gen3 .. most likely.

Marketing does not make a better product. You have it backwards. It fools users into buying their products. In Apples case their inferior products. It works on most but not all. Case in point.

I said, "Marketing/brand = popularity/sales. Which is the 'gap' that Apple as a company makes up." Not sure why you mistake that as me saying marketing makes a product better. The gap that Apple makes up is a corporate metric that I am speaking of.

I do agree with you, both great phones even with my mostly subjective distaste of the Edge. Just not for me at this time, the Air that is. But glad many buying and enjoying the Air so to secure it's future in the lineup.

 

[doach]

Battery life is the same like you say, but the Air does it with approx 3150mah? while Egde is 3900mah?. That's a notable size difference. Which leads me to say that the software is substantially better polished, optimized vs the Edge. Can't disregard the in house C1X and N1 either on the hardware side that most likely helps with that efficiency. The innovations still exist at Apple, accept they are more under the hood these days and less flashy. Apple Silicon, IMO, is a top three Apple innovation of all time. But that's for another conversation..


The Air is one of the best feeling phones in hand. I held the Edge in Samsung store and it didn't have the same appeal. It still had the sharp corner design they copied from iPhones of the past (iPhone 4 or iPhone 12 on). Obviously they copied it for a reason so it's not bad looking but it doesn't feel as good as the Air in hand.


Its not something I noticed or cared for as they are both faster then I would need them to be for what I do with a phone. But as per Android Police, the difference seems more significant:

"GSMArena's testing highlights the Galaxy S25 Edge's poor sustained performance, with the GPU achieving a stability score of less than 50% in the 3D Mark stress test.

Even worse, the phone reached a scorching peak temperature of 54.7C under heavy load.

In comparison, the iPhone Air delivered 61% GPU stability, and its CPU only throttled down to 76% under sustained load. That's significantly better than the S25 Edge, and this is a difference you'll notice when using both phones in daily life.

The Galaxy S25 Edge will likely throttle after a few minutes of heavy camera and Google Maps use while you are out and about, while the iPhone Air should fare much better in such scenarios.

The slim iPhone hit a peak temperature of 54.6°C in GSMArena's testing, almost the same as the S25 Edge, which is impressive considering the device is 0.2mm thinner than its Android competitor."

Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge shows why thin Androids will flop — and how iPhone Air gets it right

Optimization makes or breaks thin phones

www.androidpolice.com

Correct. It was a deal breaker vs other iPhones. The Edge is a deal breaker because of Android OS, Samsung UI, Samsung as a company whom I have had bad experiences with; major reliability and support issues with their appliances, tvs' and monitors. Then you add the ecosystem like you mentioned and things like MagSafe etc. It adds up. I totally agree and have said it on this form, the dual cams and dual speakers should have been standard specs in gen1. Instead they are being held back for the upgrade cycle on purpose. And when you hold back the phone on purpose so much, and you have a base iPhone with so much better specs at slightly thicker/heavier footprint and substantially cheaper, the pricing starts to make less sense as well. I also said before, the Air will be the phone for me in gen2 or gen3 .. most likely.


I said, "Marketing/brand = popularity/sales. Which is the 'gap' that Apple as a company makes up." Not sure why you mistake that as me saying marketing makes a product better. The gap that Apple makes up is a corporate metric that I am speaking of.

I do agree with you, both great phones even with my mostly subjective distaste of the Edge. Just not for me at this time, the Air that is. But glad many buying and enjoying the Air so to secure it's future in the lineup.

I agree. I just use my Samsung because I have to for work. I use my Air 90 percent of the time.

Of course the Air has better software. Did you forget what I do for a living? I said it did. I said useability was about the same. Never said the EDGE was as efficient.

As for temperature I cannot tell as I never measured them. Both seem fine. The EDGE should run cooler. The EDGE has a actual vapor chamber. Not to say the Air runs hot. It doesn't It got hot one time when setting up the phone. Runs cool 99 percent of the time for me. No problems. Same for my EDGE.

I think most agree the hardware is better on the EDGE where it matters to most. Better camera, extra camera, two speakers etc. But the Air has face ID and a better selfie camera. I am just saying Apple could have added a better camera like the one rumored to be in the Air 2. A 200MP shooter by you guessed it Samsung. The same on the EDGE now. They could have used it on this Air as it is in use already. Same for two speakers. Battery is a challenge so they did excellent there.

That doesn't make for a better phone. The Air is the better phone overall. Better balanced, better selfie camera, feels better in hand etc. The overall experience you get with a Apple product is unmatched in my opinion. I said Apple made inferior products. Which was incorrect. I should have said they make inferior hardware. Samsung is way ahead there. But in a overall product Apple is way ahead. So yes. You were right about that. I agree. After using the EDGE for awhile you notice the overall user experience difference between the two. No face ID is a big one. Huge.

You hit the nail on the head with Apples software being more polished. The 3rd party apps are much better. And Apples own apps are more polished than Samsungs. Face ID is a game changer. Something the EDGE does not have. That alone put the Air over the EDGE in my opinion.

 

[ZiBart]

I agree. I just use my Samsung because I have to for work. I use my Air 90 percent of the time.

Of course the Air has better software. Did you forget what I do for a living? I said it did. I said useability was about the same. Never said the EDGE was as efficient.

As for temperature I cannot tell as I never measured them. Both seem fine. The EDGE should run cooler. The EDGE has a actual vapor chamber. Not to say the Air runs hot. It doesn't It got hot one time when setting up the phone. Runs cool 99 percent of the time for me. No problems. Same for my EDGE.

I think most agree the hardware is better on the EDGE. It's obvious. That doesn't make for a better phone. The Air is the better phone overall. Better balanced, better selfie camera, feels better in hand etc. The overall experience you get with a Apple product is unmatched in my opinion.

In light of the news and rumors since, none of this may matter. Edge flopped and looks like a one and done for Samsung. And the Air may be as well if all these recent speculations actually end up to be the truth. I cant speculate about the Edge reasons, but for the Air, i think the pricing vs the base and Pro, puts it at a huge disadvantage. Hopefully Apple can just turn the Air into the base (but with the added 2nd lens and speaker). I think it would be a universal hit at that price. Similar to the Macbook Air, when it became the base/cheapest Macbook over time and most popular.